What you need to know
- Minimum age rating – 13+ for a standard account, or a parent-managed account for children under 13, where available.
- Available on – iOS, Android, PC, Mac
- Main features – Private messaging, group chats, voice and video calls, Status updates, Communities, Channels and Meta AI. Parent-managed accounts offer a more limited experience focused on messaging and calling.
- What’s new? WhatsApp is introducing parent-managed accounts that give parents greater control over how children under 13 use messaging and calling. It is also rolling out optional usernames, allowing people to connect without sharing their phone number and offering more control over who can contact them.
Quick advice
If your child uses WhatsApp, set up these 3 controls for a quick safety net.
Review reporting tools
Show your child how to report or block contacts so they can take charge of their safety in the app.
Disable downloads
To limit the risk of your child seeing unexpected inappropriate images, turn off automatic downloads.
Manage privacy
Help your child keep their information private by customising settings for all messages.
How to set up WhatsApp for children’s safety
These steps were produced on the smartphone app. WhatsApp web and other devices contain similar features.
You will need access to your child’s WhatsApp account, which is connected to their mobile number.
How to set up a parent-managed account (for under-13s)
WhatsApp recently introduced parent-managed accounts in March 2026 which allow parents or guardians to set up WhatsApp for pre-teens. The child’s WhatsApp experience will be limited to messaging and calling.
Parents will have control over who can contact the account, which groups the child can join, and manage their privacy settings. If your child already has a standard WhatsApp account registered as under 13 years old, it cannot be converted into a managed account. A new parent-managed account would need to be set up on a different phone number.
To set up a parent-managed account:
Step 1 – Download WhatsApp on your child’s device. Select More options, then Create a parent-managed account.
Step 2 – Register and verify your child’s phone number, then enter their birthday to confirm their age. Tap Continue to link to a parent’s account.
Step 3 – From your phone, scan the QR code on your child’s device and tap on the WhatsApp link. You can use your phone’s camera to scan.
Step 4 – Tap Agree and continue, verify that you’re an adult. WhatsApp states that you must be 18 years or over to set up a parent-managed account.
Step 5 – Set a parent PIN. You’ll need this PIN any time you want to change privacy settings on the child account. Confirm your PIN, tap Next and tap Done to complete the account setup on your child’s device.
Step 6 – Go on your child’s device, enter your parent PIN and tap Continue. Your child’s managed account is now set up. They can enter their name and profile photo. All other privacy settings will be managed by the parent.
Note: this feature is rolling out gradually by region and may not yet be available on your device.
To learn more about parent-managed accounts, visit the WhatsApp Help Centre.
How to manage your privacy
Help your teenager take control of internet safety by teaching them about WhatsApp privacy settings. They can control who can see their information, which can help support their wellbeing.
To manage privacy settings:
Step 1 – In the app, tap the 3 dots in the top corner. Then tap Settings > Privacy.
Step 2 – Customise who can see information about you on this menu. Tap on the relevant settings to customise them.
Settings you can customise include:
Last seen online – Turning this off may reduce people pressuring your child to respond quickly or at inappropriate times.
Profile photo – If your child sets their profile picture of themselves, make sure they limit those who can see it to My contacts only.
About – Ensure that your child has not included anything personal or private to reduce risks of identity theft.
Links – If your child links e.g.Instagram and Facebook to their whatsapp profile, set the privacy to My contacts only. Not displaying the feature will ensure greater privacy.
Status – Remind your child to keep location and other private information out of these updates.
Read receipts – This removes the ability to see if a message you sent has been read, and for others to see if a you have read a message they sent. This eliminates the pressure to respond straight away.
Silence unknown callers – This option means only saved contacts can call you. This removes the risk of strangers calling your child.
You can set these features to Everyone, My contacts, My contacts except… and Nobody.
How to block and report contacts
If a contact is making your child uncomfortable, encourage them to block and report them. They can stop receiving messages, calls and status updates with the block feature. If reported, WhatsApp will review the last 5 messages sent by the contact.
To block someone:
Step 1 – Tap the last message in their chat history with the contact. In the message, tap on their name or the 3 dots in the right corner > View contact.
Step 2 – Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Block [Contact Name]. Confirm by tapping Block.
To report someone:
Step 1 – Tap the last message in their chat history with the contact. In the message, tap on their name or the 3 dots in the right corner > View contact.
Step 2 – Scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap Report [Contact Name].
If your child needs to keep the messages as evidence for police reporting, untick Block contact and delete chat. Otherwise, keep it ticked and tap Report.
Change group privacy settings
If your child uses private groups in WhatsApp, remind them that they should only be joining groups with people they know from school or clubs. They should not add people they meet online or accept invitations to join groups from strangers. In the privacy settings, your child can manage who can add them directly to a group.
