What is Parental Supervision on Instagram and how to set it up? Set-by-step guide | Digit

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Although it is increasing its user base every month, it keeps adding new features throughout the year. One such feature is Parental Supervision, where parents can look after their child’s Instagram account and related activities and safeguard them from potential threats. The feature works with the consent of both the parent and the child. 

How to enable Parental Supervision on Instagram?

The Parental Supervision feature is easy to set up. An adult has to create an invitation link using Instagram and send it to their child. One adult can only supervise one underage Instagram account at a time (between 13 to 17 years of age). With that out of the way, here are the steps to enable Parental Supervision on Instagram for parents. 

1. Open the Instagram app on your smartphone. 

2. Tap on your profile pictures towards the bottom right corner of the display. 

3. Select the hamburger menu at the top right corner of the display and tap on Settings. 

4. Now select Supervision from the list of options. 

5. Tap on ‘add account’ on the following screen. 

6. Tap on ‘create invitation’ and send the invitation link via a third-party platform such as WhatsApp. You can copy the link as well. 

7. Ask the teen user to accept the supervision request through the link. 

An invitation is valid for 48 hours; hence, no matter who creates it, it will expire after that time. Once the teen gets the invitation link, they should tap in, tap on ‘next’ and select ‘allow’ from the available options. However, if a teen wants to create a supervision request, the process remains the same until step 4, after which they have to tap on ‘Set up supervision’ and send the link to their parent through another app. 

Parental Supervision features and limitations

Once the feature is set up, the adult user can see how much time the teen spends on Instagram and set time limits. Further, the adult can also see the Instagram accounts followed and blocked. Additionally, one gets notifications related to the activities on the linked account, such as when the account gets new followers. However, there are a few limitations to the feature as well. Parents won’t be able to see their teen’s search history or messaging activity, nor can they delete the account or change its password. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.