WhatsApp gets new parental controls for teens, but parents still can't read their chats

As teens grow up, the way they use WhatsApp changes too. Parents may want to keep an eye on their children’s online activity, but that does not necessarily mean reading every message they send. WhatsApp is now trying to strike that balance with a new set of optional parental controls for teen accounts.

The new controls let parents and teens set up the experience together. Parents can choose certain privacy settings, including who can see their teen’s profile photo and who can add them to groups. If a teen later wants to loosen some of these settings, they will need approval from their parent through a parent-set PIN.

WhatsApp says the idea is to help parents guide their teens without turning the app into a tool for constantly checking what they are doing.Parents can keep an eye on group activity

One of the more interesting additions is the new group activity alerts. Parents can get a notification when their teen joins or leaves a WhatsApp group. They can also be notified if a group their teen is already part of grows significantly in size.

Parents will also get more control over Channels and Status updates. They can decide how their teen uses Channels, whose Status updates the teen can see and who can see the teen’s own Status updates.

Meta AI is getting parental controls too. Parents can choose between the standard experience for users aged 13 and above or a stricter “Limited Content” option. The latter places more restrictions on the topics a teen can discuss with Meta AI.

However, these controls do not let parents read private WhatsApp messages or listen to calls. WhatsApp says personal messages and calls remain protected by end-to-end encryption. That means the contents of those conversations remain accessible only to the people involved in the chat. Even WhatsApp itself cannot read or hear them.

The new parental controls are optional, so families can decide how much support a teen needs. Parents can also change or turn off the controls at any time.

WhatsApp says the new features are rolling out gradually on Android and iOS. So, if you don't see the controls yet, you may have to wait a little longer for them to reach your account.- EndsAlso Read | Vivo X Fold 6, Vivo V80 price leaked ahead of launch: Details hereAlso Read | Elon Musk's xAI may overhaul Grok and X subscriptions with 4 new plansAlso Read | Anthropic president Daniela Amodei had personal advisory council, used stuffed animals for conflicts

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