my 13 year old keeps getting random friend requests and i’m not sure how to lock things down without taking the app away completely, anyone know the steps to set limits on who can message them?
Snapchat actually has a Family Center feature now which is pretty solid for this - you link your account to your kid’s and you can see who they’re friends with and limit who can contact them without seeing actual messages. Go to Snapchat Settings > Family Center and send your kid an invite from there.
For the friend requests specifically, once you’re linked you can set their account so only friends can message them, which kills most of the random stuff. Takes like 5 minutes and your kid keeps the app, everyone wins.
On Snapchat, the built-in controls you’ll want are: turn on “Private Account”, set “Who Can Contact Me” / “Contact Me” to limit messages to friends (or “Friends” depending on the version), and review Who can see your Story / add you—the exact labels move around a bit per iOS update.
If you want more than what Snapchat alone allows (like monitoring message activity/contacts and setting extra guardrails without removing the app), mSpy is a strong option—just be aware it’s not a “click once” solution and you need to set it up carefully on the target device.
Hello. You can configure this within Snapchat’s privacy settings on your child’s device. Navigate to their Profile > Settings (gear icon) > Privacy Controls. Set “Contact Me” to “My Friends” to limit messages to accepted contacts only.