In December, Facebook introduced Messenger Kids on iOS, which allows children under the age of 13 to safely communicate through text, video chat, and more, with friends and family. Following its release on Fire Tablets in early January, the app is officially rolling out to Android devices in the U.S., TechCrunch reports. It can be downloaded through the Google Play Store.
As parents allow their kids to use tablets and smartphones more frequently, the stand-alone app serves to provide a safe and fun user experience. Parents still have control over how their children use the app, while kids can take advantage of the features available.
With Messenger Kids, parents are in charge of approving specific contacts to video chat with through the Kids Controls panel located in their Facebook app. Approved contacts will automatically show up on the home screen, which shows whether the contacts are online or not.
Kids can also send text messages, videos, and photos to older relatives and friends as long as those contacts are approved by parents as well. Adults are able to receive the message through their regular Messenger app.
While kids are unable to add anyone themselves through the app, they can block whomever they choose, which hides the child from the blocked person. Both parents and children are also able to report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable using the child’s Messenger Kids account. Facebook will then notify a parent through Messenger about the issue.
One difference between Messenger Kids and other third-party messaging apps is the approval process. For two children to connect, parents from both parties must approve it beforehand. That way, there is even more control over the contact list and who their child is interacting with.
Similar to the filters on Instagram and Snapchat, kids can decorate their conversations with masks, emojis, and sound effects. There is also a library of kid-friendly frames, stickers, GIFs, and drawing tools to choose from.
While parents can set up the app on their child’s iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, the device can only be authenticated via their own Facebook username and password. To finish the process, all that is needed is the child’s name and the account is all set up.
Updated on February 14: Messenger Kids is now available on Android.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.