While these things are slight inconveniences for me, I do appreciate that they are thinking about ways to keep kids safe. I was also unable to send my kids links if I needed them to click on something. My daughter can send me a GIF, but I am unable to send her one through regular messenger. The main issues we have in our house are when they want to chat TOO much with their Aunt or Cousin.Īlthough I can understand why they do this, it can be difficult for me to send certain things to my kids because the app is so secured. Since the system is pretty locked down, and Facebook doesn’t require you to actually create an account for your child, it is a very safe app for your kids to use. My children are always sending me videos, emojis and pictures. The app also includes a ton of filters that make it really fun for the kids to use. We have Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and several cousins attached to our kid’s account so they can keep in touch with any of them whenever they want! They can also create groups for chats like an entire chat with just cousins. If you have friends who also have installed Messenger Kids for their children, Facebook will give you a few suggestions of kids you can add to your child’s contact list. You can then manage the child’s contact list from your Facebook account. After you get the parent signed in, you will assign a child to the device. The child will not have a Facebook account of their own, it will all be tied to the parent’s account.
MESSENGER KIDS INSTALL
Once you install Messenger Kids on the child’s device it will ask you to sign into a parent’s Facebook account. Many parents will hand down old devices to their children, and using Messenger Kids is a great way to communicate through those devices, as long as they are connected to WiFi. I love using this application for young kids that may have a device they can play with, but do not currently have service on that device. When a child sends a message to someone on their contact list through Messenger Kids, it automatically is sent to the standard Facebook Messenger.
MESSENGER KIDS DOWNLOAD
The one really great thing about Messenger Kids is that if you are already using regular Facebook Messenger on your phone, you don’t have to download anything else in order to communicate with children using Messenger Kids. The app is called Messenger Kids, and it is actually a really fun way for kids to be able to communicate with friends and family members. A little while ago the company released a new way to allow kids to communicate through the platform without an age restriction or even the requirement of an actual Facebook account. To get started, download the app onto your child’s iDevice from the Apple App Store, authenticate using your own account, and take it from there.Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular messaging platforms available today. It will also raise some serious questions about screen-time, and whether it’s fair that Facebook is effectively grooming young kids to use the full-blown service when they reach of age.įacebook Kids is available from today on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch (although it might not be available in every area).
However, no doubt some will question if, say, six is too young to use even a santized version of Facebook Messenger. It also lacks in-app purchases, so there’s no chance of your child using your credit card to buy credits for Messenger games, Parents will also appreciate that the entire experience is ad-free, and their children’s data won’t be used to target advertisements.
Anecdotes aren’t data, but I’ve got a lot of friends with children under that age point, and many have created their own illicit social networking profiles.įacebook Messenger Kids offers an alternative that shares the features of the mainstream chat app, but is ring-fenced and gives parents the ability to impose some sort of limits. Kids already flout Facebook’s long-established age limit. In many respects, Facebook Messenger Kids is a wise step when it comes to safeguarding. In addition, kids can send text messages and photos.
It includes a number of GIFs too, but these have been curated. Facebook’s augmented reality technology adds a touch of finesse to Facebook Messenger Kids, and users have access to a swathe of age-appropriate stickers and masks.