WhatsApp parental controls now easier to find on iPhone

WhatsApp is giving iPhone users a dedicated home for parental controls, making a feature that's existed since March far easier to actually find. The setup now sits directly in the app's iOS settings menu, mirroring a change that reached Android last month.

The parents who activate "Parental Controls" on their iPhones will be led through a guided setup screen. They should have their child's phone and their own devices with them. They can scan a QR code or accept an invite from the parent's device before setting up the account.

The accounts are intended for kids below the age limit for using WhatsApp in their regions, mostly 13 years. The parents can decide who contacts the account, what groups to join, can check message requests from unknown contacts, and get notifications when settings change.

Channels, Status, and Meta AI will be disabled, while end-to-end encryption will remain intact.

Instead of having a strict minimum age limit, WhatsApp informs both the parent and the child when the child is getting close to the standard minimum age. After this point, parents are given the flexibility to postpone moving the child's account to a regular one for as long as 12 months.

Under certain regulations, Apple can also provide the age of a child directly to WhatsApp rather than have parents enter it manually.

Parental control accounts have been available at WhatsApp since March; however, there was not much adoption of the feature, as the parents did not know about it. Adding a dedicated setting for this feature in iOS would resolve this issue.