WhatsApp: Controlling Who Can Add Your Child to Groups

What Changed

WhatsApp includes a privacy setting that controls who can add a user directly to group chats, with the options Everyone, My Contacts, and My Contacts Except. Someone prevented from adding the user directly has to send a private invite instead, which the user can simply ignore. This setting is worth checking on a child's phone because group chats can contain people the child does not know, and it is a simple, effective way to stop strangers pulling them into unwanted groups.

What to Review

• •On your child's phone, open WhatsApp's privacy settings and set the Groups option to 'My Contacts' (or 'My Contacts Except').

Parent Actions