Parent's Guide to WhatsApp Parental Controls for Smartphones
WhatsApp has parental control, which can be enabled and managed by parents.
If you’re a parent who uses WhatsApp to keep in touch with friends and family, you might have wondered if it’s possible to safely set up WhatsApp for your child. Fortunately, WhatsApp is in the process of adding parental controls, which they call “parent-managed accounts”, and this can be used to limit message requests or other features on WhatsApp that might not be safe for kids.
However, we still recommend that parents consider a more comprehensive approach to review their child’s social media activity, because even WhatsApp’s parental control options don’t allow parents to see the content of messages their child receives or sends. Apps like LivingRoom for Families can monitor any social media app using screenshots if your child is using an iPhone.
Choosing an Approach to Manage WhatsApp from a Parental Control Perspective
While WhatsApp provides basic parental control options, parents should consider using a combination of approaches to restrict and monitor their child’s WhatsApp activity on a smartphone.
For example, WhatsApp's built-in parental controls can be used by parents to customize AI and privacy features on their child’s iPhone or even manage their child’s contacts; however, parents can’t view messages their child has sent or received.
With parental controls enabled on WhatsApp, parents can:
- Review message requests from new accounts and either reject or deny them.
- Review and approve/deny group requests.
- Control privacy and visibility options for their child’s profile.
- Disable AI features.
- Block your child from sending or receiving disappearing messages with a specific contact/friend (this doesn’t apply to groups your child has joined, although parents can manage the groups their child is a part of).
- …And a few other features.
This is a great starting point for parents who want to limit their child’s ability to accidentally stumble across inappropriate content or messages while using WhatsApps and interact with strangers online.
However, to actually review the content of private messages, parents should consider screenshot monitoring as a comprehensive approach to reviewing activity on social media instead.
Screenshot monitoring allows parents to see what their child sees as they use their smartphone, and something like the LivingRoom for Families app allows parents to fully monitor their child’s iPhone. It works on any app used on your child’s iPhone (not just WhatsApp).
Prerequisites
WhatsApp’s parental controls (which they call “Parent-Managed accounts”) can’t be enabled on any standard WhatsApp account; parents need to follow a specific process.
First, your child needs to have their own smartphone, phone number, and cannot have an existing WhatsApp account. Unfortunately, it is not possible to skip these steps; WhatsApp requires that your child’s account be managed when it’s first created, and a phone number is required to create any WhatsApp account. Hopefully, a workaround will be available in the future, but managed accounts/parental controls on WhatsApp are relatively new.
Second, parents are required to verify that they are above the age of 18, and this usually requires a government ID. After you create a WhatsApp account for your child, you’ll be asked to verify before their account can be managed.
Third (and most importantly), your child must be below the age of 13 years old. Parental controls will only work on WhatsApp accounts that have a birthdate set below 13, and this also means that on your child’s 13th birthday, their account will automatically be converted into a normal WhatsApp account.
In our opinion, these prerequisites are very strict, as it’s not very likely that parents will have a separate phone number and smartphone for their child before their 13th birthday. You should also note that any parental controls have an expiration date, so it’s best to consider additional approaches like screenshot monitoring as a better alternative, if possible.
Link a Child’s WhatsApp Account
It’s a good idea to have both your child’s and your own smartphone available while linking your child’s account. You will need to switch back and forth between the two.
(1) Download WhatsApp on your Child’s iPhone
Start on your child’s iPhone:
If you open the app for the first time, you will likely see a generic screen that asks you to sign in or create an account.
(2) Create a “parent-managed account” on your Child’s iPhone
Note that these steps might be in a slightly different order, depending on your region. If done correctly, you should see a QR Code on your child’s smartphone.
(3) Link your own WhatsApp account to your Child’s new account
If done correctly, your child’s smartphone should prompt you to enter the same 6-digit PIN to finish linking accounts. You can proceed to finish setting up your child’s account.
(4) Limit Features for your Child’s WhatsApp profile
After managing your child’s account, we recommend that parents ensure that a few restrictions are in place.
Disappearing and “View Once” messages should also be restricted by default, but it’s worth double-checking.
By default, AI features, Channels, Status notifications, Chat and App Lock, and Ads should be restricted on your child’s account.
How to Review your Child’s Activity on WhatsApp
Parents should receive automatic notifications from WhatsApp on their own smartphones if your child:
- Receives a message request
- Blocks or reports another WhatsApp account
Parents can review these requests on their own smartphones or by borrowing their child’s smartphone (enter the PIN when prompted).
Going Further with Parental Controls on WhatsApp
Parents should add parental controls to their child’s smartphone as opposed to using WhatsApp only. For example, on iPhones, parents can set up Apple Family Sharing to manage their child’s contacts, which affects who they can reach out to on WhatsApp.
On iPhones, we recommend using Apple Family Sharing for your child, since it’s much easier to manage restrictions on their iPhone remotely from your own devices. Use it to set downtimes, contacts, and app limits, as well as enforce any other apps that monitor activity on your child’s iPhone.
If your child is using an iPhone, then we also strongly recommend the LivingRoom for Families app, because it comprehensively monitors your child’s entire device and all social media. It also includes automatic nudity detection that will block the internet on their device if nudity is detected anywhere on your child’s screen.
On Android smartphones, we recommend that parents use Google Family Link to manage their child’s Google account. Like Screen Time, parents can set limits for apps, but since it ties into your child’s Google account, that means you can also manage YouTube and Google Search settings as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to disable Channels, Videos, and Images on WhatsApp
Parents can use parental controls on WhatsApp to block channel access for their child, but if you’re helping a child who is older than 13 years old, you can block images on WhatsApp using alternative methods instead.