The feature, which will be rolled out gradually over the coming months, will allow parents or guardians to set up and supervise WhatsApp accounts for pre-teens. The company said the accounts will come with strict default settings and a range of parental controls intended to make the service safer and more suitable for younger users.
The accounts must be created by a parent or guardian and will remain linked to the adult’s own WhatsApp account, ensuring that the parent maintains oversight of the child’s activity.
WhatsApp said the move follows feedback from parents who wanted a way to introduce their children to messaging while still maintaining clear safeguards. Many families, the company said, were looking for a version of the platform tailored to younger users who may not yet be ready for full access to the app’s features.
To set up a parent-managed account, WhatsApp said both the child’s device and the parent’s phone will need to be placed side by side during the initial setup process. This allows the accounts to be linked, giving the parent ongoing control of the child’s account settings.
Once the account is active, parents will be able to manage contact permissions and group memberships directly. They will also have the ability to review message requests sent by unknown contacts before the child can interact with them.
Additional protections are built into the system through the use of a parent PIN, which is required to access or modify the account’s parental controls on the managed device.
Despite the increased oversight, WhatsApp stressed that personal conversations on the platform will remain private. All chats will continue to be protected by the app’s end-to-end encryption, meaning that messages and calls cannot be viewed or listened to by third parties, including WhatsApp itself.
The company said the new parent-managed accounts are part of its broader efforts to improve safety features on the platform while responding to the needs of families introducing younger users to digital communication tools.
