Updated on: December 20, 2024
Snapchat isn’t the safest place for kids. As with all social media platforms, there’s the risk of your kids encountering inappropriate content or interacting with cyberbullies, trolls, and online predators. The app is also built to be addictive, and I really don’t like how your kid can share their location 24/7.
The good news is that the app has built-in parental controls that allow you to see things like who your kid has been chatting with and restrict their ability to view certain content.
I recommend getting a good parental control app like Bark for Snapchat. There are many things that Snapchat’s built-in controls can’t do but third-party parental controls can, such as limiting how much time your child spends on the app.
How Does Snapchat Work?
Snapchat is a popular social media app designed primarily for sharing photos and videos, called Snaps, with friends and followers. Users can also text their friends and make voice and video calls.
Here are some of Snapchat’s key features:
- Stories. A collection of Snaps from friends, creators, or publishers shared in a narrative format. These typically last for 24 hours and can include photos, videos, and text.
- Spotlight. A place where you can find short-form videos posted by other users (or post your own). These videos are often funny, creative, or viral. It’s very similar to TikTok — there’s a For You page where your kid can find videos posted by anyone who shares their short videos publicly and a Following page that shows videos from users your kid follows on Snapchat.
- Discover. A curated section featuring content from well-known media outlets, brands, influencers, and verified creators. Discover offers users news, entertainment, and branded stories.
- Snap Map. A real-time map feature that lets users see the locations of friends and nearby events or activities.
- Filters and Lenses. Fun effects that users can apply to their Snaps. These include animations, augmented reality (AR) features, and creative overlays that add playful and artistic elements to photos and videos.
- My AI. A personalized AI chatbot that uses information provided by the user (including their location) to provide useful and relevant responses.
What Are the Risks of Snapchat?
- Inappropriate content. Snapchat allows users to post short videos publicly for everyone to see in the Spotlight section (even if your kid doesn’t follow them). They can also see public Stories from users and find more content on the Discover page. Some of the publicly posted content may contain inappropriate or mature themes.
- Inappropriate interactions. By default, all chats and media shared on Snapchat disappear after 24 hours or after being viewed. This can encourage negative interactions, such as cyberbullying, or sexting, and leaves little evidence for adults to observe and intervene if necessary.
- False sense of security. Kids might believe their Snaps and messages are safe because they disappear. But anyone who received them can take a screenshot or use screen recording tools to save content permanently.
- Exposure to strangers. Snapchat prevents users who aren’t in your kid’s friends list or phone contacts from messaging them directly, but anyone can send your kid unsolicited friend requests. Your kid can also see comments from strangers on public Stories and Spotlights.
- Pressure to share. Kids may feel pressured to share personal images or participate in trends to gain validation through likes, views, or comments. This can contribute to unhealthy comparisons, risky behaviors, or exposure to harmful challenges.
- Privacy concerns. Snapchat collects a significant amount of user data, including location, photos, usage patterns, and My AI conversations, for targeted advertising and app optimization. If location-sharing is enabled, features like Snap Map also allow others to see your kid’s location in real-time.
- Addiction and overuse. Many of Snapchat’s features are built to encourage constant engagement, such as Snapstreaks, which tracks consecutive days of interaction with friends. This may lead kids to spend excessive time on the app.
- Scams and phishing. As with any platform where users can send or post links, there’s a risk that your kid may click on a malicious link that sends them to a malware-infected site or a phishing page designed to steal sensitive personal information.
- In-app purchases. Snapchat is free to use but offers in-app purchases for premium features ranging from functional to aesthetic, so there’s a risk that kids might make unapproved purchases.
What Age Is Snapchat Appropriate For?
Snapchat’s Terms of Service state that users must be at least 13 years old to create an account. The Google Play Store and Apple App Store similarly rate Snapchat 12+ due to its in-app purchases and location-sharing function.
These are just rough guidelines based on generalizations. Every kid is different, and considering the potential risks of Snapchat it’s important to carefully weigh whether or not your kid is mature enough to use the app responsibly at the age of 13.
Note that while Snapchat requires users to input their birthdate during registration, there’s no age verification process. This means that kids under 13 could potentially create an account by lying about their age.
