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What age can your child use each service?

The minimum ages for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Meta AI, Character.AI, Snapchat and WhatsApp, each with the date it was checked and with the country differences spelled out. There is also what happens when school asks for an account your child is too young to hold, what stays stored inside it, and which services offer parental controls at all.

20 articles

Safety October 13, 2026 ·6 min read While You Sleep

ChatGPT for Teens: what it is, who gets it and how to set up parental controls

ChatGPT for Teens is the version of ChatGPT for 13 to 17 year olds that OpenAI launched on 18 August 2026. You do not switch it on, it applies itself if your child gave that age o…

Safety October 12, 2026 ·5 min read While You Sleep

What is the EU social media age limit? What the EU KIDS Act proposes, and what applies today

Since Ursula von der Leyen announced on 16 September 2026 that there should be no social media under 13, many parents are asking what changes now. The short answer: the EU KIDS Ac…

Safety October 11, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

Roblox scans your child's face before letting them chat: how it works and what the alternatives are

Since January 7, 2026, chatting on Roblox requires an age check, and the main route is a short video of your face that an AI uses to estimate your age. Roblox states the footage i…

Safety October 9, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

What age can you use Grok? 13 by its terms, 16+ in the App Store

Grok's terms allow the service from age 13, with parental permission up to 17, and there is no special rule for Europe. The surprise sits on the label next to it: the App Store no…

Safety September 29, 2026 ·4 min read While You Sleep

What ChatGPT remembers about your child: where it is, how to read it, how to delete it

ChatGPT keeps a running summary of what your child tells it and uses it in every new conversation. It lives under Settings, Personalization, Memory, takes two minutes to read, and…

Safety September 26, 2026 ·4 min read While You Sleep

How old do you have to be to use WhatsApp? 13, in Europe since 2024, and the AI comes with it

WhatsApp asks for 13, or older where your country requires it, and in Europe the terms said 16 until 2024. What almost nobody knows: since March 2026 there is a parent-managed acc…

Safety September 14, 2026 ·4 min read While You Sleep

How to remove Meta AI from WhatsApp: you can't, but here is what works in three minutes

The Meta AI circle cannot be deleted from WhatsApp, because there is no switch for it. What does exist, and takes three minutes on your child's phone, is muting it, deleting what…

Safety September 3, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

The first smartphone: the checklist before you switch it on

There is no correct age that works for every family, so the useful question is not what age but whether the time has come. Here are the maturity questions that answer it, and the…

Safety August 31, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Snapchat's My AI? And what stays saved

My AI has no age of its own, it inherits Snapchat's: the terms point to 13, or the higher minimum age that applies where you live. The number worth knowing is the second one, beca…

Safety August 25, 2026 ·4 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Meta AI? The short answer is 13, and the question arrives on its own

Meta's AI terms for the European Union set 13, or the higher minimum legal age of the country. The surprise is not the number but the packaging: Meta AI is not a separate app, it…

Safety August 18, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Character.AI? Open-ended chat is 18 and over

Character.AI removed open-ended chat with Characters for users under 18, with the change due to take effect no later than 25 November 2025. Below that age the creative features re…

Safety August 1, 2026 ·2 min read While You Scroll

Two AI uses become prohibited in the EU on 2 December 2026

The European AI Act gains two prohibitions covering manipulated imagery of identifiable people. What the text actually says, and what changes for a family, and what does not.

Safety August 1, 2026 ·2 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Copilot? 13 in the UK, 18 in Australia

Copilot sets a floor of 13, but where the statutory account age is higher, that one wins. The UK and the US are 13, Canada 14, Ireland and the other EU countries without their own…

Safety August 1, 2026 ·2 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Claude? The short answer is 18

Claude does not follow the age-13 rule most people assume. Anthropic's consumer terms require users to be adults, in every country, with no supervised-account route underneath.

Safety July 31, 2026 ·1 min read While You Sleep

What changes for your family on 2 August, and what does not

That day national authorities can start enforcing much of the EU AI Act. For families less changes than it sounds, and it pays to know exactly what.

Safety July 30, 2026 ·2 min read While You Sleep

The school uses AI and your child is too young for the account

Many schools work with Gemini or Classroom, but an under-18 pupil has the use cut back, and on a personal account your country's age applies. Nobody tells the families.

Safety July 29, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

Five of ten AI assistants have parental controls. Five have none

ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Meta AI and My AI let an adult step in. Perplexity, Grok and Canva admit 13 year olds and offer no controls at all.

Safety July 28, 2026 ·1 min read While You Scroll

The two AI assistants your teenager is not allowed to use

Eight of the ten assistants families actually use allow 13 year olds. Two require 18: Claude and Character.AI. One of those two is the one teenagers like most.

Safety July 27, 2026 ·2 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use Gemini? It depends on the country

Gemini rides on a Google Account, and the minimum age for one is set country by country. Ireland is 16, France 15, Portugal 13.

Safety July 24, 2026 ·3 min read While You Sleep

What age can my child use ChatGPT? 13, with your permission until 18

The answer that gets passed around is 13, and it is only half the story. OpenAI's terms require at least 13, or your country's minimum age if that is higher, plus a parent's permi…