Skip to main content

Facebook and Messenger get important update to keep teens safer online

Facebook Messenger pop ups for teen accounts.
Meta

Meta has just added Teen Accounts to Facebook and Messenger, bringing a number of important safety restrictions. Teen Accounts already exist on Instagram, but today, Meta has announced that it’s expanding the feature toward its other social media platforms. Meanwhile, teens on Instagram are also receiving improved security measures as part of today’s update.

TechCrunch reports that Teen Accounts on Facebook and Messenger will begin rolling out in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada. With these new restrictions, teens under the age of 16 will automatically have their accounts migrated to the new teen account experience. This hands off some important controls to their parents, which could help them stay safe online.

Recommended Videos

The idea is to limit unwanted and inappropriate contact. TechCrunch reveals that teens will only be able to receive messages from people they’ve messaged before or those whom they follow. Only friends will be able to see their stories. Tagging, mentioning, and commenting will also be limited to friends and people they follow. It’s unclear what other restrictions fall under the “teen account” umbrella.

Teens on Facebook and Messenger will also be reminded to get off social media after they’ve used the apps for an hour a day. At night, “Quiet mode” will automatically be enabled.

As mentioned, Instagram’s Teen Accounts are also receiving some updates. Teens under 16 will no longer be allowed to go live on Instagram without parental permission. They also won’t be able to turn off one key feature in the messaging part of Instagram: Image blurring. The app automatically blurs images that are suspected to contain nudity when sent through DMs, and now, teens won’t be able to turn the feature off themselves — parents will need to agree.

Meta has also shared that Teen Accounts are doing well on Instagram, with 97% of teens aged 13 to 15 choosing to keep the safety restrictions. A total of 54 million teens have been moved to Teen Accounts since the feature started rolling out in September 2024.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
Samsung’s long-awaited Wear OS 5 update is here. These are the smartwatches getting it
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7.

Samsung introduced the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra in July, both of which feature the Wear OS 5/One UI 6 Watch update. After a four-month wait, older Samsung watches are finally getting updated to the latest software.

As Samsung explains, Wear OS 5 will soon be available for the following smartwatches:

Read more
The Galaxy S25 may get the spec update it deserves
Samsung Galaxy S24 in Marble Gray held in hand.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 looks set to come with an important upgrade over the Galaxy S24: more RAM. It may sound like a simple specification bump, but if a benchmark test is correct, an increase to 12GB for the base model is entirely possible. When the Galaxy S24 launched earlier this year, it came with 8GB of RAM on its entry-level model, which many didn't consider to be a flagship specification that was in line with the phone's status and price. The Galaxy S25 is apparently raising it from 8GB to 12GB, according to a report from GSMArena.

The additional RAM means your apps will run more smoothly, with fewer hiccups and less stuttering, but we shouldn't get too excited yet. We're not sure if Samsung is completely doing away with the 8GB option, and some of the more costly Galaxy S24 phones did come with 12GB of RAM. The benchmark hinting at a RAM upgrade could also be false as they can be faked, so take it with skepticism.

Read more
The Pixel Watch is about to get a long-awaited software update
The Google Pixel Watch 3 lying on top of a plant.

For the most part, Google has issued an update to the Pixel Watch roughly once a month. Most were simple security updates, while others included new features and OS upgrades. Fans expected an update in October, but Google delayed it until this month. This update will resume the rollout of Wear OS 5 to Pixel Watch 1 and Pixel Watch 2 users after a series of crashes caused Google to pause it back in September. After several months of work, the company has addressed the cause of the crashes and is confident that yesterday's update will be stable.

In addition to Wear OS 5, the update will also include better camera controls and changes to the Pixel Recorder app, which will be available through the Play Store. Your individual watch will notify you when the update is available for download, so you don't have to constantly check for it. The first update for the Pixel Watch 3 since its launch is also coming with bug fixes and security updates. All Pixel Watch models will eventually update to version AW2A.241105.012, although when the update happens will depend on both the carrier and the device.

Read more