WhatsApp Parental Controls Are Not Available

benjig · September 2, 2026, 11:06am

Hi e/os community,

I’ve noticed that it’s not possible to use the “Parental Controls” feature that WhatsApp introduced in March 2026, which allows you to manage the features available to our children, on my e/OS phones.
In fact, the feature is not available on the three e/OS phones (2 differents Fairphone 5 and 1 Fairphone 3) I’ve tried, contrary to what’s shown in the online help screenshots.

“Create a parent-managed account” item is not available.

On my work phone, which is the same brand (Fairphone 4), but with the official Fairphone OS, it works perfectly.

Application name : com.whatsapp
Application version : 2.26.33.76
/e/OS build and OS version number : 4.2-a15-20260814662906-official-FP5
Device Name: Fairphone 5

Do you have any idea ?

Thanks in advance

tcecyk · September 2, 2026, 12:55pm

you’d need to capture a log (or on-device) of the very moment you click the menu item as to what it complains about that is missing.

Maybe it looks for the Google Family Link App on the device.

grzecel · September 6, 2026, 9:23am

Hi, just trying a common sense approach… have You tried to create the parental control account for WA from your child’s device with phone parental controls active on it?

Maybe that can help…

benjig · September 6, 2026, 2:17pm

Hi tcecyk,

Here are the 4 exceptions founded in the log

09-06 15:53:06.278  3341  3604 D ChimeraServiceProvider: serviceIntentCall: com.google.android.gms.auth.blockstore.service.START -> Intent { act=com.google.android.gms.auth.blockstore.service.START pkg=com.google.android.gms cmp=com.google.android.gms/org.microg.gms.auth.blockstore.BlockstoreApiService }
09-06 15:53:06.284  1521  2066 D BackgroundInstallControlService: Package event received: 0
09-06 15:53:06.287  3341  3341 D BlockstoreApiService: onBind: Intent { act=com.google.android.gms.auth.blockstore.service.START pkg=com.google.android.gms cmp=com.google.android.gms/org.microg.gms.auth.blockstore.BlockstoreApiService }
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: Failed to load saved values from file /data/user/0/com.whatsapp/accounts/1005/files/ShortcutInfoCompatSaver_share_targets/targets.xml. Old state removed, new added
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /data/user/0/com.whatsapp/accounts/1005/files/ShortcutInfoCompatSaver_share_targets/targets.xml: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:574)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.io.FileInputStream.<init>(FileInputStream.java:179)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at X.3YP.A19(:2)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at X.G8x.run(:1124)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:524)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:317)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1156)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:651)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1119)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: Caused by: android.system.ErrnoException: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.Linux.open(Native Method)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.ForwardingOs.open(ForwardingOs.java:563)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.BlockGuardOs.open(BlockGuardOs.java:274)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.ForwardingOs.open(ForwardingOs.java:563)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at android.app.ActivityThread$AndroidOs.open(ActivityThread.java:8820)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	at libcore.io.IoBridge.open(IoBridge.java:560)
09-06 15:53:06.298  5565  5642 E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: 	... 8 more
09-06 15:53:06.299  5565  5646 D WM-PackageManagerHelper: Skipping component enablement for androidx.work.impl.background.systemalarm.RescheduleReceiver

and

09-06 15:53:06.780   995   995 I android.hardware.power-service-qti: Power setBoost: 0, duration: 0
09-06 15:53:06.780  2115  2172 W WindowOnBackDispatcher: sendCancelIfRunning: isInProgress=false callback=android.view.ViewRootImpl$$ExternalSyntheticLambda13@ccd2d39
09-06 15:53:06.785  1521  2937 D CoreBackPreview: Window{65c90b6 u0 Splash Screen com.whatsapp EXITING}: Setting back callback null
09-06 15:53:06.820  2433  2441 I e.blisslauncher: NativeAlloc concurrent copying GC freed 13MB AllocSpace bytes, 44(4784KB) LOS objects, 74% free, 8534KB/32MB, paused 155us,66us total 108.996ms
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: Failed to verity-protect roles
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(639): Inappropriate ioctl for device
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.internal.security.VerityUtils.setUpFsverity(VerityUtils.java:94)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:66)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:50)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.persistence.RolesPersistenceImpl.$r8$lambda$THULNVSBRg2pnry9LcQoYzCQjrM(RolesPersistenceImpl.java:85)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.persistence.RolesPersistenceImpl$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.enableFsVerity(R8$$SyntheticClass:0)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.persistence.RolesPersistenceImpl.writeForUser(RolesPersistenceImpl.java:243)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.RoleUserState.writeFile(RoleUserState.java:505)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.RoleUserState.$r8$lambda$jPDoR6B7JGYQI6CsAtCH-k823J4(RoleUserState.java:0)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at com.android.role.RoleUserState$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.run(R8$$SyntheticClass:0)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:991)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
09-06 15:53:06.828  1521  2053 E RolesPersistenceImpl: 	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)

