What Is Pinterest? A Parent's Guide to How It Works

If your child has asked to "make a Pinterest," you might picture a corkboard covered in recipes and wedding ideas. That's not far off. Pinterest is a visual idea app: people search for inspiration, save images they like into collections, and click through to websites to learn more or buy something.

Teens use it for school projects, art references, outfit ideas, room makeovers, hairstyles, fandom art and mood boards. It's generally one of the calmer corners of the internet, but it still has profiles, followers, messages and plenty of ads. Here's how it works and what to watch for.

The basics: pins, boards and the feed

• Pins are the building block. A Pin is an image or short video, usually linked to a website. A recipe Pin links to the recipe; a product Pin links to a store.
• Boards are collections of Pins, organized by theme: "Bedroom ideas," "Science fair," "Drawing references."
• Saving a Pin adds it to one of your boards. This is the main activity on Pinterest; most people save far more than they post.
• The home feed shows Pins Pinterest thinks you'll like, based on what you search and save.
• Search works like an image search engine. Type "easy dinner ideas" and you get a wall of pictures.
• Followers: you can follow people or individual boards, and people can follow you.
• Group boards let several people add Pins to the same board, which is handy for a class project or a family trip.

Pinterest also has comments, reactions and private messaging, though they're used far less than on Instagram or TikTok.

Age rules and teen protections

Pinterest's minimum age is 13. For younger teens it has added protections:

• Under 16: Pinterest has said these profiles are private and can't be switched to public, and they aren't discoverable by other users.
• Sharing with friends: private teens can share a special profile link so friends and family can follow them.
• Messaging limits: younger teens are limited to messaging mutual followers connected through that link.
• 16 and 17: teens can choose between private and public profiles.

These protections only work if the birth date on the account is correct. It's worth checking.

What's good about Pinterest for teens

There's a lot to like:

• Creativity. It's a great tool for art, design, fashion, cooking and DIY projects.
• Planning. Kids can collect ideas for a birthday, a room redesign or a school presentation.
• Low social pressure. Pinterest isn't built around selfies or follower counts, and most users never post personal photos at all.
• Search instead of scrolling. Many people open it with a purpose, find what they need and leave.

The risks parents should know

Pinterest is lower-risk than many apps, but not risk-free.

Mature and unrealistic content

Search results are filtered, but adult and suggestive images can still appear, especially through searches for fashion, fitness or art. Pinterest has also long dealt with content about extreme dieting, "body goals" and self-harm. It now blocks or adds support resources to many of those searches, but related imagery can still surface. If your teen is sensitive to body-image content, talk about it directly.

Strangers

Because younger profiles are private, contact from strangers is less common than on other apps. Older teens with public profiles can still receive follows, comments and messages from people they don't know.

Oversharing in boards

Board titles and saved photos can reveal a lot: school names, hometowns, birthdays, family photos. On a public account, anyone can see them.

Shopping and ads

Pinterest is heavily commercial. Many Pins are products, and Promoted Pins are mixed into the feed and search. Teens can click straight through to stores, so if they have access to a payment card, talk about impulse buying.

Time

Like any endless feed, Pinterest can soak up an evening. It is less compulsive than short-video apps for most people, but the scroll is still there.

Setting Pinterest up safely

1. Confirm the birth date on the account.
2. Keep the profile private. Under-16 accounts already are; for 16- and 17-year-olds, turn on the private profile option in settings.
3. Turn on search privacy so the profile is hidden from Google and other search engines.
4. Use secret boards for anything personal.
5. Limit messages and comments to people your teen knows.
6. Keep the profile vague: first name or nickname, no school, town or age.

We walk through each of these step by step in our guide to staying private on Pinterest.

Is Pinterest okay for younger kids?

Pinterest is for 13 and up, and we don't recommend helping a younger child sign up by entering a false age: they'd lose the teen protections and land in an adult account. If a younger child wants ideas for a craft or project, browse together on your own account, or create a shared family board they can add to with you nearby.

If you're weighing other options for younger kids, our page on kid-friendly social networking options is a good place to start, and our parent's guide to Instagram covers the app many kids move to next.

Questions to talk through with your teen

• What do you mostly use Pinterest for?
• Is your profile private? Can you show me?
• Do any of your boards say where you live or go to school?
• Has anyone you don't know messaged you?
• Does anything you see on there make you feel bad about yourself?

The bottom line

• Pinterest is a visual idea and search app with social features.
• The minimum age is 13; profiles for under-16s are private by default.
• The main risks are mature or body-image content, oversharing in boards, heavy shopping prompts and, for public accounts, contact from strangers.
• Check the birth date, keep the profile private, use secret boards and hide the profile from search engines.
• For kids under 13, browse together instead of creating an account.