Hajra Naz
Meta is adding parental supervision tools to Threads. The company announced the new features on Tuesday.
The new features give parents and guardians more control over their teens’ experience. They are available through Meta’s Family Center. The same hub already offers parental controls for Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta apps.
Parents can now see how much time their teens spend on Threads. They can set daily screen time limits. They can also adjust sleep mode and manage certain privacy settings.
The update comes as Meta faces growing pressure over child safety online.
In recent years, lawmakers and regulators have asked social media companies to do more. They want stronger protections for young users. Concerns about screen time, harmful content, and online safety continue to grow.
Meta has gradually expanded parental controls across its apps. Threads is now getting many of the same features.
The company is also dealing with several lawsuits related to child safety. Those legal challenges have added more attention to how its platforms protect younger users.
Threads now has more than 500 million monthly active users. Despite its rapid growth, the app launched in July 2023 without dedicated parental supervision tools.
Read More: Threads is testing a new shortcut designed to make direct messaging easier.
That is finally changing.
Parents will soon be able to review their teen’s Threads activity for the past seven days. They can see how much time was spent on the platform each day, along with the average daily usage for the week.
If they feel their child is spending too much time on the app, they can step in.
The new controls allow parents to set daily time limits. They can also block access during specific hours or on selected days.
These limits work across devices.
If a teen uses Threads on both a phone and a laptop, the total time from both devices counts toward the same daily limit.
Meta is also expanding nighttime protections.
Parents can restrict or completely block access during overnight hours. By default, notifications for teen accounts are already muted between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Automatic replies are also turned on during those hours.
Another feature gives parents more control over interactions. They can decide who is allowed to tag their teen in Threads posts. Teen accounts already include several built-in safety features.
For example, accounts are private by default. Meta also limits the type of content recommended to younger users.
Now parents will have another option.
For teens under the age of 16, parents can decide whether those built-in protections can be changed. They can stop teens from making the settings less restrictive.
The rollout begins next week in the United States.
Meta says it plans to expand parental supervision tools to Threads users around the world before the end of the year.
