WhatsApp is rolling out new parental controls that will allow parents to manage aspects of their teenagers’ accounts while preserving the privacy of their messages and calls.
The new features will enable parents to receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group and adjust certain privacy settings, including who can view the teen’s profile photo and who can add them to groups.
Parents will also be able to determine how their teenagers interact with WhatsApp Channels and choose between different settings for Meta AI, the platform’s built-in artificial intelligence assistant.
However, the controls will not give parents access to the content of their children’s private messages or calls.
WhatsApp said those communications would remain protected by end-to-end encryption.
The company said the controls would be optional and could be adjusted or switched off by parents at any time.
Parents who activate the restrictions will be able to protect the settings with a PIN, which teenagers would need to disable the controls.
Questions over voluntary controls
The introduction comes amid growing pressure on technology companies to strengthen safeguards for children and teenagers using their platforms.
Social media analyst Matt Navarra questioned how widely the optional controls would be adopted, describing their voluntary nature as a potential weakness.
He argued that the approach could allow Meta, which owns WhatsApp, to demonstrate that it has child-safety measures in place while placing part of the responsibility for their use on parents and teenagers.
The minimum age for WhatsApp users is 13 in the UK, although age requirements vary in different countries.
WhatsApp said the new settings were intended to encourage conversations between parents and teenagers about safer use of the platform without compromising the privacy of personal communications.
Wider regulatory pressure
The changes come as governments and regulators increase scrutiny of technology platforms over child safety.
In June, the UK government announced plans to restrict social media access for under-16s from March 2027, with platforms expected to use age-assurance measures to determine users’ ages.
WhatsApp is currently excluded from the proposed restrictions because it is classified as a messaging service rather than a social media platform.
The new parental controls therefore form part of a broader shift in the technology sector towards additional safeguards for younger users while maintaining privacy protections for their communications.