To manage this:
Step 1 – From the main screen, tap the 3 dots in the right corner and then Settings.
Step 2 – Go to Privacy and scroll down to Groups. Tap on it and set to My contacts or My contacts except….
Note: your child can still be invited privately. This only stops automatic adds.
Where to disable automatic downloads
The default settings for WhatsApp is that photos and videos you receive are automatically saved to your camera roll.
To limit the risk of saving inappropriate content sent without permission and to manage device storage, you can disable this.
To disable automatic downlaods:
Step 1 – Go to WhatsApp Settings then tap Chats.
Step 2 – Next to Media visibility, tap the toggle. When grey, photos and videos will not be automatically saved to your child’s device.
How to enable Screen or Fingerprint Lock
Whether you’re on iPhone or Android, you can use different features to unlock WhatsApp, adding a layer of internet safety.
Note: Face and Touch ID are available on iPhone while Android uses Fingerprint lock. They can all be set up in the same way.
To set this up:
Step 1 – Go to Settings > Privacy. Scroll to the bottom of the screen.
Step 2 – Select App Lock or Screen Lock. Tap the relevant toggle to enable.
Note: Biometrics must be set up on your device settings to enable the fingerprint and lock on Whatsapp.
Where to disable live location
Live location is automatically turned off, and it’s a good idea to keep this turned off.
To turn off location on your device:
Step 1 – Go to your device Settings, tap Apps then search or scroll down to select WhatsApp. Tap Permissions and select Location. To turn off location, select the Never or Ask every time option.
To turn off location in the WhatsApp App:
Step 1 – From Settings, tap Privacy and Live Location. Manage the individual settings here or turn off entirely through device settings.
How to disable Meta AI
Meta has integrated its AI assistant, Meta AI, directly into WhatsApp. Users can disable this AI assistant by enabling advanced chat privacy, which also increases privacy levels by preventing the chat from being exported or images being automatically saved.
To disable Meta AI:
Step 1 – From the chat list screen in the app, select the chat you wish to disable Meta AI in.
Step 2 – Inside the chat, select the contact’s name at the top of the screen.
Step 3 – From the chat settings, select Advanced chat privacy.
Step 4 – Inside advanced chat privacy, switch on the toggle.
Step 5 – Return to the chat. You’ll see a message confirming that advanced chat privacy is turned on. Meta AI will no longer be available in that chat.
What is WhatsApp Web?
WhatsApp Web allows users to access their WhatsApp conversations on a browser and sync their account across multiple devices. Children with parent-managed accounts cannot use linked devices meaning WhatsApp Web is also unavailable to pre-teens.
How to log into WhatsApp Web:
Users must have a WhatsApp account, however, no download is needed as WhatsApp Web is accessible via a browser and internet connection.
Step 1 – Go to another device e.g. a tablet, open the browser and go to web.whatsapp.com
Step 2 – On your child’s phone, tap the 3 dots in the top right and go to Settings. Select Linked devices and tap Link a device. From your phone scan the QR code displayed on the second device to log in. This will sync the app to WhatsApp Web
New features are rolling out on Whatsapp Web with voice and video calls supported on browsers such as Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox. However, certain browser versions may not be supported and some features may only be available on the app.
How to check or turn off disappearing messages on WhatsApp
Once Disappearing messages are turned on by the sender or the recipient in the chat, messages will auto-delete after the set time (24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days). The risk is that this could hide inappropriate contact, content and messages and leave no evidence.
There are a few ways to see if Disappearing messages is enabled and to turn off the feature:
Step 1 – Check the Privacy setting. Tap the 3 dots in the top corner. Then tap Settings > Privacy > Disappearing messages. Tap Default message timer and select Off.
When turned off, all existing and new chats will default to Off.
Step 2 – Open the chat list. If you see a clock icon on a contact’s profile picture in the chat list, that chat has Disappearing messages turned on. In the chat, tap the 3 dots in the top corner, tap Disappearing messages and select Off.
Step 3 – Search or go to the contact profile in the chat list . Tap their profile picture, on the profile preview, tap on the info icon. On their profile scroll down, tap Disappearing messages and select Off.
Note: On parent-managed accounts, this feature is disabled by default for 1:1 chats.
How to set up WhatsApp for children’s safety
- How to set up a parent-managed account (for under-13s)
- How to manage your privacy
- How to block and report contacts
- Change group privacy settings
- Where to disable automatic downloads
- How to enable Screen or Fingerprint Lock
- Where to disable live location
- How to disable Meta AI
- What is WhatsApp Web?
- How to check or turn off disappearing messages on WhatsApp
- More resources
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