Forum Discussion

lewisjsteve's avatar
lewisjsteve
Explorer
1 year ago

Ongoing Issue with Child Account Screen Sharing

Hi,  
 
I wanted to summarise the challenges I’ve faced with the child account setup for my son, specifically regarding the date of birth (DOB) requirement and the inability to screen share from a child account.  
 
Initially, I set my son’s account as the main one because screen sharing didn’t work on secondary accounts. However, this required setting it up as an adult account, which meant no parental controls were available. Today, I updated the DOB when I was emailed and prompted to do so before February for my son’s account but encountered multiple issues during the verification process.
 
### Key Points of Frustration:  
 
1. **Screen Sharing Limitation:** Child accounts cannot screen share, which led to the workaround of making my son’s account an adult account. However, this defeats the purpose of parental controls.  
   
2. **Lack of Parental Visibility:** Screen sharing is essential for parents to monitor and engage with what their child is doing while they play. This feature is critical for fostering safe and responsible usage of the platform.  
 
3. **DOB Requirement:** When I attempted to verify the DOB using payment methods, it failed across multiple browsers, even after clearing caches. This required a lengthy troubleshooting process.  
 
4. **Prolonged Support Call:** I’ve been in contact with support since 12:52 PM, and it’s now 2:14 PM—nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes—with no resolution to the core issue.  
 
### The Core Problem:  
The inability to screen share from child accounts forces parents into a difficult choice:  
- Set up the child account as an adult account (losing parental controls).  
- Accept the inability to use screen sharing, which is essential for parents who want to monitor and engage with their children’s activities.  
 
### Feedback for Improvement:  
Please address this limitation by enabling screen sharing for child accounts while retaining parental controls. This would solve the root issue and allow parents to have greater visibility into their child’s activities while ensuring a safe experience.  
 
Danyal has been patient and helpful, but the lack of clarity and functionality in the system has caused significant frustration.  
 
**Note:**  
 
The issue with casting from a child’s account was reported by another user over a year ago. The initial post in the referenced thread was published on **November 2, 2023**, and as of today, **November 18, 2024**, it has been approximately **1 year and 16 days** without resolution.  https://communityforums.atmeta.com/t5/Get-Help/How-do-I-set-up-Casting-from-a-child-s-account/m-p/1216836#M318467
 
This demonstrates that this limitation has been affecting users for a significant amount of time, highlighting the need for a more urgent and effective solution to address the lack of casting functionality in child accounts.
 
Thank you for your time, and I hope this feedback can lead to meaningful improvements for families like ours.  
 
Best regards,  
Steve Lewis  

2 Replies

  • MidNightJok3r's avatar
    MidNightJok3r
    Honored Guest
    1 year ago

    Steve,

    It could not have been explained better! Thank you.  I stand behind your post 100%. Having the ability to cast on your own device to help/monitor your kids should be huge part of parental control. I’m actually surprised is not. Let’s hope this is not overlooked anymore and put on their priority list. 

  • lewisjsteve's avatar
    lewisjsteve
    Explorer
    5 months ago

    Hi

    I wanted to circle back here with an update. It’s now been 10 months since I first raised this issue and 1 year, 10 months, and 6 days (676 days total) since the original thread by Lyndsey123456 was opened on 2 November 2023.

    Back then, Meta’s official reply was: “At this time, it isn’t currently a feature that we offer for child accounts.” Almost two years later, that same limitation still exists, and the thread is still marked Solved.

    The reality is that nothing has changed:

    • Child accounts still cannot cast or screen share.
    • Parents are forced to pick between supervision (casting) or safety (parental controls) — we can’t have both.
    • The only workaround is setting a child up as an adult account, which defeats the purpose of parental supervision entirely.

    This isn’t a minor feature request. It’s a fundamental safety and usability issue that Meta has left unaddressed for nearly two years.

    Parents need visibility into what their children are doing in VR — not just for peace of mind, but to guide them, answer questions, and keep them safe. Until child accounts can cast while retaining parental controls, this issue is very much unresolved.

    Best regards,
    Steve Lewis

    Keywords for visibility: Meta Quest child account, Oculus child account, Quest 2, Quest 3, supervised account, casting not working, screen share not available, parental controls, VR safety, family VR.