Let all Parents who want to know more about who your kids are talking to with their smartphones, I have good news and bad news. Good news: A popular social media app recently made changes that allow parents and guardians to access more data about the kids they care for ages 13 to 17. Bad news: You must download Snapchat.
Once it’s set up and your account is connected to your kids, Snapchat’s new family center lets you see a list of your kid’s friends, who they’re messaging and reporting to. possibility of abuse. The Family Center does not allow you to view the content of their messages. While the new feature allows you to see the approximate time your child texted someone in the past week, an exact timestamp is not yet available.
It’s not as flashy as what the company has produced recently flying selfie camera, but the family hub is a worthwhile safety feature that might interest parents less familiar with Snapchat. For more guidance on how to find the balance between monitoring your child for safety reasons and unintentionally fostering supervision while at home, see this paragraph from contributor Cyd Harrell.
How to use Snapchat’s Family Center
Yes, you will actually need to download Snapchat on your smartphone to use the home hub. Once downloaded, open the Snapchat app and tap Register If you do not already have an account. The registration process begins with a request to access the contact list on your smartphone (you can allow or deny). Then enter your full name and select Sign up and accept. Enter your date of birth and press Continue.
Snapchat will automatically generate a username for you on the next page. Choose Change my username if you want to adjust it, if not, you can press Continue again. Enter your custom password and phone number or email address to complete the Snapchat signup process. Touch Leap in the top right corner if you want to disconnect with your friends and create Bitmoji Avatar.
So now you have a Snapchat account. Go ahead and add your child as a mutual friend by exchanging usernames or Snap codes. You’re required to connect as different people before you can add your child to the family hub. When you’re ready to set up your home hub, find profile icon in the top left corner of the app’s home screen and tap it. Then choose gear button along the top right and scroll down until you see a section labeled Privacy control.
This is where you’ll meet the new home center console. Since you’re already friends with your child on Snapchat, you can tap their name and give them the chance to sign up as a family member by selecting Send Invitation. The family member invitation is then sent via Snapchat as a direct message with a link to sign up.
Remember that once the family center is activated, you will have direct access to your child’s list of friends on Snapchat and the last time they messaged a user throughout the week. You will not have access to the child’s communication frequency with the user or any saved photos. This feature is designed as an extra layer of security and privacy for minors on Snapchat, and users 18 and older are not eligible to follow.
