Meta Adds Parental Controls to Threads App

Meta has rolled out parental supervision tools for its Threads application, nearly three years after its initial launch. The new features enable parents and guardians to monitor and limit the amount of time teenagers spend on the app.

Through the Family Center dashboard, parents can view a teen's daily and average weekly usage on Threads. The tools also allow for a daily time limit to be set, regardless of device, and specific periods of the day can be restricted. By default, the app will mute notifications and enable auto-replies between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Parents can also control who may tag teens in posts and manage privacy and sensitive content settings. For users under 16, parents can further decide whether the teen can adjust automatic safety settings. Meta has previously implemented similar parental controls on Instagram and Facebook.

The introduction of these tools comes amid ongoing regulatory pressure and litigation against Meta concerning child safety on social media platforms. Although Meta presents the change as an expansion of existing protections, it marks a significant addition to its largest platform where such features were previously absent. The new controls will begin rolling out in the United States next week, with global expansion planned by the end of 2026.