As one of the most popular social media apps in the US, Snapchat use amongst teens is high. Aside from the short-lived nature of every “snap” or Snapchat message, parents worry the app’s relatively new Discover page may contain inappropriate content for children under a certain age. If your teen is an avid Snapchat user, here’s a Snapchat Discover parental controls guide to ensure your child isn’t looking at anything you don’t want them to while browsing the app.
Regulating Snapchat Discover
Much to parents’ concern, Snapchat Discover promotes sponsored content and articles with clickbait appeal, using raunchy and shocking photos to draw in readers.
Snapchat even promoted viral footage from the August 2019 El Paso shooting on their Discover page. Premature exposure to violent, sexual content via Snapchat Discover has urged parents to seek out ways to block the new feature.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to completely disable Snapchat Discover. However, parents can mitigate the sexual, adult content that often finds its way onto teens’ Discover pages.
You will need your child’s phone to access their account and set up Snapchat Discover parental controls. Here’s what you can do:
- Open Snapchat.
- Swipe right to the Discover page.
- Tap Subscriptions. For undesired media outlets, toggle “Subscribe” off and then tap “Hide [outlet name]” to ensure it will not appear on your teen’s Discover page again, unless otherwise specified.
- For certainty’s sake, tap the three dots in the upper-righthand corner of the screen.
- Tap Manage Subscriptions and Notifications
- Tap Edit in the upper-righthand corner.
- Tap the x by the outlet name to remove it as a subscription.
- For considerable control over your teen’s Discover page content, tap the three dots in the upper-righthand corner once more.
- Tap Select Interests.
- Choose content categories ranging from Fashion and Style to News to appear in your teen’s feed.
Even without being subscribed, Snapchat users can still have sexually explicit content appear on their feed. Here’s how to purge your teen’s feed of such content:
- Under the For you section of the Discover page, tap and hold the title to any featured articles from outlets you would not like your teen’s Discover feed.
- Tap “Hide [outlet name]” once the option pops up. You can do this for as many tiles as you like.
Snapchat also organizes Discover page content based on the individual user’s age. To prevent your underage teen from getting ads for alcohol and other adult products, make sure their birthdate on their Snapchat account is accurate.
If it isn’t here’s how to change it once your teen has already created their Snapchat account:
- On Snapchat’s camera panel, tap the profile icon in the upper-lefthand corner of the screen.
- Tap the gear icon in the upper-righthand corner.
- Tap Birthday and adjust the date accordingly.
Snapchat will only allow its users to change their birthday date 5 times. By maxing out the given number of birthday changes, parents can ensure their teen’s Discover page features what at least Snapchat deems to be age-appropriate content.
Snapchat Discover Parental Controls – Sources
Protect Young Eyes
Common Sense Media
Psychology Today