“In other apps, they can contact anyone they want or be contacted by anyone,” Facebook’s head of Messenger David Marcus notes.

From there, kids can dive instantly into a video chat or text thread with their contacts.

No message content is collected for ad targeting (same as Messenger), and there’s no in-app purchases to worry about.

Instead, parents download the Messenger Kids app to a child’s i Phone or i Pad (Android coming soon).

Once the parent has authenticated it with their own account, they set up a mini-profile with their kid’s name and photo.

“But the side effect will be that they use Messenger more and create family groups.” Marcus tells me he’s excited about getting his 8-year-old into the family chat alongside his 14- and 17-year-old children.