How to Keep Your Kids Safe on Snapchat
You can create a safer environment for your kid on Snapchat by making good use of its built-in parental controls and third-party tools, and educating your kid about online safety. Here are some tips on how to do so:
1. Install a Good Quality Parental Control App
Getting a good third-party parental control app like Bark can greatly improve your ability to keep your kids safe on Snapchat. This is because Snapchat’s built-in parental controls aren’t very comprehensive on their own. Here are some things that a parental control app can do for you:
- Monitor your kid’s interactions. Scan your kid’s messages, searches, and AI chat for potential issues, like cyberbullying and sexting, and get alerted immediately if it happens. This works for disappearing messages, too!
- Manage your kid’s screen time. Limit how much time your kid spends on Snapchat.
- Restrict Snapchat usage to certain times. You can schedule when Snapchat is and isn’t available throughout a day or week.
- Block Snapchat. You can stop your kid from accessing Snapchat entirely by blocking both its web version and its app.
- Get detailed activity reports. Find out how much your kid uses Snapchat and when they use it.
2. Create Your Kid’s Snapchat Account for Them
Snapchat has some safeguards for teen accounts, including:
- Teens can only have 1-on-1 chats with friends or phone contacts.
- Teen accounts won’t show up in search results unless there are mutual friends or the searcher is a phone contact.
- Teens receive a warning when friending or chatting with someone who doesn’t share mutual friends or isn’t a phone contact.
- Location sharing is turned off by default.
- Only teens aged 16–17 have access to Public Profiles, with limitations such as: Public Stories are only recommended to friends, followers, or those with mutual friends; they can’t see how many people favorited their content; and they only see Story replies from followers.
- Teens aren’t shown inappropriate content on Spotlight and Discover.
- Teens aren’t shown age-inappropriate ads, such as those for gambling or alcohol.
These safeguards only work if your child enters their real birth date when creating their account, and there’s no age verification process. This is why it’s important to either create an account for your child or do it together to ensure these protections are properly set up.
3. Use Snapchat’s Built-In Parental Controls
In Family Centre, you can check your child’s friend list and who they’ve chatted with in the last 7 days, disable My AI, and toggle on Restrict Sensitive Content, which filters out sensitive content from Stories and Spotlight.
To access Snapchat’s built-in parental controls (Family Centre), you’ll need your own Snapchat account. Simply follow these 4 simple steps:
- Tap your Bitmoji or Story icon at the top left to go to My Profile.
- Tap the cogwheel icon in the top right for the settings menu.
- Scroll down and find Family Centre under the Privacy Control section and tap on it.
- Send an invitation to your teen to join Family Centre.
4. Adjust Your Child’s Location-Sharing Settings
Location sharing is off by default, but your child may have turned it on accidentally. When turned on, your child’s real-time location is shared with everyone on their friends list, and Snapchat will also be able to use your child’s location to target them with ads and personalized content.
To adjust your child’s location-sharing settings for Snapchat:
- Go to the Map tab.
- Tap on the cogwheel in the top right corner.
- Tap Update Location Settings and then tap Continue.
- Select Don’t allow if you want to disable location sharing entirely. Select Allow only while using the app if you just want Snapchat to stop sharing their location when the app isn’t open.
Snapchat also has a feature called Ghost Mode. When turned on, it’ll hide your child’s location on Snap Map — either from everyone on their friend list or from specific friends. Note that Ghost Mode doesn’t stop Snapchat from collecting your child’s location data.
To turn on Ghost Mode:
- Go to the Map tab.
- Tap on the cogwheel in the top right corner.
- Select who you want to hide your child’s location from.
- Toggle on Ghost Mode and select how long you want it to be on for.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to prevent your kid from changing their location-sharing settings.
5. Adjust Privacy Settings
In your kid’s Snapchat, there are some settings I recommend adjusting to maximize their privacy. You can prevent strangers from finding your kid’s Snapchat profile using their phone number by following these steps:
- On the main screen of the app, tap your kid’s Bitmoji or Story icon at the top left to go to My Profile.
- Tap the cogwheel icon in the top right to go to the settings menu.
