#Messenger kids for android#

For instance, if a contact is removed from a child’s friend list, then the child will have to get parental approval before that person can be added to their list again. With Messenger Kids, parents are involved every step of the way. They just didn’t feel integrated enough with the experience.” “One of the things parents talked about over and over is that they not only wanted their kids to be safe, but they wanted to be in the loop,” said product management director Loren Cheng. Kids can also report activity they find inappropriate or hurtful, a move that will also send a note to parents letting them know there was an incident such as “Sally reported Bobby.” (It won’t, however, share the allegedly offensive image or message–to see that, you’ll need Sally’s iPad.)

And they can chat with adults who are using the regular Messenger app, so you don’t have to get the entire family on board with a new app just so your child can join.Ĭonversations within Messenger Kids are monitored, and should the app’s AI detect an inappropriate word or image it won’t be sent. Kids have access to a number of kid-approved GIFs, masks, emojis, and sound effects also available to play with that were designed to be appropriate to youngsters in the 6-11 age range. In order to be part of a group video chat, the child will need to have all of the participants on his or her approved friends list. Just as with regular Facebook, Messenger Kids users can send text-based messages to friends and family as well as participate in video chats. Two is that they want to know that the content their child is being exposed to is appropriate, and three they want to have better control over the time and way in which their child spends time with these technologies.” Kid-Appropriate Content “One is they want more control over who their children have contact with when they’re dealing with these technologies. “We heard three things in particular,” said Davis. The latter is an organization that works with military families, which tend to be huge users of messaging apps. They want their child to have fun and explore, but they want to know that they’re safe,” she said.Īs part of the research Facebook conducted for this project, it held roundtables all over the country with organizations such as the national PTA and Blue Star Families. So, if Sally wants to be Messenger Kids friends with Bobby but you don’t know Bobby’s mom and aren’t Facebook friends with her, it will be a no-go until you are.Īt the press briefing, Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety and families, likened a parent signing a kid up to coordinating a playdate. Parents can add friends and family they’re personally connected with–and those users’ kids, if they’re on Messenger Kids–to their offspring’s list of approved chat friends. Once parents create an account, they get to decide who their children are able to talk to.

Kids’ names don’t show up in searches of Messenger users. It’s just not done in a controlled fashion.”Ĭontrol is key to Messenger Kids. “They want to use messaging and they use it today. “Communication is really a basic need,” Facebook’s VP of messaging services David Marcus said at a press briefing about the app.

#Messenger kids for android#

The company plans to offer versions for Android devices and Amazon’s Fire tablets in the coming months. have access to tablets and smartphones, and 68% have a device of their own.)įacebook Kids is available in the App Store for iOS devices starting today. (Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to helping kids thrive in a world of media and technology” estimates that 93% of 6- to 12-year-olds in the U.S. These profiles have most of the features of full-blown Messenger, but messages are sent and received exclusively from a smartphone, tablet, or web-connected device such as an iPod touch and are controlled by Mom and Dad. Instead, parents are able to use their own Facebook accounts to create Messenger profiles for their kids. Children still aren’t allowed to have full-blown Facebook accounts until they’re 13 years old. Now Facebook is offering a solution in the form of a kids-only app called Messenger Kids.