Parental Controls

To set up parental controls in ChatGPT, open Settings > Parental controls > Add family member on your own account, choose phone or email, enter your teen's details and select Send; the teen accepts the invite (Managing parental controls in ChatGPT). Once linked, you can set quiet hours, turn off voice, image generation, memory or model training, and receive safety notifications, but you cannot read your teen's conversations. ChatGPT requires users to be at least 13, and under-18s need a parent's or guardian's permission.

Quick facts

How to link your teen's account

1. On your account, open Settings from the profile menu.
2. Select Parental controls > Add family member.
3. Choose Use phone or Use email, enter your teen's details and select Send.
4. Your teen accepts the invitation.

A teen can start it instead from Settings > Parental controls > Invite a parent. One parent can link several teens; a teen links to one parent at a time. Either side can unlink at any time, and the parent is told if the teen does (Managing parental controls in ChatGPT).

What parents can change

Source: Managing parental controls in ChatGPT, read Nov 6, 2026.

Quiet hours are blocks of time when the teen cannot use ChatGPT at all, ChatGPT Work included; they are set only in Settings > Parental controls. Parents can also ask ChatGPT in a chat to change a supported setting, which they then allow or deny. Since Mar 26, 2026 parents can turn off device location sharing for their teen (ChatGPT release notes). Note the defaults: training is on, so a parent who wants a teen's chats kept out of training has to turn it off.

What parents are told, and what they are not

Linking "does not give a parent or guardian access to a teen's conversations": no chat history, no transcripts, no live view (Managing parental controls in ChatGPT). What parents do get is a safety notification, by email, text or push, when trained reviewers find a serious self-harm concern, possible disordered eating (in Chat only), or a permanent account closure over violence, and when a conversation is ended or the teen is temporarily suspended over violence concerns. Notifications may take a few hours to start after linking and never include transcripts. They are not real-time monitoring.

The teen experience and age prediction

Since Jan 20, 2026 ChatGPT runs an age prediction model on consumer plans to give under-18s the teen experience and its safeguards, whether or not a parent has linked (ChatGPT release notes). Its signals include how long the account has existed, the times of day it is active, usage patterns and the age the user stated. Teens see no ads (Age prediction in ChatGPT).

An adult placed in the teen experience by mistake can check at Settings > Account > Age and verify at chatgpt.com/verify_age through Persona, with a live selfie, a government ID, or both (both in Italy). OpenAI says it never receives the ID or selfie, Persona deletes them within 7 days, and once you are verified OpenAI stops running age prediction on your account (Age prediction in ChatGPT).

At 18

When the account holder turns 18, the account leaves the teen experience: the parental link ends, notifications stop, teen protections are turned off and the user takes full control of the settings. Both sides are told; other settings do not change by themselves (Managing parental controls in ChatGPT).

Trusted contact for adults

Adults have a related, opt-in feature: a trusted contact, set at Settings > Trusted contact (since May 7, 2026). If automated systems and then trained reviewers judge that a conversation about suicide suggests a serious safety concern, the contact gets a short note urging them to check in, with no chat details. It is for personal accounts of people 18 and older (19 in Korea), one contact per account, not in ChatGPT Voice or workspaces, and OpenAI stresses it is not an emergency service (Trusted contacts in ChatGPT). In a crisis, call local emergency services or a crisis line.

Frequently asked questions

Does ChatGPT have parental controls? Yes. Since Sep 29, 2025 a parent can link a teen's ChatGPT account from Settings > Parental controls to set quiet hours, turn features off and get safety notifications.

Can parents see their child's ChatGPT conversations? No. Linked parents manage settings and receive limited safety notifications, but cannot see chats, history or transcripts.

What age do you have to be to use ChatGPT? At least 13, or the minimum age in your country, and anyone under 18 needs a parent's or legal guardian's permission, under OpenAI's terms effective Jan 1, 2026.

How does ChatGPT know my age? ChatGPT predicts age from signals like account age, active hours and usage patterns; an adult wrongly treated as a teen can verify with a selfie or ID through Persona.

Can I block ChatGPT at night for my teen? Yes. Quiet hours in Settings > Parental controls set times when your teen cannot use ChatGPT, including ChatGPT Work.

Is ChatGPT safe for kids? ChatGPT is not for children under 13. For teens, parental controls, age prediction and reduced sensitive content add protections, but answers can still be wrong; see Is ChatGPT Safe.

Sources

• Managing parental controls in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Age prediction in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Trusted contacts in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026
• Terms of Use, OpenAI, effective Jan 1, 2026
• ChatGPT release notes, OpenAI Help Center, read Nov 6, 2026 (entries Sep 29, 2025, Jan 20, Mar 26 and May 7, 2026)