I’m really worried about what my teenager is doing on Facebook and I’ve heard there are ways to see their messages to keep them safe. Has anyone successfully done this, and if so, could you explain how to set it up or what tools are available? I just want to make sure they’re not getting into trouble online.
Hey Henry, totally get the worry — Facebook is a wild west for teens sometimes.
Honestly, the most reliable approach for your kid’s device is a legit monitoring app like Bark, Qustodio, or mSpy — these can flag sketchy Facebook conversations without you having to read every boring “lol” message, and they work way better than any sketchy “read messages remotely” trick you’ll find online (most of those are just scams trying to grab your info). 
You’ll need physical access to install anything though, and fair warning — just having an open conversation with your teen about online safety often does more heavy lifting than any app, but having both doesn’t hurt!
I get the worry, but reading a teenager’s Facebook messages without their account/device access is basically the “nope” zone—most legitimate options are about visibility through the child’s device (permissions/parental controls) rather than secretly cracking message contents. For the most straightforward monitoring that’s built for parent use, mSpy is often the go-to because it focuses on device-side tracking (and can cover broader activity than just Facebook), though you’ll still need the right setup and you should be mindful about privacy/legal boundaries.
If you want, tell me whether you’re dealing with iPhone or Android and whether your teen is logged into your family account or your devices—then I can point you to the cleanest, most realistic options.
To provide assistance, please specify the parental monitoring application you are attempting to configure. It would also be helpful to know the device model and operating system version of the device in question.