An honest review of Messenger Kids safety features

Messenger Kids has become popular over the past few years and is quite trending among kids. But is Messenger Kids safe? Well, for all those parents who have questions that revolve around Messenger Kids, this article is going to serve as your guide to gain an in-depth understanding of how safe Messenger Kids is and everything related to this app that a parent should know before allowing their kids to use it.

Messenger Kids is a place where your kids can indulge in online chit-chats and video calls without joining a conspiracy channel because, in the end, parents have full control over their kid’s messenger apps. Messenger kids hand over the control keys to the parent for all the right reasons. And also it sets up a controlled room where the kids can have a safe space for social interactions.

From approving the contact list of your kids to having a sneak peek into what they send and receive to setting up a time limitation for interactions for your little chatterbox, Messenger Kids allows the parents to be the tech-savvy heroes to control the interactions of their kids.

While keeping your kids entertained, this app helps your child to be more social and stay connected with their friends and relatives.

What is Messenger Kids?

Messenger Kids is a free messaging and video calling app. It allows kids to use the messenger app under the guidance and control of their parents. Owned by Facebook, this app is designed especially for kids, who do not need to have a Facebook account but can indulge in video calls and texting through this app, which is an extension of their parent’s Facebook account.

It is an app designed for kids under 13. Kids are not old enough to have a separate Facebook account because Facebook allows account creation for people who have attained 14 years of age. It is a standalone chat application. Kids can connect with their friends and family under the supervision of their parents.

Is Messenger Kids tied to Facebook?

To use Messenger Kids, your kids do not need to have a Facebook account. Creating a messenger account for the little ones does not need a Facebook account for them. Parents can create a Messenger Kids account for their kids using their own Facebook account without creating a Facebook account for their children.

What is the minimum age for Messenger Kids?

Messenger Kids is created for children under 13 years old. This app has adequate parental controls. By its parental controls, parents can monitor the activities of their kids while they use this app. According to the law, children below 13 years old are not allowed to use social media platforms because of federal law that protects children’s online data.

However, Messenger Kids allows parents to create an account for their kids for messaging and video calling while reserving all the monitoring controls for them.

How does Messenger Kids work?

Messenger Kids allows children to make video calls, group video calls, and send messages while using different stickers, reactions, filters, sound effects, and GIFs. This app also allows the kids to see when their friends are online to start using messaging or video calls.
On the contrary, parents have monitoring controls on the dashboard by which they can manage the experience of their child. Using this feature, parents can decide on the features that they wish to allow their kids to use. And parents can also take control of their contact list.

Do Messenger Kids have parental controls?

Yes, messenger kids have parental controls by which parents can supervise the internet experience of their kids. From having access to their contact list to being able to allow their kids which features to use and even having access to off times, parents have enough monitoring controls to ensure the extent of usage of this app.

• Insight into Kids’ Activities. Parents can gain insight into what their kids are sending, texting, images, videos, chats, etc., to maintain their kids’ safety.
• Sleep Mode for Screen Time Management. Parents can use the sleep mode feature to limit the screen time of their kids.
• Access to Blocked Contacts and Reported Accounts. Parents can have access to the blocked contact list and any account reported by their kids. Parents get a notification for any such blocked and reported accounts and also get to know the reason behind the same, as mentioned by their kids while taking action.
• Device Management. Parents can access all the devices from where their child has logged in to their messenger account, and using the parent dashboard, they can log out from any device they do not want their kids to stay logged in.
• Content control. Parents can also access the latest videos and images shared with their kids. If they find an image offensive or inappropriate, they can remove it from the chat thread and report it.

Is Messenger Kids safe?

Yes, Messenger Kids is safe to use because this app provides enough parental monitoring controls for parents to monitor what their kids are doing at every step. Owing to the parent involvement that this app necessitates, your kids cannot tend to play around the bushes or be secretive in order to make sure that the kids are safe while starting conversations with their friends or strangers.

How safe is Messenger Kids

Messenger Kids app gives parents full parental control over their child’s messenger account. Using the parent dashboard, parents can control what their kids are viewing or doing. From gaining control over their kids’ contact list to accepting or rejecting friend requests and viewing chat history, images, and videos received, parents can keep an eye on everything their kids do on their messenger account.

