Facebook is rolling out a brand new Messenger app designed for kids. It is aptly named Messenger Kids, and it packs the parental controls you need to ensure your little ones are safe while they stay connected with friends.
It’s near impossible to keep your kids away from smartphones, tablets, and computers. But you don’t have to if you have complete control over the content and services they have access to. That’s what makes Messenger Kids so great.
Messenger Kids uses a parent’s Facebook profile
The app uses your Facebook account, so your youngsters don’t need their own. That means there’s no trace of them on Facebook, and no one can find them by searching their name. Instead, contacts get in touch through you, and you have control over who’s approved.
Messenger Kids and regular Messenger play nicely together, so you can use the adult version of the app to communicate with them, and they can keep in touch with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other approved adults.
Kids also get their own blocking and reporting tools inside Messenger Kids, so if an approved contact does become abusive, they have the power to stop it. Messenger Kids even has a dedicated team behind it that investigates abuse reports.
It also has its own library of emoji characters, GIFs, stickers, and selfie frames.
Messenger Kids is available now
Messenger Kids is available today for iOS users in the U.S., aimed at those aged between 6 and 12. It’s in preview for now, but will later expand its reach to Android and other markets around the world.
