Short answer: On September 30, 2026, WhatsApp added optional parental controls for teens 13 to 17. You set them up on your teen's phone and link them to WhatsApp on yours. After that, a parent PIN is needed to loosen their privacy settings, you get alerts about things like new contacts and groups, and you choose how Meta AI, Channels, and Status work for them. You can't read their messages or listen to their calls. And it's rolling out gradually, so it may not be on your phones yet.
Last verified 2026-10-05 against the official sources listed with this post.
Raising Bytes is written by a dad of three who works in cybersecurity, and this is a change worth sitting down for. Here's what it does, what it doesn't, and how to set it up together.
If someone is threatening your child, demanding money or photos, or asking to meet, stop here and go to our Something happened? page.
Who this is for
- 13 to 17: this new feature. WhatsApp's terms say you must be at least 13 to register on your own (or older where a country requires it).
- Under 13: WhatsApp offers a different, stricter option called a parent-managed account. Our WhatsApp card covers it.
- Ages 13–17 only: WhatsApp's setup asks for the teen's birthday and confirms they are 13 to 17. If Parental controls isn't offered on their phone after an update, or their age confirms as 18+, use the manual settings below instead.
Have this ready
Before you start: your teen's unlocked phone, WhatsApp updated on both phones, your phone with a working camera for the QR code, and a teen who is willing to link. WhatsApp says both of you have to agree. If they refuse, stop — you can't force the link.
Do this tonight
Sit down together with both phones. The parent must be 18 or older.
- Update WhatsApp on both phones. WhatsApp says parental controls need the latest version of WhatsApp for iPhone or Android.
- Start on your teen's phone. Open WhatsApp and go to Settings → Parental controls → Continue. Enter your teen's birthday, confirm their age, then tap Continue to link to a parent's account.
- Link from your phone. Scan the QR code on your teen's phone with your phone's camera and tap the link to open WhatsApp. Tap Continue, verify you're an adult, and create a 6-digit parent PIN. Confirm it, tap Continue, then Done.
- Finish on your teen's phone. Enter your parent PIN, review their privacy settings and features, then tap Continue → Done. WhatsApp then says to ask your teen to read about their new WhatsApp experience and tap OK.
- Keep the PIN to yourself. WhatsApp says the PIN is needed to make changes to your teen's privacy settings and shouldn't be shared with your teen. To change it later, open WhatsApp on your phone: Settings → Parental controls, tap the menu (⋯ or ⋮) next to your teen's account, then Change parent PIN.
Don't see "Parental controls" in Settings? WhatsApp says it's rolling out gradually and may not be available in your region yet. It suggests keeping WhatsApp updated. In the meantime, the manual settings below still work.
The four choices to make together
All four live on your teen's phone under Settings → Parental controls, behind your PIN.
1. Privacy settings. Tap Privacy settings, then the setting you want to change, and choose from Everyone, My contacts, My contacts except…, Only share with…, or Nobody, depending on the setting. WhatsApp's announcement names two examples: who can see your teen's profile photo and who can add them to groups. Your teen can see their own settings under Settings → Privacy, but WhatsApp says loosening them needs your PIN.
Invite links still work. Group privacy settings only apply when someone tries to add your teen to a group directly. Your teen can still choose to join a group from an invite link. Talk about which groups are worth joining.
2. Meta AI. Tap Meta AI and pick:
- Standard (the default): WhatsApp says this lets your teen discuss topics "generally aligned with content ratings for users 13+."
- Limited: further restricts the topics your teen can discuss. WhatsApp notes that some Meta AI features that keep chats more private on the device aren't available with this setting.
3. Channels. Channels are public feeds from people and organizations inside WhatsApp, not private chats. Tap Channels and choose All (the default), Parent-approved only, or None. There's also a switch for whether your teen can create channels (on by default). Changing these won't remove channels your teen already follows or created.
4. Status (two different menus). Don't mix these up:
- Parental controls → Status: whose status updates your teen can watch. Default is their contacts.
- Parental controls → Privacy settings → Status: who can see your teen's own statuses. Default is their contacts.
Both offer contacts except some people, selected contacts, or Nobody.
What you'll see, and what you won't
What you'll see. On your own phone, go to Settings → Parental controls and select your teen's account to see their activity. WhatsApp's help page gives examples like when your teen adds a new contact or a group they're in grows. WhatsApp says you'll get notifications about important activity, like a profile photo change, and you can choose others. The notification types it lists are:
- Contacts: when a contact is added.
- Groups: when a group chat is created or joined.
- Account updates: when your teen's name or profile picture is changed.
To choose them: on your phone, go to Settings → Parental controls, tap the menu (⋯ or ⋮) next to your teen's account, then Manage notifications, and turn each type on or off.
What you won't see. WhatsApp says end-to-end encryption keeps personal messages and calls between your teen and the person they're talking to: "No one outside of the chat, not even the parent or WhatsApp, can read, listen to, or share them." That's worth saying out loud to your teen. This is a set of guardrails, not a way to read their chats.
The fine print worth knowing
- It's optional, and it can be undone. You can unlink at any time from your phone: Settings → Parental controls, tap the menu (⋯ or ⋮) next to your teen's account, then Unlink account → Unlink account → Unlink. WhatsApp says if a teen wants to unlink from their own phone, a parent has to enter the parent PIN to approve it.
- It ends at 18. WhatsApp says parents get a notification as their teen reaches 18. Then the controls and activity alerts stop, and their privacy settings go back to WhatsApp's defaults, which your teen manages on their own.
- Invite links still work (same gotcha as under Privacy settings above). Group privacy doesn't block joining via invite link.
- It's not everywhere yet. WhatsApp's help pages for this feature say it's rolling out gradually.
If the new controls haven't reached you yet
These are WhatsApp's regular settings, and they work today on your teen's phone (including if teen parental controls aren't available):
- Groups: Settings → Privacy → Groups, then choose My contacts. WhatsApp says the default is Everyone, which lets anyone with your teen's number add them to a group. Invite links can still let them join groups they choose.
- Profile photo and online status: under Settings → Privacy. WhatsApp says that by default any user can see your profile photo, read receipts, and when you're online. Choose My contacts or Nobody where it makes sense.
- Unknown callers: Settings → Privacy → Calls, then turn on Silence unknown callers. Those calls still show up in the Calls tab, but the phone won't ring.
- Two-step verification: Settings → Account → Two-step verification, turn it on, and create a password. WhatsApp says it's moving two-step verification from a 6-digit PIN to a password.
Our WhatsApp card walks through these step by step.
The two-minute talk
WhatsApp's own tips for parents: walk through privacy settings together, talk about what to keep private, show your teen how to block and report, talk about bullying and harassment, and remind them they can come to you. When you report someone, WhatsApp says it gets up to five of the most recent messages that person sent you, and the person isn't told.
You might try: "This doesn't let me read your chats. It means I get a heads-up when you join a new group or add someone, and we agree on the settings together. If anything ever feels off, come get me. You won't be in trouble."
Where this fits
WhatsApp has its own settings, separate from the phone's. Our text messaging guide explains which chats the phone's own settings cover and which apps need their own setup. If your teen also uses Instagram, see our Instagram Teen Accounts guide.
Our free checklist covers WhatsApp and your kids' other apps, with no login needed. Setup Coach: $19 once, for every kid in the family. It is never priced per child. The settings checklist stays free. Setup Coach is the walkthrough, plus an email when a verified setting changes, for 12 months.
Guidance, not a guarantee. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the companies named.
App names are trademarks of their owners.