WhatsApp is introducing new parental controls for teenagers as technology companies face growing pressure to make their platforms safer and more age-appropriate for children.
The new tools will allow parents to receive notifications when their teenager joins or leaves a group and manage certain privacy settings on their child’s account.
However, parents will not be able to read their teenager’s messages or listen to their calls. WhatsApp said private communications will remain protected by end-to-end encryption.
The controls are optional, with social media analyst Matt Navarra describing this as a potential weakness. He said the move could also reduce pressure on Meta, which owns WhatsApp, to rely entirely on age-verification systems by placing some responsibility on parents and teenagers.
“Meta is trying to show regulators we have a child safety system, we have parental controls and we’re rolling it out across our platforms,” Navarra said.
He questioned whether enough families would actually choose to use the new tools.
In the UK, WhatsApp’s minimum age is currently 13, although the requirement varies in some other countries.
Parents will be able to adjust or disable the controls at any time. WhatsApp said the settings are designed to be straightforward to activate using a PIN created by the parent, which teenagers will need if they want to turn the controls off.
The new privacy options include allowing parents to control who can view their teenager’s profile photo and who can add them to group chats.
Parents will also be able to manage how their teenager uses Channels, a feature that allows organisations and public figures to distribute content.
Another option allows parents to choose between the standard 13+ setting for Meta AI, WhatsApp’s optional built-in AI assistant, or a stricter “Limited Content” setting.
WhatsApp said the controls were designed to encourage conversations between parents and teenagers about using the platform while keeping personal communications private.
The changes come amid increasing pressure from governments and regulators for technology companies to strengthen protections for children online.
In June, the UK government announced plans to restrict social media access for under-16s, with the measures expected to take effect in March 2027. The government said “highly effective age assurance” measures would be used to verify users’ ages.
WhatsApp is currently excluded from the proposed restrictions because the UK government classifies it primarily as a messaging service.
