TikTok is a success. The app has managed to attract all kinds of users, but especially the younger generation. For them, this way of creating and consuming content is very comfortable and familiar. But for parents things change and it can be a problem. So if you are one of those concerned adults and you want to control how your little ones use the platform, we are going to teach you what it is and how to use it. Family Safety Mode.
What should we worry about TikTok?
When we talk about our children things get serious and It is mandatory that we take your safety with the importance that deserves while using a new social network. At this point there are two major risk factors that we must take care of and prevent.
- On the one hand third party activity that can surround your children on a daily basis, and that both friends and family members and, of course, potential unknown profiles.
- and for another the activity itself that your children carry out, whom you must instruct in what are considered good practices: nothing to commit to intimate content, cut back on their exposure, etc.
As TikTok itself reveals, it acknowledges that «the digital life of a teenager can be daunting» and therefore offer parents and guardians different ways to set safe limits for their use. Hence, that new "Family Sync" tool that "allows parents to link their TikTok account to that of their teenagers to enable content and privacy settings."
Although we will explain them one by one in detail later, thanks to this tool you will be able to:
- Set your children's account as private.
- View the comments received by your children's publications.
- Read the direct messages that come to your account.
- Check the searches they perform on TikTok.
- Control the time they remain connected to the social network.
- Activate or deactivate the call Restricted mode.
TikTok and its family safety mode
TikTok is the world's leading platform for short videos on mobile devices. This is good, but it can also be a problem. Something that we have already seen that has happened with the dissemination of videos with prohibited content such as suicide. Therefore, parents and guardians should be able to review and control their children's activity on TikTok quickly and easily. And, without being alarmist, the best way to achieve this is Be familiar with the parental controls available on the social network.
In the latest versions of iOS and Android these have improved a lot and new tools have been included to have more data about how the devices are used. But not everything is there, the applications are also integrating their own tools and TikTok is one of them: Family Safety Mode, or family security mode, which is the name of this new feature that you should already have on your smartphone.
These new tools allow us to better manage this digital detoxification for the youngest members of our household, controlling who can send direct messages, what content they can see or not and the time they use the app. So, if you agree, let's see how it is activated and what it offers.
How to activate TikTok's family safety mode
The family security mode, or Family Safety Mode, allows link the account of the little ones with the TikTok application of the parent or guardian. In this way, they can have detailed information on how they use the platform and other additional settings. To activate this mode, what you have to do is the following:
- Download the TikTok app on your (adult's) smartphone and create your own account.
- Start the application and go to the user profile, which you will reach by pressing the icon of the stick figure in the bottom bar of your screen.
- Once here, scroll down in the settings to locate the option of «family synchronization. Click to enter it.
- In this new panel, TikTok informs us of all the benefits that using this functionality would have. Click “Continue”.
- Select if you are a parent/guardian or a minor.
- Depending on the previous selection, the option to scan a QR code will appear, or the code itself to link that account to the main one. If you are the child's guardian, you just have to follow the instructions indicated by this panel to synchronize both accounts correctly.
- Lastly, you will have to create a code to access these options and prevent unauthorized intrusions.
So far the way to activate the family security mode on both our son's mobile phone and ours. But of course, the really important thing is to know what these new security options offer.
How TikTok's new family safety mode works
With the new family safety mode already active, what you want to know is what it offers. Well, now we will have to access the options through another menu called "Digital Detox":
- Access your TikTok account as you normally would.
- Click on the icon of the profile settings, by clicking on the icon of the stick figure in the bottom bar.
- Scroll through the menus until you reach "Digital Detox."
As we told you before, within this menu we will have access to the new options where you can manage and control the use of the network by the accounts of your children or minors in your care that you have linked.
- The first gives option to limit time who spend watching content on TikTok. Thus, you can establish a maximum of 40, 60 or 120 minutes, so that when it is exceeded they will no longer be able to view anything. And if they persist, then you will have to enter a code to allow them to continue.
- The second limits the appearance of inappropriate content for some audiences. Because yes, on TikTok there are not only videos with nice dances, there are other types of publications that would not be good for the little ones.
- And finally, you can also control who can and cannot send direct messages to your children's account. Thus, you can establish that anyone can, only friends or directly be disabled.
To adjust it to what you think is most convenient for your little ones, you just have to go to your Profile, touch the three-dot icon in the upper right corner and look for the new options within Digital Detox. It is now just a matter of activating and configuring the values you need in each of them.
So now you know, although these options were already available individually for each one to manage, it is logical that due to age and innate curiosity it is difficult for them to do it themselves. Now, with the new family security mode, you can be calmer when they tell you that "nothing, I'm here watching TikTok".
Prevent your children from installing TikTok
If TikTok's parental controls do not convince you or if the application itself is considered inappropriate for your children, you should know that you can prevent them from installing it. To do it, On both Android and iOS you must resort to their parental controls where the user account of the minor must be configured within the options of Family Link on Android and In family for iOS.
From then on, every time they want to install an app they will have to request permission. If it is granted, they will be able to use it and if not, no TikTok... for now. Although it may be that through other messaging services your friends can send you the content that is published there. Therefore, remember that it is always better to educate than to impose.