WhatsApp to introduce parental controls: New features revealed

The Meta-owned messaging social media application WhatsApp is reportedly getting ready to roll out a parental control feature aimed at protecting teens.

The feature, which is in the development phase, is built to allow parents or guardians to link their child’s WhatsApp account to their own, giving them access to privacy and security controls without blurring the line between surveillance and parenting.

How does WhatsApp plan to roll out parental controls?

According to WABetaInfo, a digital portal that provides updates for Android, including soon-to-be-rolled-out features with some exclusive screenshots, has reported that the company is designing what it calls secondary accounts, profiles created keeping in mind the minors and teenage groups.

As per the reports, here’s a breakdown of how it will function:

The parent account will first generate a dedicated link to send the child’s account, connecting the two.

Then, once confirmed, parents will gain access to a dashboard of privacy settings that can be managed remotely.

These accounts will be linked to a parent's or guardian's primary WhatsApp account, thus generating a two-tier system within WhatsApp for the first time.

The report also highlights, that these parental controls include who can see the child’s display picture, “last seen” status, About Info, and whether read receipts are enabled.

By default, strict restrictions will apply to the secondary account.

It means teenagers will only be able to text or call contacts saved in their phonebook, and they'll only receive messages or calls from those same contacts.

For an extra layer of security, only saved contacts can add the minor to group chats.

The parental control feature is still under progress and hasn’t yet appeared for all beta testers, the report cited.

It also notes that a phased rollout starting in select markets ahead of a global launch.

Although WhatsApp hasn’t officially confirmed a timeline, the feature’s development hints at a release in the coming months, as per the report.