Introducing New Parent-Managed Meta Accounts for Families

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UPDATE September 21, 2023: Parent-managed Meta accounts for preteens ages 10-12 on Meta Quest 2 and 3 are beginning to roll out, starting today. By allowing parents to set up parent-managed Meta accounts for 10-12 year olds, preteens can now access a vast array of engaging and educational content in VR – with age-appropriate protections built specifically for them. Learn more here.

Today we’re announcing changes to give families even more ways to use and enjoy Meta Quest. Starting later this year, parents will be able to set up parent-managed Meta accounts for Meta Quest 2 and 3 for their children ages 10 – 12.

With new parent-managed Meta accounts, we’re making it easier for parents to create and manage their family’s accounts on one device. We’ll require preteens to get their parent’s approval to set up an account, which will give parents control over the apps their preteens download from our app store. When parents share their preteen’s age with us, we’ll use this information to provide age-appropriate experiences across our app store. For example, we’ll only recommend age-appropriate apps.

There’s a vast array of engaging and educational apps, games, and more across our platform, the majority of which are rated for ages 10 and up by both the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) and the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC). Parents and their preteens can enjoy interactive experiences from virtually visiting faraway places to seeing significant moments in history firsthand. Families can explore the depths of the ocean, tour Machu Picchu, visit the International Space Station, orbit Jupiter, or simply play their favorite games.

We’re working closely with our developer community over the coming months to bring even more age-appropriate apps and games onto the Meta Quest Platform for this age group to learn from and engage with.

Age-Appropriate Settings to Help Parents Easily Manage Accounts

We’re building this with our Responsible Innovation Principles and our commitment to building safe, positive experiences for young people at the forefront. For example, we provide parents with information to decide whether Meta Quest 2 and 3 are right for their child, and how to make their experience in-headset comfortable and safe. We’ll also introduce additional tools and resources so preteens have an age-appropriate experience in VR that parents can easily manage. When parent-managed accounts become available later this year, they’ll include:

  • Mandatory parental approval: Parent-managed Meta accounts will require parents to set up an account for their 10-, 11-, or 12-year-old. Preteens won’t be able to set up an account without their parent’s approval.

  • Parent-managed access to content: Parents will control whether their preteen can download or use an app, and parents can block access to apps at any time. To help parents decide whether to allow their preteen to use an app on the Meta Quest Platform, all apps will have a product description page that provides information on what data is collected and how it might be used, whether the app has social features, as well as an age rating provided by the IARC, an independent global agency. Meta Horizon Worlds remains a 13+ app in the US and Canada (18+ in Europe) and will not be available to preteens when parent-managed Meta accounts become available later this year.

  • Time limit controls and casting: Parents will be able to manage how long their preteen can use the headset each day and schedule breaks from their device. We also offer the ability to cast VR experiences to a phone or TV screen, so that parents can monitor what their preteens are viewing while they’re using the headset.

  • Default privacy and safety settings: Parent-managed Meta Horizon profiles will be automatically set to private, meaning people won’t be able to follow preteens without their or their parent’s approval. Active Status and current app usage by 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds will be hidden from others by default unless their parent chooses to allow this information to be shared. Preteens won’t be able to change default privacy and safety settings—only a parent can.

  • Protecting preteens’ data: We will use information we collect about 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds through our Meta Quest products to deliver an age-appropriate experience. We do not serve ads to this age group. Parents will also be able to choose whether their child’s data is used to improve the experience, and they will be able to delete their child’s account, including all of the data associated with it.

We’re also investing in Meta’s Family Center so that it’s even easier for parents to manage their family’s online experiences across Meta technologies. With new parent-managed accounts, parents can go to Family Center to get started and set up an account for their preteen. We’ll continue to collaborate with parents, experts, and leaders in the privacy and data protection community to inform our approach designing age-appropriate experiences. We’ll have more to share in the months ahead.