WhatsApp’s Big Change for Families: Parent-Managed Accounts Are Now Rolling Out

WhatsApp has officially announced the gradual rollout of parent-managed accounts, a new feature designed to allow pre-teens (those under 13 or the local minimum age) to communicate with family and close friends under the supervision of a parent or guardian. This update aims to provide a “simple, private, and reliable” messaging experience tailored for younger users.

What It Is For

The primary goal is to provide a focused messaging and calling experience while removing features that may not be age-appropriate. These accounts are automatically set to high privacy defaults, ensuring only saved contacts can view a child’s profile picture or “last online” status.

However, these settings were available previously, just not through parental controls.

What’s really new now is parent remote control and the absence of several standard features, including:

• Meta AI, Channels, and Status updates;
• location sharing, Chat Lock, and App Lock;
• view once messages and disappearing messages in individual chats;
• linked devices (managed accounts are restricted to one device);
• advertisements, which will not be shown to these users.

Despite these restrictions, all personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one—not parents or even WhatsApp—can read or hear private conversations.

New Parental Superpowers

Parents (who must be 18 or older) are given robust tools to manage their child’s digital safety. All changes are protected by a unique 6-digit parent PIN, which must not be shared with the child.

• Contact & Group Management: Parents decide who can contact their child and which groups they can join. If an unknown contact sends a message or group invite, it is sent to a Requests folder for the parent to approve or decline using their PIN.
• Activity Notifications: Parents receive alerts on their own devices for important account activity, such as when their child adds a contact, blocks or reports someone, leaves a group, or when a group they are in grows in size.
• Privacy Controls: Parents can adjust settings anytime from the child’s phone to control what information others see and whether the child can create their own groups.

How to Set Up a Parent-Managed Account

Setting up the account requires the parent to have both their phone and the child’s new device side-by-side. The steps are similar for Android and iOS.

1. Download the App: Install the latest version of WhatsApp Messenger on the child’s device from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

2. Initiate Setup: On the child’s phone, tap Agree and continue, then tap More options and select Create a parent-managed account.

   Note: If your child is already using WhatsApp, their account needs to be deleted and then re-created as a new parent-managed account. To save all chats, including individual and group chats, do a backup to Google Drive beforehand to restore them later.

3. Verify Age: Register the child’s phone number and enter their birthday to confirm they are under the required age.

4. Link Devices: A QR code will appear on the child’s device. Scan it with the parent’s phone camera to link the accounts.

5. Secure with a PIN: On the parent’s phone, verify you are an adult and create a 6-digit parent PIN.

6. Complete Installation: Enter the parent PIN on the child’s device to finish the setup.

WhatsApp recommends that parents talk to their children about their messaging activity and encourage them to report anything confusing or uncomfortable. As this is a gradual rollout, the feature may not be available in all regions immediately.

What can you do now for your child’s safety on WhatsApp? Read our article on WhatsApp safety settings and alternative methods to parental controls.