Snapchat announces new Family Center updates to expand parental controls and teen safety tools

Family Centre

• Snapchat adds new parental supervision tools to Family Center for teen safety.
• Parents can now view teens' top contacts and location-sharing preferences
• Updates aim to encourage parent-teen conversations, not direct surveillance

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Snapchat has announced new updates to its Family Center, expanding parental supervision tools designed to support safer digital experiences for teenagers. The updated features aim to give parents greater insight into their teen’s activity on the platform while maintaining privacy around personal conversations. The rollout is global and includes India, where concerns around online safety and teen well-being continue to grow.

Snapchat said the updates are focused on encouraging informed conversations between parents and teens rather than enabling direct surveillance, positioning Family Center as a guidance-led safety feature.

New visibility and interaction insights

One of the key additions to Family Center is enhanced visibility into a teen’s social interactions. Parents can now see which friends their teen has communicated with most frequently over the past seven days. While the content of messages remains private, this feature allows parents to better understand communication patterns and identify unusual or concerning changes early.

Snapchat says this approach balances transparency and privacy, ensuring that teens retain control over their personal chats while parents stay aware of overall activity trends.

Location-sharing transparency and alerts

The update also expands Snap Map transparency. Parents can now view whether their teen is sharing their live location with friends on the platform. This feature does not allow parents to track real-time movement but instead shows location-sharing preferences, enabling families to discuss boundaries around digital location visibility.

In addition, Snapchat has introduced proactive safety prompts within Family Center. Parents may receive alerts encouraging them to talk to their teens if certain activity signals suggest potential risks, reinforcing communication rather than automated intervention.

Focus on teen safety and digital well-being

Snapchat said the Family Center updates are part of its ongoing investment in teen safety tools, alongside content moderation systems, age-appropriate defaults, and in-app reporting features. The company has been under increasing scrutiny globally to improve protections for younger users, particularly around online interactions and exposure risks.

By expanding Family Center capabilities, Snapchat aims to provide parents with meaningful oversight tools while preserving trust with teen users.

Availability

The new Family Center features are rolling out gradually across regions and will be available to parents and teens through the Snapchat app. Users will need to link their accounts within Family Center to access the updated controls.