WhatsApp Launches New Parental Controls for Young Users in Israel
WhatsApp has introduced a new feature in Israel designed to enhance the safety of its youngest users, specifically those under 13 years old. The update aims to strike a balance between cybersecurity and a child's privacy, allowing parents to monitor their children's social interactions without reading their messages.
The core of the new feature is to protect children from unwanted contacts while maintaining the platform's end-to-end encryption. Parents will gain monitoring tools but will not have the technical ability to access message content or listen to calls. By default, children can only communicate with contacts saved in their phone's address book. Any attempt by an unknown person to contact the child will be blocked until parental approval is granted. Similarly, adding a child to new group chats requires adult consent, preventing spontaneous inclusion in potentially harmful conversations.
Parents will receive instant notifications for key events, such as a child attempting to add a new contact, receiving a request from an unknown person, blocking a contact, or reporting a service administrator. To ensure maximum safety, certain features have been disabled for child accounts. These include access to Meta AI, public channels, and viewing user statuses. Additionally, children will not be able to use disappearing messages, send one-time view media, or protect individual chats with a passcode. Network features like real-time location sharing and connecting to auxiliary devices are also disabled.
Setting up the parental controls requires both the parent's and child's smartphones to be physically present. Both devices must have the latest version of WhatsApp installed. The child's device should initiate the account creation process, selecting the option for an adult-managed account. After entering the child's mobile number and confirming their age (under 13), a QR code will appear on the child's phone. The parent scans this code with their device and then sets a six-digit PIN. This PIN is used to manage settings, approve contacts, and adjust access levels, and must be entered on the child's phone to activate the restrictions.
