How Snapchat’s New Parental Tools Are a Window Into Your Kid’s Screen Use, Friends Lists, and More

If you’re a parent who ever finds yourself tip-toeing around your teen’s phone and wondering what they’re actually doing on Snapchat, the company just rolled out something that might just fill you in. Consider it “surveillance light.” On January 22, Snap Inc. announced a set of new Family Center tools designed to give parents and guardians deeper insights into how their teens are using Snapchat, but without reading their actual messages—helping to maintain some level of trust and autonomy for your teen or tween. The updates aim to turn parents’ curiosity and concern into productive conversations about healthy screen habits and online safety.

MORE: Snapchat Just Launched a Digital Safety ‘Driver’s Ed’ for Teens — & Parents Are Invited Too

So What’s New? What Can You See?

It’s important to note, Family Center isn’t brand-new. Snapchat first rolled it out in 2022 as a way for parents to see who their teens are friends with and where they’ve been messaging without showing the content of private chats. But with this latest update, the hub gets a little bit more useful.

Here’s what families can now see:

Daily Usage Insights: Parents can view the average amount of time their teen spent on Snapchat over the past week, plus how that time breaks down across key activities. Think: chatting with friends vs. taking Snaps vs. exploring Snap Map. You can also see what your teen is watching across Stories and Spotlight. 

Smarter Friend-list Context: Family Center was already showing you a list of your teen’s Snapchat friends and any new additions over the last week. However, this new update also includes “trust signals” that help explain how a new friend might be connected. For example, do they have shared mutual friends, or is that Snapchat friend saved on your teen’s phone contacts already? Practically speaking, as a parent, this would clue me into if this new Snapchat “friend” is a stranger IRL. 

New Safety and Learning Resources: I don’t know which parents actually have the time and bandwidth to use these and if their kids would be down to watch it, but Snapchat has added a straightforward how-to video inside the Family Center called “The Keys: A Guide to Digital Safety.” This interactive online course is meant to educate teens and families about online risks and how to navigate them together. 

All in all, the Family Center update does not really give adults access to private details of their child’s messages, and is intentional, according to Snap. The company calls this approach a reflection of how real-world relationships work. Parents should know who their kid’s friends are and where they spend their time, but they don’t sit in on every conversation, listening, analyzing, and dissecting every word.

These new tools are meant to give parents and guardians settings without peeking into private chats. These settings also enable parents to limit sensitive content, disable the “My AI” chatbot, share location as a family, and report accounts that might be concerning on their teen’s behalf.

Consider Snapchat’s Family Center a Tool, But Not Your Only Measure 

So, is this enough? Nearly every teen is on social media nowadays, and Snapchat remains one of the most popular platforms for this age group. And, it’s one of the apps parents worry about. Its signature disappearing messages can make it feel opaque and hard to monitor. This feature has its pros and cons. Your teen’s uploaded content and shares aren’t alive forever (which could protect them if they have post regret). But it also means, you as a parent, have no record of things they’ve shared in the past.

Snap offering data points (not really message content itself though), is attempting to strike a balance between privacy and peace of mind. The purpose is to give families a starting point for meaningful talks about habits and connections, but to be honest, you should be having that anyway without monitoring your kid’s social media behaviors and use. 

At the end of the day, tools like this are merely one piece of the puzzle when it comes to navigating your teen’s digital well-being. We’ll take it.

Family Center may help answer questions like “Who is my kid texting?” or “Is my kid spending hours on Snapchat every day?” However, it doesn’t replace the real work you have to partake in as a parent. You know, the kind where you check in with your teen about their social media use, how they feel about their friends both online and offline, and their overall social well-being.

For more details on how to get started with Family Center, you can visit Snapchat’s parent hub at parents.snapchat.com.