Messenger Kids

1. Create your child's Messenger Kids account from your Facebook account

   Both of you together · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   Every Messenger Kids account has to be set up and managed by a parent's Facebook account. That is what gives you the controls. If Meta won't let you create an account, Meta says your own account may not meet its standards, and if Facebook deleted your child's Messenger Kids account, you will be unable to create another one.

   1. Log into Facebook. Click Messenger Kids in the left menu. If you don't see it, click See more.
   2. Below Accounts you manage, click Create account for child.
   3. Enter your child's first name, last name, and birthday, then Next, then Create Account.
   4. Install the Messenger Kids app on your child's device and verify it with your Facebook login.
   Create a Messenger Kids account

2. Open the Parent Dashboard

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   Almost every control is in this one place. The dashboard lets you add and remove friends, supervise friending, edit your child's name, gender, and birthday, set up sleep mode, download your child's information, and remove or report videos and images. Meta notes: some Parent Dashboard features are only available on mobile. If you can't find something on a computer, try the Facebook app on your phone.

   1. Facebook, then Messenger Kids (left menu; use See more if needed), then your child's name under Accounts you manage.
   Manage your child's Messenger Kids account

3. Choose who approves friends

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   This decides whether your child can add friends without asking you first. Only I can choose friends means friends can only be added or removed from the Parent Dashboard. Any other parent on the account can also edit the list. My child can choose friends is supervised friending: your child can add and remove friends, and you'll be notified every time. You can still add or remove friends yourself. For younger kids, many families start with Only I can choose friends, then switch later. That's our suggestion, not Meta's.

   1. Parent Dashboard, your child, Controls, Friending.
   2. Pick Only I can choose friends, or My child can choose friends.
   3. On the same screen, turn kid codes on or off, and turn on or off whether friends of your child's friends can ask to chat.
   4. When you change these settings, every parent on the account is notified.
   Supervise friending on Messenger Kids

4. Approve or decline friend requests, and remove friends

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   This is how contacts get onto your child's list, and how you take someone off it. You can add or remove friends even if your child is allowed to choose their own.

   1. Approve or decline: Parent Dashboard, your child, Activity, Approve or Delete.
   2. Remove a friend: Parent Dashboard, Friends, Options next to the name, Remove as a friend.
   Review friend requests or remove a friend

5. Add family members from your Facebook friends

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   Grandparents, older siblings, and other trusted adults can message your child from their normal Messenger app. They don't need Messenger Kids. Your child sees only the added person's name and profile picture, not their Facebook page. If a friend's parent isn't on Messenger Kids yet, Invite Other Parents sends them an invitation. The parent you invite can see your child's name and photo, but isn't added as a friend automatically.

   1. Parent Dashboard, Friends, Add Friends, then search or pick a category (Family Members, Other Kids, Your Friends), then Add.
   Connect Facebook contacts with Messenger Kids

6. Check group chats before you opt in

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   Meta's Messenger Kids privacy policy (effective Dec 20, 2023) says a parent can approve each friend request, or can allow the child to make and accept friend requests. It also says the parent may enable the child to join group conversations with Messenger or Messenger Kids users who are not individually approved. A parent has to opt in to that, and can opt out. In plain words: by default your child should only be in groups with people you've approved. We couldn't confirm what the current Parent Dashboard toggle is called (UNVERIFIED). A child who blocks someone still shares group chats with them and can't message them one-on-one. Kids get a warning when a group includes someone they blocked, and can leave group chats at any time (Meta newsroom, Feb 4, 2020). An approved adult such as a teacher or coach can connect your child with other kids whose parents also approved that adult. Once connected through a group, kids will also be able to chat with each other individually. You're notified when new contacts are added (Meta newsroom, Apr 22, 2020).

   1. Don't opt in to groups with people you haven't individually approved. The toggle name is UNVERIFIED, so read the friending and group screens before you turn anything on.
   2. Only approve group adults (teachers, coaches) you actually know, because it opens one-on-one chat between the kids in that group.
   3. Check recent contacts and chat history for group activity.
   Messenger Kids privacy policy

7. Know the group-chat allegations are still unproven

   In a browser · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   In a May 3, 2023 press release, the FTC said that from late 2017 until mid-2019 Facebook misrepresented that parents could control whom their children communicated with through Messenger Kids, and that children in certain circumstances were able to communicate with unapproved contacts in group text chats and group video calls. The FTC says this violated its 2012 order, the FTC Act, and the COPPA Rule. These are still allegations. Meta has contested the proceeding. There has been no final ruling. On July 30, 2025 the FTC stayed its show-cause proceeding pending final resolution of United States v. Facebook, No. 19-cv-2184, and Meta Platforms v. FTC, No. 23-cv-03562. The stay is still in effect. As of Sep 30, 2026, the FTC case page lists nothing filed after the stay. A Sep 10, 2026 minute order in No. 23-cv-03562 sets the next joint status report for 30 days after the ruling in No. 19-cv-2184 or Dec 7, 2026, whichever comes first. We found no Meta newsroom post about the 2019 flaw. The Verge (July 22, 2019, a news report, not an official Meta page) published the alert Facebook sent parents and quoted a Facebook representative saying the affected chats were turned off. The flaw was reportedly fixed in July 2019. Approved contacts only still depends on the app's code working.

