Meta’s new parental controls make Quest VR headsets safer for kids

Meta has started rolling out its new parental control features to all of its Quest VR headsets. The company originally announced the new features back in March, and they’re finally making their way to consumers now.

The company revealed the rollout of these new features in a blog post on Instagram this morning. Now, parents are starting to gain access to the Parent Dashboard, which gives them the ability to control certain things about their child’s Quest VR activities.

First of all, parents will have to link to their kid’s accounts to gain access to the Parent Dashboard. And that link has to be initiated by the child’s account. After linking, parents gain several tools they can use to moderate their child’s Quest activity.

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Parents can block certain apps and allow others. They can set content limits based on IARC-ratings to automatically block certain content. Kids can request access to blocked apps, but parents will have to approve them before the child can continue.

Additionally, the Parent Dashboard lets parents monitor the apps that their kids are using. They can see their kid’s friends list and even monitor how much time they are spending on the headset.

Meta’s parental controls on Quest seem pretty impressive so far. And, of course, the company says that this is just a start. The Parent Dashboard will likely continue to change and improve as the company irons out the details.

Instagram’s parental controls are also expanding

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In addition to the rollout of Quest VR parental controls, Meta is also expanding the parental controls that are available on Instagram.

Parents now have the ability to initiate a link with their kids to unlock supervision tools. Previously, the teen’s account was the one that had to initiate the link.

Additionally, parents can set specific times that they wish to limit their kid’s activity on Instagram. They can set limits during certain hours of the day. They’ll also see more information when their child reports an account or post.

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In addition to adding these new features, the parental controls on Instagram are also rolling out to more countries, including the UK, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Canada, France, and Germany.

Parental controls were initially rolled out only in the United States. But Instagram has begun its global expansion now. The platform says it will roll out to everyone, worldwide, by the end of 2022.

It’s nice to see Meta continue to add and update parental control features like these.

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