TikTok has announced that it is expanding its parental controls, adding new features aimed at "supporting parents and helping teens build balanced digital habits." One of the biggest additions is Time Away, a feature in Family Pairing that lets parents decide when their teens should take a break from the app.
Parents can create a custom schedule to limit app access, ensuring teens stay offline during school, get enough rest at night, or take a break to focus on family time. If something comes up and more time is needed, teens can send a request, but the final call is still up to the parents.
There's also a new feature that allows parents to see who their teens are following, who's following them, and the accounts their teen has blocked. TikTok says that in the coming months, teens will have the option to notify a parent or trusted adult when they report a video for potentially breaking the platform’s rules.
Parents will have more control over their teen’s settings, too. They can turn the STEM feed back on if their teen disabled it, set daily screen time limits that fit their family’s routine, and even switch their teen’s account back to private if it was made public.
TikTok is also introducing a new wind down feature, that according to the company will " encourage young people to switch off at night." This feature is somewhat similar to the Sleep Timer feature which YouTube expanded to all mobile users last October.
The way it works is simple: if a teen under 16 is still on TikTok after 10 PM, their For You feed gets interrupted by a full-screen prompt with calming music, reminding them to take a break. If they continue scrolling, a second, harder-to-dismiss reminder appears.
The company also says it will be adding meditation exercises to the wind down reminder because, according to it, "research shows that mindful meditation can improve sleep quality."
TikTok is home to over 1 billion users worldwide, with a substantial portion of its audience being teenagers. In the U.S. alone, where its fate hangs in the balance, it has over 100 million users.
The platform has come under scrutiny several times in the past over its collection of personal data from minors without parental consent, violating children's privacy laws.
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