The Chinese social media app is rolling out new features aimed at addressing safety concerns and promoting healthier app usage, particularly for teens. Despite ongoing debates about a potential TikTok ban, the platform continues to innovate with tools designed to encourage mindfulness and provide parents with greater control over their children’s app activity.
One of TikTok’s latest updates is a feature that reminds teens under 16 to take a break from the app after 10 PM. If a teen is still scrolling past this time, TikTok will interrupt their feed with a full-screen “wind down” reminder. This prompt will include calming music to help users relax and become more aware of the time. While teens can initially dismiss the reminder, TikTok plans to make subsequent prompts harder to ignore.
In the coming weeks, TikTok will also begin testing meditation exercises as part of this wind-down feature, further encouraging teens to step away from the app and focus on their well-being.
Enhanced parental controls with family pairing
TikTok is also expanding its Family Pairing feature, which already allows parents to set restrictions on their child’s account. The new “Time Away” tool will enable parents or caregivers to lock the app during specific times and create recurring schedules for app usage. Additionally, parents will gain more insight into their teen’s activity, including the ability to see who their child follows, who follows them, and which accounts they’ve blocked.
These updates aim to give parents more control over their child’s digital habits while fostering a safer and more transparent online environment.
TikTok icon on phone
To further protect younger users, TikTok is continuing to refine its age assurance technology. This includes using machine learning to identify and prevent children under 13 from accessing the app. The company is also collaborating with telecom provider Telefonica to explore how age information from phone providers can be used to verify users’ ages.
TikTok’s efforts align with broader industry trends, as companies like Google have also started leveraging machine learning to estimate users’ ages and enhance safety measures.
A step toward healthier digital habits
These updates reflect TikTok’s commitment to addressing concerns about excessive screen time and online safety, particularly for younger users. By combining mindfulness tools like mood music and meditation with robust parental controls, TikTok is taking steps to create a more balanced and secure experience for its community.
As the platform continues to evolve, these features may set a precedent for other social media apps to follow, promoting healthier digital habits for users of all ages.
