TORONTO -- As youths, and even some adults, turn to the immensely popular video-sharing app TikTok to while away the time in quarantine, the company has announced it’s introducing a new set of parental controls for their users worldwide.

Dubbed “Family Pairing,” the new collection of features will give parents the ability to set controls on “Screen Time Management,” “Restricted Mode,” and “Direct Messages” for their children.

“Family Pairing enhances our suite of safety tools and complements our work to provide greater access to product features as users reach key milestones for digital literacy,” the company said in a statement released Wednesday.

“It is part of our continued work toward providing parents better ability to guide their teen’s online experience while allowing time to educate about online safety and digital citizenship.”

For anyone who isn’t familiar with TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing social network allows users to create and share short videos of up to 60 seconds long.

The app has become wildly popular, particularly among teenagers, in recent years and was the second-most downloaded app, behind WhatsApp, in the Apple and Google app stores in 2019. 

In recent weeks, the company said usage of the app has “accelerated” due to physical distancing measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, TikTok said they’re introducing Family Pairing so parents and children can “navigate the digital landscape together” for a “safe experience.”

According to the company, the suite of parental controls will be rolled out worldwide over the “coming weeks.”

To use the new features, parents will have to sign up for a TikTok account, if they don’t already have one, and then link their account to their child’s account. Users must say they are 13 years old or older to sign up for the app.

Once their accounts are linked, parents will be able to control how long their child can use the app with the “Screen Time Management” feature. They will also be able to restrict who their teenager, if they’re under the age of 16, is allowed to direct message with and what content they’re allowed to see.

According to TikTok, the “Restricted Mode” feature will limit the “appearance of content that may not be appropriate for all audiences.” How that will be determined, however, was not explained by the company in the statement.

The new features are in addition to several other resources, such as educational safety videos and parental guides, the company offers its users on the platform.