Snapchat Redesigns for User Safety
Snapchat is implementing a significant redesign that emphasizes user safety, particularly for its younger audience. The update includes new onboarding flows that highlight privacy settings and content controls. The changes come as families and advocacy groups urge the company to add more robust safeguards to its platform.
- The updates expand on Snapchat's "Family Center," a parental control hub first launched in August 2022 that allows parents to see their teen's friend list and who they have communicated with recently. - A key feature of the redesign gives parents insight into their teen's daily time spent on the app over the last week, broken down by activity, such as chatting with friends versus watching content. - When a teen adds a new friend, parents can now see "trust signals," such as whether they share mutual friends or if the person is in the teen's phone contacts, to better gauge if it's a real-life connection. - This redesign is part of a broader "safety by design" movement, which pushes social media companies to build in safety features from the ground up rather than adding them as an afterthought. - The changes follow criticism and lawsuits alleging that Snapchat's features, particularly disappearing messages, have been used for illicit activities, including the sale of drugs. - In addition to the app redesign, Snap launched an interactive online safety program for teens and parents called 'The Keys: A Guide to Digital Safety' in February 2026 to educate them on risks like bullying and sextortion. - Another related safety feature, "Friend Check Up," periodically prompts users to review their friend lists to ensure they are only connected with people they know and trust in real life. - By default, users under 18 have private profiles, and it is difficult for strangers to find them as they must have multiple mutual friends to appear in searches or suggestions.
