Snapchat Lets Parents See Who Kids Are Messaging (But Not What They're Saying)
Snapchat this week launched a new supervision tool that lets parents keep tabs on who their teens message, without disclosing the content.
The "Family Center" hub—first unveiled by Snap CEO Evan Spiegel last year and leaked in May—requires both guardian and child to accept an invite before monitoring can take effect.
That said, parents, guardians, or trusted relatives aged 25 and older need a Snap account to get started. Newbies can watch the company's video tutorial(Opens in a new window) (or just ask your kid, since you'll be connecting with them online, anyway).
Once signed up, parents or guardians access Family Center via the Search Bar in the top-left corner of the camera screen. Look for relevant terms like "safety," "family," or "parent" to summon the hub. Or navigate to your profile settings, the feature's permanent home.
Now comes the hard part: inviting your teen to join. You must be friends with someone before asking them to join Family Center, so if your child refuses to accept a request, the whole function is moot. But assuming you cross that first hurdle, look for relatives between the ages of 13 and 18 in a pre-populated list or by searching for specific Snapchatters.
Like regular messages in the ephemeral chat app, invitations are deleted immediately after they're read or within 24 hours of viewing, depending on your teen's settings. So it's probably worth pestering them IRL to press accept.
"With Family Center, you can view your teen's friends list, see who they've been communicating with in the last seven days, [and] easily and confidentially report accounts you may be concerned about directly to our Trust and Safety Team," the company said in an introductory video.
"These tools mirror the way parents
Read more on pcmag.com
