Tips to help keep your child safe on Snapchat
Set up your child's Snapchat account together to make sure they sign up with correct age. This will automatically enable settings that help to limit unwanted contact from adults and access to certain features.
Ensure they toggle off “See Me in Quick Add” (see instructions below). Ensure location sharing is set to “My Friends” or “Ghost Mode,” depending on your comfort (See instructions below). Ensure you've had conversations with your kids about everything, including pornography and predators. Both are abundant on Snapchat.
Common Sense Media rates Snapchat OK for teens 16 and up, mainly because of the exposure to age-inappropriate content and the marketing ploys, such as quizzes, that collect data.
To enable the feature, parents can toggle on the “Restrict Sensitive Content” filter in Snapchat's Family Center. Once enabled, teens will no longer see the blocked content on Stories and Spotlight — the platform's short video section.
Once set-up, parents will be able to see which accounts the teen is having conversations with on the app over the past seven days, without being able to view the content of those messages. They'll also be able to view the teen's friend list and report potential abuse to Snap's Trust & Safety team for review.
Go to Settings and tap Screen Time. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions. Choose the settings that you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.
"But you won't be sitting there at the mall with them listening to their conversations." Similarly, parents cannot see the content that their teen is sending or receiving on Snapchat. They can only view whom their child has communicated with in the past seven days.
What is Snapchat's minimum age? Like many other social networks, the minimum age to use Snapchat is 13 years old.
Parents should consider whether children are mature enough to navigate explicit content and whether they know how to think about the potential impact of what they post. That said, when used responsibly, Snapchat can be a positive outlet for older kids to explore their creativity and connect with friends.
Snapchat is restricted to users over the age of 13. If children under the age of 13 sign up for an account they are given access to 'SnapKidz' which is a limited version of Snapchat that doesn't allow images to be sent to other devices.
The feature can be enabled by selecting “Restrict Sensitive Content” within the Family Center settings. Snap notes that enabling the feature won't restrict the content your child can view elsewhere on the app outside of Snapchat's Stories and Spotlight sections, such as Chat, Snaps, and Search.
Snaps and Chats, including Voice and Video Chats, between you and your friends are private — we don't scan their content to create profiles or show you ads. This means we typically don't know what you're saying or Snapping unless you ask us to (for example, if you opt-in to Voice Chat transcripts).
Go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing > Screen Time. Tap the child you want to set up Screen Time for. Tap Screen Time, then follow the onscreen instructions. For information about Screen Time settings, see Set up Screen Time for a family member on iPhone.
When you create a Google Account for your child with Family Link, you can set screen time limits on their Android device or Chromebook. You can set your child's Android device or Chromebook to lock after they've used it for a certain amount of time or when you think they need downtime.
“Instead they are able to use 'SnapKidz' a version of Snapchat that includes an interface for taking snaps, captioning, drawing, and saving them locally on the device, but does not support sending or receiving snaps or adding friends,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Yes, the minimum age is 13, in compliance with the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Snapchat ask for a date of birth upon sign up, and if the birth date indicates that the user is under 13, they're not allowed to create an account.
To delete a Snap in Chat, press and hold on it and tap 'Delete. ' Your friends will be able to see that a Snap was deleted in Chat.
We prohibit bullying or harassment of any kind. This extends to all forms of sexual harassment, including sending unwanted sexually explicit, suggestive, or nude images to other users. If someone blocks you, you may not contact them from another account.
Snapchat has launched a new parental content control which will block sensitive content for minors. However, the feature is in-app and does not restrict content viewed elsewhere in the app outside of Snapchat stories and spotlight sections.