How to Use Snapchat Family Center to Keep Kids Safer

Over the years, social media apps have added parental controls to help parents manage their children's online presence. 

What is Snapchat Family Center?

As its name suggests, Snapchat Family Center aims to give parents more insight into who their kids are friends with on Snapchat, without actually turning Snapchat into a spying app. Snapchat says the app is designed to 'mirror how parents interact with their kids in the real world,' meaning you'll know who your kids are talking to, but not the content of the conversations.

However, there are some age restrictions before you can use this feature. Your child must be between 13 and 18 years old, and you, as the parent, must be at least 25 years old. Eligible parents will have access to the following features:

1. See the Snapchat friends your child has chatted with in the last 7 days.
2. List of group members in group chats your child has participated in in the past 7 days.
3. A complete list of current and new friends on your child's Snapchat account.
4. Limit your kids' ability to see certain content in the Stories and Spotlight tabs.
5. Disable My AI feature from replying.
6. View your children's birthday settings.
7. Report directly any accounts that may be of concern to parents.

As you can see, Snapchat's Family Center doesn't give you complete control over your child's account, but it does offer enough safety and monitoring features to keep you on track.

Access and set up Family Center on Snapchat

You can access Snapchat Family Center through the 'My Friends' section of your profile or the 'Privacy Controls' option in your account settings. Alternatively, you can simply search for 'Family Center' or related terms in the search bar, which is typically displayed at the top of most in-app screens on Snapchat.

From there, select your child's username from your friends list to send an invitation. Once they accept, you'll immediately have access to all of the features mentioned above. Just make sure you're using the latest version of the Snapchat app, your child is added as a friend on your account, and you both adhere to the age restrictions outlined above.

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Remember that these invites are sent as direct messages to your child's Snapchat inbox, which means they will automatically delete either immediately or 24 hours after your child views them, depending on their self-destruct message settings. So be sure to remind them to accept the invite.

Teens automatically age out of Family Center when they turn 18, so if you don't see your child's profile showing up there, make sure to verify their age settings. This feature also isn't available in all countries, and kids can leave Family Center at any time.

Another thing to note is that the precautions in Family Center, especially the Restrict Sensitive Content setting, may not always be effective. If you have sensitive content restrictions turned on, it only reduces the likelihood of this content appearing on your child's account. It doesn't completely protect them, as some content can slip through the cracks.

The same goes if you've turned off My AI for your child, although this setting is a little more robust. Your child can still send messages to My AI and see when others mention it, but Snapchat's built-in AI bot won't respond to or process your child's queries, and won't be able to respond to them unless you give it permission.

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Children will be notified when you change key settings that control their access to content. However, reporting an account is completely anonymous and does not notify the account you reported or your child when you do so.

Micah Soto

Update 07 September 2024