   1. Check chat history and images now and then. Don't treat "approved contacts only" as a guarantee.
   2. The official status is the FTC case page and the July 30, 2025 stay order (https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/c4365_2025.07.30_commission_order_staying_proceeding__0.pdf). The next status report is no later than Dec 7, 2026.
   FTC case page, Facebook, Inc. (C-4365)

8. Set sleep mode

   On your phone · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   During sleep mode your child can't use the app at all. The settings stay in place until you change them. A separate help article, "Set time limits or schedule breaks for your child's Messenger Kids profile," is for the profile-in-Messenger version. We couldn't read it from our location (UNVERIFIED). No daily time allowance is described for the classic app.

   1. Parent Dashboard, Controls, Sleep mode.
   2. Toggle on During the week and/or On Weekends, set start and stop times, then Save.
   Set up Messenger Kids sleep mode

9. Know how block and report alerts reach you

   Both of you together · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

   Your child can block or report someone on their own, and you get told when they do. You will be notified when your child creates a report. Parents will continue to be notified via Messenger if their child blocks or reports someone. Chats with blocked contacts stay in the inbox so parents can see them (Meta newsroom, Feb 4, 2020). Kids can unblock on their own. Tell your child that blocking or reporting isn't getting in trouble, and that you'd rather hear about it.

   1. Your child reports in the Messenger Kids app: open the chat, tap the person's photo, Report, choose reasons, optionally type what happened, Next, Done.
   2. To review it: Parent Dashboard, your child's photo, Activity, Updates to friends. You can remove reported content from the mobile app.
   3. If someone keeps coming back after a block, remove them from Friends yourself.
   View reports your child makes

10. Check images, and download their information if you need the messages

    In a browser · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

    You can see the contact list, recent contacts (who they chat with, whether by message or video, and how often), images and videos from current friends, reported and blocked history, and the device list. Meta said in Feb 2020 that recent contacts and chat history cover the past 30 days. We couldn't find that 30-day window on a current help page (UNVERIFIED as current). Text message content is not in the dashboard view of the classic app. It is in the download file: contacts as well as the messages, images, and videos. The download is password protected, and your child is notified that you downloaded it. Meta shows kids an in-app explainer saying parents can see and download their messaging content (newsroom, 2020). Video and audio calls are not recorded, so you cannot review them. Whether kids still can't delete messages is UNVERIFIED: that line is only in the 2020 newsroom post, not a current help page or the Dec 20, 2023 privacy policy.

    1. Images and videos: Parent Dashboard, Activity, Images in Chats. Click an image, Remove, Remove Image, and optionally Report this image. Only images from current friends appear.
    2. Download, on a computer: Parent Dashboard, Controls, Download their information, Create files. You get a Facebook notification when it's ready.
    3. Removing an image only removes it for your child. Other people in the chat and their parents will still be able to see the images or videos.
    Download your child's Messenger Kids information

11. Add a second parent, and check devices

    In a browser · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

    Two parents can share supervision. Any parent you add also gets full access: they can manage the account and controls, authorize additional devices, see your child's content, and they become your child's friend. The primary parent can remove them. They need an active Facebook account. The Parent Dashboard shows all devices where your child is logged in and lets you log out any of them. Meta says this is not a time control. Use sleep mode for that.

    1. On a computer: Parent Dashboard, your child, Controls, the parent's name under Parents/Guardians, Add additional parent or guardian, search, Add, Done.
    2. Check the device list and log out anything you don't recognize.
    Add another Messenger Kids parent

12. Delete the account when they outgrow it

    In a browser · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

    Meta also says it deletes inactive accounts. The privacy policy says deleting the account removes your child's information from its systems, including their copy of messages, unless Meta needs to keep it for reasons listed in the policy.

    1. On a computer, log into Facebook, Messenger Kids, the account under Accounts you manage, Controls, under Parental Controls choose Edit Info, Delete Account, Confirm.
    Deleting a Messenger Kids account

13. Close the workarounds

    Both of you together · ages 5–12 · checked 30 Sep 2026

    Messenger Kids controls stop at this app. These are warning signs and the lock, not instructions for getting around it. Your child's name and photo are visible to approved contacts, those contacts' parents, your Facebook friends who manage Messenger Kids accounts, and people you invite. You can widen this further, and you can change some visibility.

    1. A new Messenger or Facebook app can mean a regular account with a fake birthday. Facebook's terms bar under-13s. Require approval for new apps: Ask to Buy on iPhone, Family Link app approvals on Android. Keep the device's age accurate.
    2. New names in Friends, or a notification that your child added someone: Controls, Friending, Only I can choose friends, and turn off kid codes and friends-of-friends.
    3. Unknown names in a group: don't opt in to non-approved groups, approve only group adults you know, and review Activity.
    4. A new device in the Parent Dashboard device list: log it out. Any added parent can authorize devices.
    5. Late activity: sleep mode, plus device downtime in Screen Time or Family Link.
    6. Friends from Messenger Kids showing up in texts or games: those controls don't carry over. Use the Text messaging card.
    Supervise friending on Messenger Kids

How we check lists what was left off Messenger Kids.