Messenger Kids at Home

Messenger Kids is a free video calling and messaging app designed for kids to connect with close friends and family from their tablet or smartphone. Kids can only connect with parent-approved contacts, which creates a more controlled environment. Group or one-on-one video calls with loved ones are more fun with interactive masks, reactions and sound effects.  I wanted you to know about Messenger Kids to try it out at home, so you can let your little one(s) connect with family and friends in a safe environment.   For us, Harry loves video chatting with our family.  As he gets older, he asks to chat with certain family members.  This app gives him the freedom to pick which family member he wants to call for that day!  If you have older children this would be a GREAT option to allow your child(ren) to connect with family and friends, while making sure they are in a controlled and safe environment.  Read more to learn some details about how Messenger Kids works!

The kids chat with Messenger Kids and the adults can chat through their Facebook Messenger app!  The kids don't need a Facebook account, they can chat with friends and loved ones through the Messenger Kids app.

Messenger Kids is a safe and fun messaging app for kids.  It isn't a social media app, rather a messaging app!  Messenger Kids has safety features that give control to the parents.  Parents control their child's contact list by approving all contacts, they can only chat with people their parent (or guardian) has approved, making Messenger Kids safer and a more controlled environment.  One feature that is important to me is their content never disappears or can be hidden. Parents can set "off times" to manage their child's screen time, as well.

Parents, and approved adults, like grandparents, can video chat and message with their kids through their existing Messenger Facebook app. No additional app download is needed for whoever they are chatting with!  Messenger Kids allows kids to message and video call using Wi-Fi so they don't need a phone number.

For us, we don't get to see our family members daily, or even weekly, so this is a fun and safe way for me to let Harry connect with family members that we don't see constantly.  Some entertaining features on Messenger Kids are there is a feature-filled camera where kids can create fun videos and decorate photos to share moments with loved ones.  There are kid-appropriate masks, frames, stickers, and GIFs to spark conversation and laughter with friends, classmates, and family!

Here are the steps if you want to get started with Messenger Kids:

Parents can get their child started with safe messaging & video chat in four steps.

1.    Download the Messenger Kids app to your child’s Wi-Fi enabled phone or tablet.

2.    Authenticate your child’s device using your Facebook login.This will not create a Facebook account for your child.

3.    Create an account for your child by adding their name. Then the phone or tablet can be handed over to your kid so they can start safely chatting with family and friends you approve.

4.    Parental controls are available in the Parent Portal in your main Facebook app.Through the Parent Portal you can monitor who your kids chat and text with by adding and approving contacts and setting on and off times through our Sleep Mode feature.

Messenger Kids is free

and available in the iOS App Store for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, in the Amazon Appstore for Fire tablets, and on Google Play for all other Android devices.

Please note that I am a blog ambassador for Messenger Kids and I am compensated for my blog post, but all ideas are mine. :)