Snapchat adds screen time, friend connection insights to Family Center

Snapchat has introduced new features to its Family Center tool aimed at giving parents greater insight into how teenagers use the platform, amid growing discussions in India around screen time and digital well-being.

The updates include information on how teens spend their time on Snapchat, details about new friend connections and additional safety and educational resources for parents.

Speaking on the platform’s approach to teen safety, Uthara Ganesh, Head of Public Policy, APAC Snap Inc., said, “At Snapchat, supporting young people’s digital well-being is a core part of how we build our platform. With the latest updates to Family Center, parents can see clear, practical information about how their teens spend time on Snapchat. The feature is designed to help families have more informed conversations, while continuing to respect teen privacy. As digital habits evolve in India, we remain focused on building safety tools that are transparent by design, easy to use, and rooted in trust between parents and teens.”

Under the update, parents can now view the average amount of time their teen spends on Snapchat each day over the previous week. The data also shows how that time is divided across different features, such as chatting and snapping with friends, using the camera, exploring Snap Map or watching content on Spotlight and Stories.

The platform has also expanded the information available on new friend connections. Parents can already see their teen’s friends list and recent additions. Now, they can also view indicators showing how their teen may know a new contact, such as shared mutual friends, saved contacts or shared communities.

In addition, the platform has introduced new safety and educational resources, including a video guide to help parents understand how to use Family Center tools.

Family Center allows parents to adjust certain settings without accessing the content of private conversations. Existing features include viewing recent contacts, setting content restrictions, disabling access to the My AI chatbot and, in the future, the Perplexity AI-powered search tool, sharing location as a family and reporting potentially concerning accounts on a teen’s behalf.