and

09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: Failed to verity-protect runtime-permissions
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(663): Inappropriate ioctl for device
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.internal.security.VerityUtils.setUpFsverity(VerityUtils.java:94)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:66)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:50)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writeSystemState(AccessPersistence.kt:65)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:149)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.access$writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:41)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence$WriteHandler.handleMessage(AccessPersistence.kt:190)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:109)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.ServiceThread.run(ServiceThread.java:49)
09-06 15:53:07.628  1521 21586 D FileUtils: Rounded bytes from 3763843072 to 4000000000
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: Failed to verity-protect runtime-permissions
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(663): Inappropriate ioctl for device
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.internal.security.VerityUtils.setUpFsverity(VerityUtils.java:94)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:66)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:50)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writeUserState(AccessPersistence.kt:65)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:151)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.access$writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:41)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence$WriteHandler.handleMessage(AccessPersistence.kt:190)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:109)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)
09-06 15:53:07.669  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.ServiceThread.run(ServiceThread.java:49)

and

15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: Failed to verity-protect runtime-permissions
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(650): Inappropriate ioctl for device
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.internal.security.VerityUtils.setUpFsverity(VerityUtils.java:94)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:66)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:50)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writeSystemState(AccessPersistence.kt:65)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:149)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.access$writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:41)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence$WriteHandler.handleMessage(AccessPersistence.kt:190)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:109)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)
09-06 15:53:10.639  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.ServiceThread.run(ServiceThread.java:49)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: Failed to verity-protect runtime-permissions
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(650): Inappropriate ioctl for device
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.internal.security.VerityUtils.setUpFsverity(VerityUtils.java:94)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:66)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.security.FileIntegrity.setUpFsVerity(FileIntegrity.java:50)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writeUserState(AccessPersistence.kt:65)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:151)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence.access$writePendingState(AccessPersistence.kt:41)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.permission.access.AccessPersistence$WriteHandler.handleMessage(AccessPersistence.kt:190)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:109)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:232)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:317)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)
09-06 15:53:10.674  1521  1660 E AccessPersistence: 	at com.android.server.ServiceThread.run(ServiceThread.java:49)

Hard to find something useful for me.

benjig · September 6, 2026, 5:05pm

Hi grzecel,

Unfortunately (for this problem ), my child phone is also on e/os.
For my other child who is on iOS, it works perfectly

tcecyk · September 6, 2026, 8:27pm

thanks for posting these! neither of the errors are an easy giveaway

E ShortcutInfoCompatSaver: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /data/user/0/com.whatsapp/accounts/1005/files/ShortcutInfoCompatSaver_share_targets/targets.xml: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)

filed at Google Issue Tracker but no follow up. nexcloud talk dev says its androidx things

E RolesPersistenceImpl: Failed to verity-protect roles
E RolesPersistenceImpl: java.io.IOException: Failed to enable fs-verity on FD(639): Inappropriate ioctl for device

while I get what fs-verity generally is, one’d need to trace the descriptor to the file / mount that it fails on, if this is related to whatsapp at all (timestamp was close)

grzecel · September 6, 2026, 9:52pm

So, you are saying setting up parental controls on the device involved is not substantial? And on the iOS device you could set up WA parental control account without device parental controls activated first? Correct?