TikTok adds parental blocking and well-being 'missions' to its safety features

TikTok's health and safety settings are getting yet another upgrade, as the app announces a suite of new features for parents, creators, and users.

In addition to rolling out the app's own stab at a community notes feature, called Footnotes, TikTok has beefed up its monitoring and personalization tools. Creators now have access to things like bulk Mute, which allows them to mute words from viewers while on Live, and Creator Care Mode, a tool that automatically filters out inappropriate comments. Parents will have more options to see how their teen uses the app, and all users will get access to well-being features intended to incentive healthier app habits.

New Family Pairing tools

In March, TikTok announced broader supervision tools for parents, allowing them to view their child's follower and following lists, control screen time hours, and be notified when they report a video on the app (that tool is now available globally).

Now, parents can also get alerts each time their child posts a video, photo, or story that is visible to other users. For teen users over the age of 15, parents can now view if they have allowed followers to download, duet, or stitch their videos.

Credit: TikTok

Other new features give parents a view of how their teens have curated their own FYPs, a feature available to all users called "Manage Topics" that enables them to filter out certain content areas. And, importantly, parents will gain the power to block accounts themselves (rolling out to European users first). Teens will still be able to request an account be unblocked.

Credit: TikTok

Well-being features for users

TikTok users looking to build better digital habits, but who can't quite go full digital detox yet, now have access to in-app well-being features, known as Well-being Missions. Users can earn badges by completing quick daily tasks — the first batch ask users to explore the app's already existing digital well-being settings — which will be updated periodically.

"As a platform loved by millions of people around the world, we aim to empower people to manage their time online in a way that feels right to them. That’s why we’ve built features like Screen Time Management and Sleep Hours — tools that make it easy for people to create digital routines that work for them. We also recognize that long-term change often comes not just from restriction, but from positive reinforcement: building habits through encouragement, education, and a sense of progress," the company explained.

In May, TikTok added evening meditation alerts for teen users, adding to the app's existing screen time and scroll notifications.