Facebook Messenger Kids app expands to more countries and adds new features

With kids at home and schools closed, the use of apps for communication between friends and family has understandably increased. One such app, Facebook's Messenger Kids, was launched on Android, iOS and Amazon's Appstore in early 2018, and is now available in more than 70 new countries around the globe, with Facebook promising more to follow soon.

Mark Zuckerberg's company explains in a post that it worked closely with its own team of experts in online safety, in order to develop the app in such a way, that allows for both adequate parental controls, and features that teach kids on how to connect responsibly on the internet.

Notable new features on the Messenger Kids app include Supervised Friending, allowing parents to give their kids more independence in managing their contacts while still maintaining parental supervision. Parents can choose to allow their kids to accept, reject, add or remove contacts, with the feature now rolling out in the US, to gradually reach the rest of the world soon.

Connecting Kids Trough Groups is another new feature, allowing parents to approve an adult to help connect their child with other kids through a group in Messenger Kids, with teachers, coaches and other leaders having the ability to create the groups. The idea behind this is to allow for a similar experience to a team sport or extracurricular activity getting kids together in groups.

Facebook also now makes it easier for kids to find and connect with their friends in the app. Parents in the US, Canada and Latin America can choose to make their child's name and profile photo visible to friends of their contacts and parents.

The company makes it clear that parents are in control, and can manage all interactions between their kids and others inside the Messenger Kids app.