Facebook’s Kids Focused Messenger Service

After bringing a Gaming app for gamers, Facebook is now launching its Messenger Kids app in over 70 new countries. In 2017 the app was launched in the US followed by Canada and Peru in 2018 and now Facebook Kids will be launched in countries like Brazil, Japan, India, Australia, Singapore, and more.

Why the change of plans?

Due to COVID19 kids across the world are forced to stay at home hence they are studying remotely.  To help them learn, Facebook decided to launch Kids focused apps in 70 more countries. Facebook is not the only company taking such initiative. Earlier this month Apple also offered a home read collection for kids.

What is Messenger Kids?

Messenger Kids is a new messaging app designed specifically for children between 6-12 years. Kids can use it on Android, iPhone, iPad.

To use this standalone Kids’ app no separate account is to be created. Messenger Kids app can run and be controlled via the parent’s Facebook account.

Using it kids can make one on one group video chat with the contacts approved by parents. Alongside kids can access a library of GIFs, stickers, frames all created and designed for them.

Is Facebook making some changes or just making it available in other countries?

Certainly, Facebook is making some tweaks to the app. New Parent Dashboard includes:

Contacts and Chat History – See who your child is chatting with, having a video chat and how frequently this takes place in the last 30 days.

Image logs in Chat – See the most recent media files shared. If you find an indecent video or photo removed and report it.

Blocked and Reported Contacts History – See which all contacts your child blocked, unblocked, or reported.

Opt-in– Now parents can opt-in and let their children control the friend’s request. However, parents will still be notified about messenger friends. This is a precautionary measure taken by the company to keep cyber bullying in check. Also, if at any time parents find the added friend as inappropriate, they can override the request.

In addition to this, groups are also changing. Parents will soon be able to approve adults as a coach, teachers, and other parents. This will help manage group chat when its kids who are having it.  Lastly, if parents would want to, they can make their kids’ names and profile photos visible to friends of friends in Latin America, the US, and Canada.

How technology is used

How to set up Facebook Messenger Kids?

First, you will need to download the Messenger Kids app.

Once the app is downloaded, sign in using your credentials.

Upon doing so create a Messenger Kids account.

You are all set; you can now give back your kid his device and let them use Messenger Kids.

Now, comes the important part – parental controls.

To access parental controls for Messenger Kids, head to the Facebook app > More > Messenger Kids. Explore this section to see all the available options.