Meta Adds Parental Controls to Threads in India, But How Much Can Parents Really Control?

Meta is rolling out parental supervision on Threads across Asia-Pacific, including India, allowing parents to track teenagers’ screen time, set usage limits, manage privacy settings and control nighttime access, with additional safeguards for users under 16.

Meta is expanding its parental supervision features on Threads across Asia-Pacific, introducing new tools that allow parents and guardians to monitor their teenagers’ activity, manage screen time and exercise greater control over privacy and content settings.

The rollout, announced on September 18, 2026, extends Meta’s existing parental supervision framework to Threads, its text-focused social media platform, giving families additional ways to manage how teenagers use the app. Starting this week, parents using Meta’s Family Centre in the region will be able to access the new controls.

The expansion comes as Meta continues to develop its Teen Accounts framework, which includes built-in protections designed to create a more restricted experience for younger users. With the latest changes, parents will have access to additional information about their teenagers’ usage patterns, alongside tools to limit access to the platform at specific times.

What new parental controls is Meta introducing on Threads?

The new parental supervision features on Threads are designed to give parents greater visibility into their teenagers’ daily social media habits, with screen-time tracking and usage restrictions forming a central part of the rollout.

Parents will be able to see how much time their teenagers have spent on Threads each day over the previous seven days, as well as their average daily usage during that period. This will provide families with a clearer picture of how frequently teenagers are accessing the platform and how much time they are spending on it.

In addition to monitoring usage, parents can set daily time limits for Threads and block access during selected days and hours. These features allow families to establish boundaries around platform usage according to their preferences.

Meta has also clarified that time limits will apply to the total time spent on Threads across multiple devices. This means the restrictions are designed to account for usage when teenagers access the platform from more than one device, rather than treating each device as a separate allowance.

The introduction of these controls extends the parental supervision features available across Meta’s apps, bringing Threads into the company's broader system for managing teenagers’ online experiences.

How will Meta’s new Threads controls protect teenagers under 16?

Meta is expanding parental oversight of its Teen Accounts on Threads, which already include built-in protections such as private accounts and limits on the content teenagers can see.

A key part of the new rollout concerns teenagers under 16 and their ability to change certain account settings. Parents will be able to decide whether their teenagers can modify these settings to make them less restrictive, giving guardians an additional layer of oversight over the protections applied to younger users.

“Beginning this week, parents can decide if teens under 16 can change any of these settings to be less strict,” Meta said.

The company is also introducing additional controls around interactions and privacy. Parents will be able to manage who can tag their teenagers in posts and approve certain privacy settings and sensitive content preferences.

These features give parents more ways to oversee how teenagers interact with other users and the type of content they may encounter on Threads. They also build on the restrictions already included in Teen Accounts, rather than replacing those existing safeguards.

For families, the expanded controls provide additional options to manage teenagers’ experiences on the platform, particularly when it comes to privacy, content preferences and the ability to adjust account settings.

Can parents restrict Threads usage at night through sleep mode?

Meta is also expanding parental control over sleep mode on Threads, allowing parents to adjust settings that limit or block access to the platform during nighttime hours.

Under the default sleep mode settings, notifications are muted and auto-replies are enabled between 10 PM and 7 AM. The feature is designed to reduce interruptions during those hours, while the additional supervision tools give parents greater control over how nighttime access is managed.

Parents can adjust sleep mode alongside the other available usage restrictions, allowing them to set boundaries around when teenagers can access Threads.

The nighttime controls complement the platform’s daily time limits, giving families separate options to manage overall usage and access during selected periods.

Together, these features extend parental supervision beyond monitoring how much time teenagers spend on Threads, allowing parents to manage when the platform can be accessed.

How can parents set up parental supervision on Threads in India?

Parents and guardians can access the new supervision tools through Meta’s Family Centre. The rollout is beginning across Asia-Pacific, including India, with the features extending parental supervision to Threads.

Family Centre serves as the access point for parents looking to manage their teenagers’ experiences across Meta’s apps. With Threads now included in the supervision framework, parents will be able to access additional controls and usage information through the company’s existing parental supervision system.

Meta said it plans to continue expanding its supervision tools to make it easier for parents to access controls and gain visibility into their teenagers’ experiences across its apps “all in one place”.

The company has indicated that additional controls and features will be introduced over time as it continues developing its parental supervision offerings.

What does Meta’s Threads parental supervision rollout mean for families?

The latest expansion gives parents more options to monitor and manage teenagers’ activity on Threads, combining usage insights with controls over access, privacy and certain content preferences.

The ability to review weekly screen-time patterns, set daily limits and restrict access during specific hours allows parents to establish boundaries around their teenagers’ use of the platform. Meanwhile, the additional controls for Teen Accounts provide further oversight of selected settings for users under 16.

Meta has positioned the rollout as an extension of the protections already built into Teen Accounts, with parental supervision intended to complement those safeguards.

The expansion also reflects the company’s stated approach of bringing parental supervision tools together across its apps, allowing parents to access more information and manage settings through a central location.

As the rollout progresses across Asia-Pacific, Meta says it will continue adding features to its supervision tools, with further updates expected over time.

For now, the new Threads controls focus on giving parents greater visibility into screen time, the ability to manage access and additional oversight of teenagers’ privacy and content settings.

(With inputs from ANI)