Hi Trusted Friends,
For those who noticed the introduction in our last post…that’s right, Friends are back — we know you missed them!
Next week, we’re changing Connections to Friends, getting back to the language people use in their everyday lives. This also means Trusted Connections will become Trusted Friends, a special designation for a user’s inner circle of close friends and family.
Our intent in requiring age checks to chat is to minimize contact between adults and minors who don’t know one another—not between parents and their children, or siblings in different age groups. So in the coming weeks, we’re making a few changes to make it easier for families and inner circle friends to communicate, even if they’re in different age groups.
Chat and Game With Trusted Friends
When users from different age groups become Trusted Friends, they can chat together while they play on Roblox. All communication is proactively monitored by Roblox to maintain the highest standards of safety for the entire community. Users will now see Trusted Friends labeled as ‘Trusted’ in experience chat and on profile pages, to help them see at a glance which Trusted Friends they can chat with.
Today, age-checked users 13 and older can add each other as Trusted Friends with a simple live QR scan. They can also import contacts from their device to quickly identify and add those contacts as Trusted Friends. These methods indicate that these connections are based on existing relationships. Please note that Trusted Friends availability varies by country.
Next week, age-checked users 13 and older will also be able to add younger siblings, cousins, or school friends as Trusted Friends (with parental approval). We’re excited to see how people use Trusted Friends to stay connected. Young adults away at college will be able to play with their younger siblings or friends back home, and parents will be able to get in the game with their children. And friends who span age groups will be able to collaborate and join games together. As a reminder, here’s how to age check.
What This Means For Creators
There are no API changes. For experiences with custom UI elements that say “Connections” and “Trusted Connections”, we recommend changing them to “Friends” and “Trusted Friends”.
For Younger Users, Parents are in Control
In the coming weeks, parents with a linked parent account will be automatically upgraded from their child’s Friend to their Trusted Friend. This means they can start chatting and playing games together immediately, with no extra steps required. To benefit from this automatic upgrade, parents must already be age-checked, have their account linked to their child’s, and be their child’s Friend on Roblox.
If you’re a parent who still needs to link your account with your child’s, follow these steps: How to link your account.
- For users younger than 9, chat is off by default. Next week, parents will have the option to use their Parental Controls to enable chat for Trusted Friends.
- For users 9–12, chat will be on by default, allowing users to chat with Trusted Friends and users in a similar age group. All chat will be filtered to block anything that’s against our Community Standards.
- For users younger than 13, parents are still the ultimate decision-makers. To add someone as a Trusted Friend, children need to send a request to their parents, who will receive an email and can approve the request via their Parental Controls. If they are asking to add a friend who is also younger than 13, that friend’s parent will also need to approve the request.
- For users 13-17, parents can view their children’s Trusted Friends on the parental dashboard.
With age checks and Trusted Friends, we’re making it easier for inner circles to chat and play together again across age groups. Our goal is to have vibrant servers and a civil, positive community for both you and your players.
