WhatsApp is developing a new “secondary account” feature designed to help parents manage their children’s use of the messaging platform while preserving user privacy, according to reports from WA Beta Info.
The feature will allow parents to link a child’s account to their own through a secure digital connection. These secondary accounts will come with built-in restrictions and limited capabilities, aimed at improving safety for younger users. Parents will be able to review and adjust key privacy settings that children often overlook, offering greater control over how the account operates.
“These accounts will have restrictions and limited capabilities,” WA Beta Info reported, noting that messages and calls will automatically be limited to contacts only. This marks a significant shift from WhatsApp’s current setup, which does not allow users to choose whether they want to receive messages and calls from everyone or from contacts only.
The company is positioning the feature as a way to address a long-standing gap in protections for minors. By default, children using secondary accounts will not be exposed to unknown callers or unsolicited messages, a concern frequently raised by parents and digital safety advocates.
While the tool strengthens supervision, WhatsApp says it will not compromise privacy. Parents will not be able to read their child’s chats or listen to calls. Instead, they will receive reports related to account usage patterns, helping them understand how the app is being used without accessing personal conversations.
End-to-end encryption will remain in place, ensuring that messages and calls stay private and inaccessible to anyone outside the conversation. WhatsApp says this balance is intended to support parental guidance without turning the platform into a surveillance tool.
“This setup is meant to support supervision without giving parents direct access to personal conversations,” the report added.
The secondary account system is still under development, with WhatsApp testing how parental controls will integrate with existing account settings. Engineers are refining the interface to ensure parents can easily configure and manage the linked account. Once released, the feature will allow parents to apply age-appropriate settings in a few steps, reducing the risk of accidental exposure to harmful or inappropriate interactions.
WhatsApp has not announced a public release date, but industry observers say the move reflects growing pressure on social media and messaging platforms to provide stronger child-safety tools. Governments and advocacy groups worldwide have called on tech companies to offer clearer parental controls without weakening privacy protections.
If launched widely, the secondary account option could make WhatsApp more appealing to families who currently rely on third-party apps or manual monitoring to keep children safe online. It would also place WhatsApp closer in line with other platforms that already offer youth-focused account types and parental dashboards.
For now, WhatsApp users will have to wait for official confirmation and rollout details. But the company’s latest tests suggest that family-focused account management is becoming a priority as digital safety concerns continue to grow.
