Snapchat’s In-app Family Center gives parents peace of mind; How to activate

Care for some tech news, readers? Snapchat has been one of the known social media applications before the online world took over people’s lives. Starting in 2011, Snapchat is an instant messaging application. It popularized the sending of photos and videos that becomes inaccessible after a limited duration.

This 2022, Snapchat introduces its in-app family center where parents can view who their teens are talking to! Wait, wait, wait. Only names appear, not the actual conversation, by the way. However, that is still enough parental control, right? We’ll show you how to activate this Family Center, just proceed to read below for more information!

How to activate Snapchat’s Family Center

If you’re a parent, you may want to read here on how to activate the In-App Family Center. Snap Inc. states, “Today, Snapchat is a central communications tool for young people, and as our community continues to grow, we know parents and caregivers want additional ways to help keep their teens safe.” Without any more talks, so let’s go on with the steps.

  • First, parents should install Snapchat on their phones. If you have an account, you may opt to Log In. If you’re new to the application, Sign Up to create one. Afterward, you can Skip or Create your own Bitmoji to be displayed as your profile photo.Snapchat Family Control 1
  • Secondly, you can access the Family Center through the Search Bar or the Profile Settings. We’ll walk you through both ways. Accordingly, you can locate the Search Bar on the upper left side of the Snapchat interface (see the magnifying glass!). You may search any term related to Family Center (parent, family, family center, etc.), then the Family Center appears. For the Profile Settings, head over to your Profile, then see the gear icon on the upper right side. Scroll to the Privacy Controls, and see the Family Center there.Snapchat Family Control 2
  • Upon accessing Snapchat’s Family Center, you can now invite your teens to join. Do remember that you should be friends with your teen on the application! Also, take note that parents, guardians, or relatives aged 25 years old and above can invite their family to join the control.

    Snapchat 3
    Image Courtesy of Snap Inc.
  • Just a heads up on this safety control, only teens aged 13 to 18 years old can join. Also, the invitation sent out may be seen in direct messages between the parent and the teen. And there you have it, once the teens accept the invite, you can now view the features of Family Center on Snapchat.

The In-App Key Features

Furthermore, one of Snapchat’s valuable features is its safety, which leads to being able to communicate only with your mutual friends which is a relief for parents. However, key features of the Family Center include the following:

  • View and check your teen’s friend list. Parents cannot view the conversations, but you can view their friends on the application. There may be familiar and unfamiliar names on their names, but we hope you can talk it out with your teens calmly! Snap Inc. says, “Family Center is designed to reflect the way that parents engage with their teens in the real world, where parents usually know who their teens are friends with and when they are hanging out – but don’t eavesdrop on their private conversations.”
  • See who they are talking to. We don’t think Snapchat would provide opening their conversations, so these should be enough to give you peace of mind, parents. You can view who your teen is talking to for the past seven (7) days on Snapchat. Snap Inc. added, “In the coming weeks, we will add a new feature that will allow parents to easily view new friends their teens have added.”
  •  Report abuse. Snap Inc. holds safety as one of its goals as it ran Snapchat for almost 12 years now. In this control, parents can easily report concerning accounts of encounters with their teens on the application. You can complain directly to Snapchat, “On Family Center, parents can also easily and confidentially report any accounts that may be concerning directly to our Trust and Safety teams, which work around the clock to help keep Snapchatters safe.”, Snap Inc. adds on their blog post.

More about this Family Center

If you are still hesitant about Snapchat’s safety, you may want to read more. Snap Inc. provides a detailed file about the application’s safety premises, an overview of the Family Center, and what protection is in-store for teenagers.

  • As we mentioned above, they require teens to mutually accept each other before they can start to communicate. Snapchatters aged below 18 must be friends first before chatting with each other.
  • Snapchat bans public profiles of minors and friend lists are private. As they value safety, all accounts of minors are publicly banned to avoid strangers finding or stumbling upon the minors’ accounts. Moreover, all Snapchatters friend lists are made private for protection.

    Snapchat 4
    Image Courtesy of Snap Inc.
  • Discoverability for minors is limited to people they most likely know. To prevent any unwanted circumstances, Snapchat only shows the teens’ accounts to “suggested friends” when mutual friends are present on both parties.
  • Added safeguards for trying to change personal information or break their protection control for minors. With this, Snap Inc. explains, “We prevent younger Snapchatters with existing accounts from updating their birthday to an age of 18 or above. We also use age-gating tools to prevent minors from viewing age-regulated content and ads.”
  • Aside from these, you should read Snapchat’s Parents’ Guide to know more about their application protection and the newest in-app Family Center. You can access the file here or head to Snap Inc.‘s official website.
OTHER NEWS: Xbox Mobile App Now Allows Game Clips Sharing as Snapchat-like Stories

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SOURCES: Snap Inc., Snapchat YouTube, Snapchat

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