Trusted Friends: how to talk to a sibling, a cousin and a parent across age brackets
The chat age rules separate who can talk to whom — but there is an exception for your inner circle. A Trusted Friend is added by a live QR scan or from your device contacts, and a parent with a linked account becomes a Trusted Friend automatically. Here is how it works.
Produced with AI from the sources cited below, and checked by automated verification against those same sources. No person read this text before publication. Editorial Policy
The Roblox chat age rules solved one problem and created another. The problem solved: an unknown adult does not strike up a conversation with a child. The problem created: siblings of different ages, cousins and parents were separated too, and those people know each other.
Trusted Friends is the platform's answer to that. This piece explains what it is, how you add someone, who is allowed to, and what still depends on approval — because the route changes quite a bit depending on the ages at both ends.
The short answer
A Trusted Friend is a special designation for your inner circle: family and actual friends. Anyone on that list talks to you even from another age bracket.
The feature changed name: what used to be called Trusted Connections became Trusted Friends, going back to the word people use in everyday life.
The entry rule is the same as almost everything in chat today: an age check. Anyone 13 or older who has been age-checked can add another person on the same terms.
And there is a case that happens by itself: a parent with an account linked to their child's is automatically promoted from friend to Trusted Friend. Nothing to do — parent and child can now chat and play together.
One warning worth giving early: Trusted Friends availability varies from country to country. If it does not appear for you, it may simply be that it has not reached where you are.
How to add someone as a Trusted Friend
There are two routes for anyone 13 or older who has been age-checked, and both were designed to prove you actually know each other.
- A live QR scan. One shows the code on screen, the other reads it with the camera. It is the most direct route, and it requires both people to be in the same place — which is exactly the point: people who are together know each other.
- Importing device contacts. The platform cross-references your contact list and identifies who is already on Roblox, so you can add them as Trusted Friends.
For the most requested case — a younger sibling or cousin — the announcement says anyone 13 or older who has been age-checked will be able to add younger people they know, with parental approval when the other end is under 13.
And for parent and child, again: nothing to do beyond having the parent account linked. The promotion is automatic.
Who can add whom, and by which route
The table gathers the routes, who can use each one, and whether you need to be physically together — which is the part that frustrates anyone playing with a relative in another city.
The second half of the table carries the age rules surrounding all of this. Under nine, chat comes switched off by default and the parent decides. Under 13, a parent with a linked account can limit screen time and spending, block games, review the friends list and change chat settings.
The platform compares the linked account to a set of training wheels: it is there while it is needed, and it comes off as the child shows they are ready.
Notice that both routes for adding were chosen with the same logic: both indicate that the relationship already exists outside the game. Scanning a code on someone's screen requires being together; importing contacts requires the person to already be in your address book. Neither works with a stranger who turned up in chat — and that is exactly the stated intention, since the point of the age rules is to reduce contact between adults and minors who do not know each other.
The example the announcement itself uses sums up who this is for: the older sibling away at university who wants to keep playing with the younger one back home, and the parent who wants to get in the game with their child and finally understand what they are talking about.
The catches
Without an age check, none of this exists. To reach chat or add a Trusted Friend, the verification comes first. There is no alternative route.
A live QR scan means live. Sending a screenshot of the code by message does not count. The method exists to confirm you are together, and passing the image around defeats the purpose — besides being exactly the kind of thing a scammer asks for.
Availability varies by country. The feature did not arrive everywhere at once. If the option does not appear, the problem may not be your account.
A Trusted Friend is not an ordinary friend. It is a separate list, for the inner circle. Accepting anyone there dismantles the reason the list exists — and whoever you add starts talking to you outside the age bracket rules.
Automatic promotion requires a linked account. A parent with their own account and no link to the child's is not promoted. The link is what joins the two accounts and unlocks parental controls on the parent's device.
What to do next
If you are a parent and have not yet linked your account to your child's, that is the step that unlocks the most at once: you become a Trusted Friend automatically, you get the controls on your own device, and you can play together.
If you are a player and want to talk to a friend in another bracket, arrange to do the QR scan when you are together. It is quick and settles it in one go.
And if none of this appears on your screen, check first whether the age verification is complete — not started, complete. After that, the most likely explanation is country availability.
Two final recommendations, of the kind that only show up after something goes wrong. The first: treat the Trusted Friends list as a short list. It exists to punch through the age bracket rule, so every name there is a person who starts talking to you outside the normal barriers. If the list becomes a second friends list, it stops protecting what it was built to protect.
The second, for parents: linking the account is not only about chat. With the link, parental controls appear on your own device, and from there you can limit screen time and spending, block games and review the child's friends list. The automatic promotion to Trusted Friend is almost a side effect of what the link actually delivers.
Sources
Ready-to-use artifact
| Route | Who can use it | Requires being together? |
|---|---|---|
| Live QR scan | age-checked, 13 or older | yes, both in the same place |
| Import device contacts | age-checked, 13 or older | no |
| Automatic promotion of a parent | parent account linked to the child's | no, it is automatic |
| Adding a younger sibling or cousin | age-checked, 13 or older; under-13s need parental approval | announced for the following weeks |
| Situation | What applies |
|---|---|
| Under 9 years old | chat off by default; the parent decides |
| Under 13 years old | the parent can limit screen time and spending, block games, review friends and change chat settings |
| Availability | varies from country to country |
Rules as stated in the official announcement of 02/04/2026, checked on 23/09/2026. Source: about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/04/expanding-trusted-friends