Snapchat Launches Family Center Parental Controls in India
Snapchat introduces its Family Center parental controls to users in India, allowing parents to monitor their teens' connections without viewing message content.
Snapchat rolls out its Family Center parental controls to users in India, giving parents and guardians new ways to monitor their teens' activity on the social app. The in-app tool allows parents to see who their teenagers are friends with and who they have messaged in the past seven days, though it does not reveal the actual content of those conversations. Additionally, the feature provides a direct way for parents to report safety concerns and potential abuse to Snap’s Trust and Safety team.
To use the new feature, parents and guardians install the Snapchat app on their own devices and link their accounts to their teens' accounts through an opt-in invite process. Once connected, users access all available controls either through the app's Profile Settings or by searching for "family" or "family center" in the search bar. These parental controls are exclusively available for teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18, aligning with the app's minimum age requirement.
Snap's offering arrives in India a couple of months after its debut in the U.S. and follows similar moves by competitors like Instagram and TikTok. However, Snapchat's version lacks certain restrictions, such as the ability to limit screen time or block app usage after a specific time of day. To support the Indian launch, Snap partners with local nonprofits FXB India Suraksha and CyberPeace Foundation, with plans to collaborate on expanding these parental controls in the future.