Snapchat is updating its parental control features to give parents more detailed information about who their kids are connecting with in the app and which features they use the most. The app’s Family Center already gives parents visibility into their child’s friend list, but it will now surface contextual details when a new friend is added.
For example, the feature could highlight that the two share mutual friends or have each other’s contact info saved in their phones. It could also indicate that they are classmates if both users have joined the same in-app “community.” If the two have no commonalities, then that could be a sign for a parent to “start a productive conversation,” Snap says.
The company has long been criticized for making it too easy for teenagers to talk to strangers. The issue has come up in safety-related lawsuits, including an ongoing case brought by New Mexico’s Attorney General. Snap says that adding additional “trust signals” to its parental control features “make it easier for parents to understand new connections and have greater confidence that their teen is chatting with someone they know in real life.”
The update is also adding more granular stats about how exactly teens are spending their time in the app. Family Center’s screen time dashboard now includes a breakdown of how much of their time spent in the app is in its messaging, camera, map or shortform video features. It will still be up to parents to decide what, if any, limits they want to put on their teens. But at a time when there’s increasing conversation around banning teens from social media entirely, having access to more stats could better help parents understand their kids’ relationship with Snapchat.
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