The kids also can’t delete or get rid of any chat. So parents can monitor their kids’ friends and their chats. They can also remotely log out of any device their kids use the messenger app. Besides, parents can impose time limit restrictions for their kids to use the app and have a log of the total time spent by their kids on this app.

Having parental control ensures the parents that their kids do not fall prey to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying not just comes from strangers but also from someone your kids know or someone from the approved contact list.

However, while you can download your kids’ chat histories, you cannot download the recording of a completed video call. Hence, the Messenger Kids app can be risky if someone happens to bully your child on video calls and you are unaware of it.

This can be a cause of concern if your kids do not inform you about any such activity or event. One advantage of Messenger Kids is that your kids can report or block users, and the parents get a notification about any such accounts.

So, if you find your kids blocking anyone, you can talk to them and find out the reason behind it to ensure that your kids are not cyberbullied.

Is Messenger Kids different from Messenger?

Messenger Kids is somewhat similar to the messenger app that we adults use. At Facebook Messenger we can send messages, videos, GIFs, stickers, initiate a video call, etc. Here is how the two apps are similar and different from each other:

Messenger Kids does not mandate having a separate Facebook account for the kids. Rather, it can be used as an extension of the parent’s Facebook account.

Using the parent’s dashboard, parents can control their kids’ activities and contact and decide with whom their kids can engage in chats and video calls. This is not possible in the Messenger app, as only the account holder can decide on whose request to accept or deny.

The Messenger Kids provides a whole suite of parental controls. It helps protect the kids from landing down into any sort of trouble. The same is not the case in regular Messenger app because, in Messenger no one can access other account.

The Messenger Kids app works exactly like the regular messenger app wherein kids can indulge in group calls, group messages, send text, videos and a lot more.

What happens when a child reports someone on Messenger Kids?

When a child reports someone or any account on Messenger Kids, the parents are notified on their dashboard. Facebook lets parents know about any such blocked accounts, allowing them to talk about the same with their kids to learn what exactly happened to ensure kid protection.

Can parents monitor Messenger Kids?

Yes, parents can monitor Messenger Kids through the parents’ dashboard. Messenger Kids offer robust parental controls to set screen time limits, approve or reject contacts, delete unwanted content and a lot more. But, how do you ensure that you get to know every bit of your child’s Messenger Kids account? FlashGet Kids is the name that you should get acquainted with. It ensures that the parents stay in loop to help the kids have a safe online experience.

FlashGet Kids is an invaluable tool. It provides an additional layer of protection so that the parents can have peace of mind while their kids use Messenger Kids.

FlashGet Kids gives real-time notifications about your kids’ activities. It helps parents stay informed about their little ones’ whereabouts on social media.A new friend, a spike in your kids’ messaging activity—all such notifications are directly received by the parents to achieve a safe and controlled environment for the kids who use Messenger Kids.

FlashGet Kids can monitor content using keyword detection feature. It allows parents to create customized keywords for tracking content exposed to kids. Parents can set up keywords to monitor their kids. This can be helpful in protecting against bullying, receiving inappropriate messages, or any other concerning topic.

As soon as the parents’ defined keywords are detected in their kids’ chats, they get an alert message so that they can take prompt action as necessary. The parents can immediately review the content and take a proactive approach to addressing the issue before it is too late.

How to get started with using FlashGet:

FlashGet can be installed in a few easy steps. Here is how you can get started with it:

• Install: Firstly, the parents will have to install the FlashGet Kids app on their mobile. And then Install FlashGet kids for child on the child’s mobile.
• Register: Next, they will have to sign-in FlashGet account on parents’ mobile by registering themselves and signing in.
• Bind: The last step involves binding the children’s device with the parents’ device to get started with receiving the notifications. For binding, a 9-digit code will appear on the parents’ app. Enter the same code on the child’s app on his/her phone to bind both devices.
• Permissions: Turn on the significant permissions on the child’s device to keep the FlashGet Kids app running in the background.

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