TikTok introduces a time limit for minors. Restrictions in the application also in Poland

announced that the changes would come into effect in the coming weeks. The announcement explains that all accounts owned by users under the age of 18 will automatically have a 60-minute daily usage limit.

TikTok introduces a time limit for children and teenagers. The app will have new features

In setting this automatic limit, the platform cited experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.

“If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted for a password to continue watching, requiring them to actively choose to extend that time.” Additionally, all accounts owned by minors will receive weekly notifications summarizing their screen time.

Another novelty is the sleep reminder. Users will be able to choose at what time a message reminding them to log out of the application should appear on the screen.

TikTok Expands “Family Pairing” Feature

The Chinese platform is also introducing new tools in the “Family Pairing” feature that helps parents and guardians monitor what their children and wards watch:

• Custom daily screen time limits – guardians will be able to adjust the daily limit of screen time for a teenager, including e.g. select different limits depending on the day of the week. Thanks to this, adults can shorten the time of activity in the application on working days when the child goes to school, and extend it on weekends, holidays or holidays;
• Screen time dashboard – parents in one place will find a summary of the amount of time spent in the application, the number of TikTok launches and a summary of the time spent on the platform broken down by day and night. The data will be a useful argument during discussions about the need for a child to limit online activity;
• Silence notifications – TikTok allows you to set a schedule to mute notifications on teen accounts. Accounts belonging to users aged 13-15 do not receive push notifications by default from 21:00, and those of 16-17 years old have them disabled from 22:00;
• New content control – guardians will have more control over the content watched by teens on TikTok thanks to a new method of filtering videos with words or hashtags. This solution is still in the development and testing phase, but will soon complement the expanded toolkit under the “Family Pairing” feature.