Meta-owned WhatsApp has announced a series of new parental controls for teen accounts, giving parents and guardians added tools with which to manage a teenager's experience on the messaging platform.

The new tools are optional and are intended to offer greater oversight and supervision without compromising a teen's privacy.

New WhatsApp Parental Controls for Teenagers

With the latest update, parents can supervise and manage a range of privacy and communication settings on a teenager's WhatsApp account.

For instance, WhatsApp users can pick who can see their teen's profile picture, and who can add their child to WhatsApp groups.

In turn, teenagers will need a parent-set PIN to remove these restrictions and unlock features.

Parents Can Receive Group Activity Alerts

• WhatsApp has also announced parent account enhancements, including the ability to receive group-related notifications and alerts.
• Parents can be notified when a teen joins or leaves an WhatsApp group, or when a group's size increases significantly.
• This will enable parents to keep a greater awareness of group activity related to their teenage child, without having to actually view private conversations.

More Control Over Channels and Status

In addition to regular WhatsApp messages and groups, parents have greater control over WhatsApp Channels and Status.

As with other WhatsApp features, parents can decide what content a teen can access on WhatsApp Channels.

They can also manage Status settings, including who their teen can view and who can see their child's Status updates.

New Controls for Meta AI

WhatsApp's latest parental controls also include options for limiting or managing Meta AI experiences on WhatsApp.

For instance, parents can choose between the default 13+ experience and a more restricted Limited Content option for their teenager's use of WhatsApp AI.

This adds another layer of security, as families can pick the type of AI content a teen can engage with.

Teen Messages Remain Private

WhatsApp's latest parental controls do not enable parents to view their teen's private messages.

WhatsApp states that messages sent and received by teens on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted and can only be viewed by the intended recipient.

Any other individual, including WhatsApp itself, is unable to read or listen to private messages and phone calls.

How to Set Up WhatsApp Parental Controls

WhatsApp's current guidance indicates that parents can enable WhatsApp parental controls from a teen's phone by:

• Opening WhatsApp on a teen's phone
• Navigating to Settings
• Selecting the Parental controls option
• Confirming the teen's birthdate

Following instructions to link the teen's account to a parent's WhatsApp account

The feature is rolling out gradually, and may not be available to all users immediately. WhatsApp also recommends keeping the application up to date in order to access the latest parental controls.

WhatsApp's Growing Focus on Child Safety

The latest updates build on WhatsApp's broader commitment to child safety tools on the platform, including the ability for parents to manage child accounts on WhatsApp.

Earlier this year in 2026, WhatsApp also announced a parent-managed accounts experience for younger children under the age of 13.

This tool enables parents to pick who their child can communicate with on WhatsApp, and set additional communication and privacy restrictions.

The latest WhatsApp 2026 parental controls provide additional child-safety features that enable parents to manage their teenager's WhatsApp experience, including groups, channels and status, without compromising their teen's privacy.