SOCIAL MEDIA
Parental Controls for Instagram
A photo, video and messaging app built around a feed, Reels and direct messages.
THE 30-SECOND OVERVIEW
What You Need to Know About Instagram
Instagram is a social app for sharing photos, short videos called Reels and stories, with direct messages and a recommendation feed that surfaces content from people your teen does not follow. Every account belonging to someone aged 13 to 17 is placed in a Teen Account, with protective settings applied automatically. Teens under 18 are defaulted into a private account, and teens under 16 need their parent's permission to change that.
A Teen Account already sets the account to private, limits who can message your teen, and filters sensitive content, so the platform does more out of the box than it used to. What it does not do on its own is give you any visibility. That comes from adding supervision, a separate step, and from the conversations around it.
SET-UP GUIDANCE
👉 Do This First
Parental controls can feel overwhelming at the start. We recommend setting up these foundations first before anything else.
Set Up a Teen Account With The Right Age
What it does: Confirm the account uses your teen's real age so the protections apply. Teens under 16 are defaulted into a private account and into the strictest sensitive-content setting. Under 16 cannot loosen these without your approval once supervision is on.
Learn more: https://familycenter.meta.com/our-products/instagram/
Set Up Supervision in the Meta Family Centre
What it does: Supervision links your account to your teen's and gives you a dashboard of time spent, who they message and follow, new followers, the topics shaping their feed, and requests to loosen settings. It does not show message content. One invite also covers Facebook and Messenger.
Learn more: https://help.instagram.com/472274307935829
🛠️ Customise For Your Family
Fine tune what your child can do in the app with these settings. We recommend reviewing these settings periodically and adjusting them to match your child's growth.
Set Who Can Message and Interact (Privacy & Safety Settings)
What it does: A Teen Account limits DMs to people your teen follows or is already connected to, and restricts adults from starting chats with teens they are not connected to. Review privacy and safety settings and keep it at the strictest setting.
Learn more: https://familycenter.meta.com/supervision/
Confirm Content Maturity Level
What it does: Teen Accounts default to PG-13, or 13+, content ratings that filter sexually suggestive, graphic and other mature content from feeds and search, with a stricter tier available.
Learn more: https://familycenter.meta.com/our-products/instagram/
Set a Daily Limit and Sleep Mode (Screen Time)
What it does: Set a daily limit and Sleep Mode to silence notifications at night; teens are nudged to leave after 60 minutes and under 16 need your permission to change that. Reels sits inside the main feed, so there is no separate short-video cap.
Learn more:
⚠️ What These Controls Won't Do
You see who, not what. Supervision shows contacts, follows and time, never message content, which stays private. A stranger steering a DM elsewhere will not show in the dashboard.
A determined teen can open a second account. Protections apply to the account you supervise, but it’s quite common for teens to have more than one account. This is why the conversation matters as much as the settings.
Things to Watch Out For:
Messages or follows from adults or accounts your teen does not know in real life.
Pressure to move a chat to another app like Snapchat or Telegram.
A second or hidden account you did not set up.
Sudden secrecy about the phone, or cleared message history.
LAST UPDATED: JULY 2026
Settings and features change often, so please visit the app's official sources for the latest updates. The links provided are external sources, please note that we do not assume responsibility for the content found on these external links.