- Under the My Account section, tap on Mobile Number and uncheck Let others find me using my mobile number.
You can also stop Snapchat from showing your kid as a suggested friend to other users (they’ll have to get your kid’s Snapchat handle to add them). To do this:
- On the main screen of the app, tap your kid’s Bitmoji or Story icon at the top left to go to My Profile.
- Tap the cogwheel icon in the top right to go to the settings menu.
- Under the Privacy Control section, tap on See Me in Quick Add and uncheck Show me in Quick Add.
6. Install Antivirus Software
Installing good antivirus software on your kid’s device helps protect them from scammers and hackers who send malicious links through Snapchat’s chat feature. Clicking on these links can install malware on your child’s device or steal their personal information. Antivirus software also detects any malicious third-party apps your child might download to enhance their Snapchat experience.
I recommend getting Norton because of its top-notch malware detection rates and excellent web protection. In my tests, it prevented me from visiting known phishing pages and malware-infected sites and stopped me from downloading malware-infected files.
7. Teach Your Kid About Online Safety
If your child is using Snapchat, it’s important to have an open conversation about how to use the platform safely and responsibly.
I recommend starting by discussing the app’s features and explaining the potential risks associated with them. Teach them why it’s dangerous to share personal information online and remind them that even disappearing Snaps can be screenshotted or saved by others.
You should also emphasize the importance of rejecting friend requests from strangers, teach them how to recognize potential scams or phishing attempts, and let them know that they can always come talk to you if they experience an uncomfortable interaction or encounter inappropriate content.
Is Snapchat Secure?
Snapchat offers some security features, but like any online platform it’s not entirely risk-free. It uses end-to-end encryption for Snaps (photos and videos shared in private chats), meaning only the sender and recipient can view them. However, text messages, Stories, Snap Map submissions, and content shared with My AI are not end-to-end encrypted.
These are only encrypted during transmission, which stops hackers from intercepting communications or anyone else from eavesdropping on the data traffic. Still, Snapchat can read everything once the content reaches its servers.
Snapchat also collects data like location, usage statistics, and device info, which it then uses to serve users with personalized ads and improve app performance. You and your kid can control some data sharing via in-app options in the Settings menu, but it’s not possible to use the app without providing some information.
To protect your child’s account, Snapchat offers two-factor authentication (2FA), requiring a second code (via an app or SMS) in addition to the password when logging in on a new device. This adds an extra layer of security to help prevent unauthorized access.
In summary, Snapchat is just as secure as most social media apps. It does provide end-to-end encryption for some content, but Snapchat itself can access most of the data that’s flowing back and forth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I let my 12-year-old use Snapchat?
Technically, a 12-year-old isn’t allowed to use Snapchat — the platform’s Terms of Service state that users must be at least 13 years old. This restriction is due to the possibility of encountering inappropriate content, cyberbullies, trolls, online predators, etc. on the app, as well as the risk of addiction and overuse, among other things.
Can Snapchat be monitored by parents?
Sort of. Snapchat offers built-in parental controls in the form of Family Centre. But Family Centre has very limited capabilities. For example, it won’t let you read your kid’s chat messages or limit how much time your kid spends on the app.
This is why I recommend supplementing Snapchat’s built-in parental controls with a good third-party parental control app like Bark, which can scan your kid’s chat Snapchat messages and alert you of any potential issues.
Is there adult content on Snapchat?
Pornographic content is prohibited on Snapchat, but some of the public areas, like Spotlight or Discover, may occasionally feature content that isn’t appropriate for kids or teens, such as suggestive images, mature themes, or controversial topics.
Snapchat tries to remove harmful or explicit content, but not everything gets caught. Additionally, because users can send private Snaps and messages, there’s always a risk that someone could share inappropriate material directly with your kid.
You can mitigate the risks by installing a third-party parental control app with social media monitoring, ensuring that your kid uses their actual age for their account and making use of Snapchat’s built-in parental controls.
How much data does Snapchat collect about my child?
Snapchat collects quite a bit of data on its users, including their phone number, date of birth, user-generated content like photos and videos, usage information, device information, location data, and more.