Facebook 'Messenger Kids' app is Ad-free & managed by parents

Facebook announced a new version of the Messenger app for kids called Messenger Kids. The app does not require a Facebook account, rather parents are able to manage a child's Messenger Kids app from their Facebook account. Facebook is launching the app today in preview on the App Store for iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.

The company writes in a blog post, "There are no ads in Messenger Kids and your child's information isn't used for ads. It is free to download and there are no in-app purchases." The Messenger Kids offers video and text chat along with the types of playful masks and filters. The app gives parents the ability to control a child's contact list, while a more spartan home screen shows pre-approved friends that are online and pre-existing one-on-one chats and group threads.

The social networking giant says that there is a library of kid-appropriate and specially chosen GIFs, frames, stickers, masks and drawing tools that let them decorate content and express their personalities. To access the app, parents must download the app from the App Store and authenticate it to their user account. Only then can an account for their child be created.

Facebook said researchers and parents were used for input during the development process of the app. Facebook states that children as young as six can use the Messenger Kids app. However, children will be able to migrate to the adult accounts when they turn 13.