WhatsApp wants to make it more interesting for families in particular with a new update. The feature is designed to give parents more control over their children’s accounts. They can decide what their children can and cannot do.
In the near future, adults are not the only ones participating in WhatsApp chats. With this new feature, the developer also wants to get children between the ages of 10 and 12 jumping aboard the WhatsApp bandwagon. There is now a special account for this, which can be set up by parents and micromanaged.
WhatsApp Launches Parent-Managed Accounts
According to WhatsApp, setting up the new function is a very simple affair. It should be enough for parents to place their smartphone directly next to their child’s smartphone. According to the documentation, it should also be possible to scan a QR code for pairing. The bare minimum is having a WhatsApp account exist on the child’s smartphone, which can be created using the option “Create a parent-managed account”.
During the pairing process, the parent or guardian creates a six-digit parent PIN, which is required to change many settings. Once the parent and child accounts are linked, the security functions take effect. For instance, it is possible to specify which contacts the offspring can communicate with or which groups they can join.
Attempts to contact unknown persons are prevented by WhatsApp by default. If the child wants to chat or call a person, they must be saved in the contacts first. By default, being added to groups is only possible via parents. On the child’s smartphone, they can be specifically enabled or blocked after entering the parent PIN.
The privacy settings can also be controlled in WhatsApp on the child’s smartphone. Here, too, the PIN must be entered again. In addition to the familiar settings for the visibility of personal details, parents can also specify whether children can create their own groups.
Parents Can View Their Children’s Activities
While the above settings can all be performed on the child’s phone, the following details appear on the parent’s phone. Under WhatsApp settings, there is the option “Control options for parents”. The activities of the managed account are displayed in detail here.
This includes, for instance, adding or blocking a contact, changes to the number of participants in a group, or each time a new contact request arrives in WhatsApp on the child’s account. Parents can also be notified of all these details via a push notification. However, it is not possible for parents or WhatsApp to read the chat content. It is all about management by the parent or guardian.
WhatsApp will gradually introduce parent-managed accounts. Hence, it may be a while before you can set up and use this new feature in your WhatsApp.
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