Facebook has rolled out its Messenger Kids app in more than 70 new countries. The Kids version of the popular instant messaging app is now available to download in a total of 79 countries across Asia, North America, South America, and Oceania. The app is yet to roll out in Europe and Africa.
Launched in December 2017 in the US, Messenger Kids is designed for kids under 13 years of age and comes with built-in child safety protections. The app allows children to chat with people pre-approved by their parents.
However, it has been under fire ever since its debut. Last year, it was revealed that a technical flaw allowed kids to chat with strangers as well. Facebook was quick to address the issue, though.
Now, at a time when schools around the world are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and people are physically distancing, Facebook is giving kids more flexibility to increase their contacts on the app under parental supervision.
Messenger Kids gets new features
Facebook is adding several new features to the Messenger Kids app. Earlier, the app did not allow kids to add any new contacts to their chat.
Only parents could do so. The new Supervised Friending feature now lets kids issue and accept contact invitations on their own.
Parents will be notified of any contact invitations with an option to override them from the Parent Dashboard. The dashboard also shows a log of recent activities.
The second new feature gives parents the ability to approve specific adult individuals to connect with their kids. This is a handy feature that will allow teachers or coaches to stay connected virtually with children through a group during this lockdown period.
Facebook is also making it easier to find contacts with a more flexible profile visibility feature.
Parents can now make their kid’s profile name and photo visible to a select group of people, including “friends of their kid’s contacts and their parents, kids of the parent’s Facebook friends, and kids of people parents invite to download the Messenger Kids app.”
Last, but not least the social media giant is giving parents more control over the Messenger Kids app. Parents can manage who their kid interacts with through the Parent Dashboard. The dashboard also lets parents download their child’s information.
Facebook is currently rolling out the new Messenger Kids features in the US, Canada, and Latin America. They’ll gradually expand to other regions in the coming weeks.