**TikTok Enhances Parental Controls with Innovative Family Pairing Features**

TikTok is improving its parental control functionalities by rolling out new **Family Pairing** features, which provide parents and guardians increased visibility into their children’s screen time and interactions with followers.

### **Innovative Supervision Features**
With this recent update, parents of teenage users can now access information about their child’s followers, the accounts they are following, and any accounts that have been blocked by their teen. Furthermore, later in the year, TikTok plans to launch a feature enabling teens to inform their parents or caregivers when they report a video.

### **Improved Screen Time Management**
The platform is also introducing a **Time Away** function, allowing parents to limit app access during specified hours. Parents can set recurring access schedules and approve requests for additional screen time. If a teen tries to access the app outside of these designated hours, a pop-up notification will appear, preventing them from using TikTok without parental approval.

### **Further Digital Well-Being Tools**
To advance healthy digital behaviors, TikTok will implement **”Wind Down”** reminders for users under 18 who are using the app after 10 p.m. This aligns with TikTok’s wider initiative to promote awareness and responsible screen time management.

### **Response from the Industry**
Stephen Balkam, CEO and Founder of the **Family Online Safety Institute**, commended the update, remarking, *”TikTok’s recent parental controls and online safety features are a positive advancement for families aiming to safeguard their children while also nurturing them into responsible digital citizens.”* He highlighted that these tools facilitate open dialogue between parents and teens regarding technology use.

### **TikTok’s Continuous Efforts**
In comparison to rivals like Meta, TikTok has taken more time to roll out certain monitoring capabilities. Nevertheless, the platform has already introduced features such as **screen time limits, direct messaging controls, and content restrictions** in response to increasing concerns about the effects of social media on teens’ mental health.

Through these updates, TikTok is persistently refining its strategy for digital well-being, striving to foster a safer and more balanced online environment for younger users.