TikTok now lets parents link their account with their kids’

TikTok will give parents more control over their kids’ account through ‘Family Pairing’.

TikTok gives more control to parents with its new ‘Family Pairing’ mode. (REUTERS)

TikTok on Thursday announced it is introducing 'Family Pairing' which gives parents more control over their kids' accounts on the social networking app. The new parental controls will roll out globally in the coming weeks.

Family Pairing will let parents link their TikTok account to their kid's. Doing so will give parents more control over the user activity of their kids. Through Family Pairing, parents can set controls on 'Screen Time Management', 'Direct Messages' and 'Restricted Mode'.

Parents will now be able to control how long their kids can use the TikTok app for through screen time management. The new feature also lets parents turn on Restricted Mode on TikTok for their kids. TikTok also says that both features can be enabled without Family Pairing through the app's Digital Wellbeing section.

Probably the most important feature in this update is disabling Direct Messages for registered accounts under the age of 16. In addition to this, TikTok lets users control who can directly message them to only approved followers or disable it completely.

However to link the accounts, parents will still need their kids to agree, according to The Verge. To do this, parents have to scan a QR code from the digital wellbeing section of their kid's account. Also, kids can disable the account linking anytime they want. But it will alert parents if this happens and they will be able to reconnect.