Despite the fact that Facebook’s Messenger is currently used by millions of people worldwide, the safety has always been a concern, especially of our children’s. Seems like Facebook has figured it out. The social networking giant has officially unveiled the new messenger app dubbed as Messenger Kids. The app has already hit the App Store, whilst it will be available soon in Google Play Store. The new text and video chatting app from Facebook is mainly targeted for kids under age 13; similar to the YouTube Kids which is a child-friendly video app from Google.
Messenger Kids run through a regular Facebook account owned by a parent. The Messenger Kids app has to be installed on the child’s device then it should be authenticated via parent’s account to set the child’s profile. Though, the child won’t have access to his/her parent’s account as the account is only for the authentication processes.
The new Messenger Kids is more colorful, has different filters in video calling functionality and a library of specially curated GIFS, stickers, and other tools for kids. Similarly, on the safety side, we can see that the contact on the child’s account can only be added via parents’ account. So, chatting and adding friends can be done but only through the parental approval.
Meanwhile, there are certain obstacles when it comes to adding another friend as the child who is attempting to do that has to be friend with the parent of that friend. But, this thing totally complements the purpose of the app when we talk about safety. Thus, the popularity and the usage of the app would definitely be the interesting topic to look forward.
Facebook also confirms that the new Messenger Kids will not contain any in-app purchases and the information of the child will not be used for ad purposes in any possible way.
