eSAFETY GUIDE

Pinterest

13+
Minimum age according to Pinterest
13+ Minimum age according to Pinterest

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is a website and app where people share photos and short videos, called ‘pins’. When you open Pinterest, you’ll see a scrolling feed of these pins. You can upload your own content or browse what others have shared. There are four types of pins: image pins (photos and other images), video pins (short videos), rich pins (pins that automatically show extra information from the original website, such as recipe steps), and product pins (which show items available to buy, and direct you automatically to the retailer’s website).

People often use Pinterest to find inspiration or information across a range of different topics, including fashion, travel, home decor, DIY projects and recipes. The app shows you a personalised home feed, which includes a mix of pins from people you follow, recommendations based on your activity, and advertisements. If you are looking for something specific, you can type keywords into the search bar to find related pins. Another way to search is with Pinterest Lens: by tapping the camera icon in the search bar, you can take a photo of an object and see similar images on Pinterest.

You can create your own personal boards, which are collections where you can save and organise your pins. For example, you might create a travel board and add images of destinations you want to visit. Boards can also be divided into subsections (such as ‘Greece’ and ‘Iceland’ within a travel board). You can make boards public so that others can see them, or private so only you can see them.

Users can also create collages, letting you combine multiple images or ‘cutouts’ from pins into a single visual layout.

Pinterest includes a number of different social features – you can like or comment on pins, follow other users, send direct messages, and invite others to add pins to a shared board. You can disable comments on your pins in settings.

Users can either have a personal account or a business account. A business account gives you extra tools (such as the ability to see views, clicks and engagement), as well as the option to run paid ads and promote your pins.

On Pinterest, personal accounts for 13- to 15-year-olds are always private. For users aged 16 to 17, personal accounts are private by default, but they can choose to make their profile public if they want. Business accounts can only be created by people who are at least 16 years old, and these accounts are always public.

Pinterest is free to use and has advertising on its platform.

Website: https://au.pinterest.com/

App: Android app, Apple iOS app

How do people use Pinterest?

Learn more about the benefits and risks associated with how people use photo sharing services like Pinterest.

Pinterest is used for: content creation, messaging/online chat and photo/video sharing.

How can you report online abuse or block someone?

These links are provided by Pinterest:

  • Report something on Pinterest
    How to report content to Pinterest that goes against its community guidelines.
  • Block someone
    Block a Pinterest profile to prevent someone from following you, messaging you and interacting with your pins.

How can you protect your personal information?

These links are provided by Pinterest:

  • Privacy and data settings
    Information on how to manage your privacy and data settings.
  • Privacy policy
    Outlines Instagram’s privacy policy including the information they collect and how they use your data.
  • Adjust advertising preferences
    Learn how to manage and update your advertising preferences on Pinterest.
  • Download your account data
    Download a copy of your Pinterest account data, including your profile information, boards and pins, uploaded images and videos, and messages.

Key safety links

These links are provided by Pinterest:

Social media changes are coming

From 10 December 2025, certain social media platforms won’t be allowed to let Australian children under 16 create or keep an account.

Find out more at eSafety’s social media age restrictions hub.

About The eSafety Guide

The eSafety Guide helps you find out how to protect your personal information and report harmful content on common social media, games, apps and sites. Entries are for information only and are not reviews or endorsements by eSafety. Before choosing to use any online service or platform it’s best to:

  • do your own research to understand the risks and benefits
  • check the age rating and requirements
  • consider privacy
  • check the permissions and other settings
  • check the in-app reporting options.

If you are a parent or carer who is deciding whether a child should be allowed to use an online service or platform, you can also:

  • consider your child's readiness for the types of content and experiences they might encounter
  • help them understand what to do if they need help
  • provide ongoing support and monitoring, for example through regular check-ins with your child
  • agree to some rules about use of each service or platform.

To find out more, you can read the App checklist for parents, as well as information about parental controls in social media, games and apps and mental wellbeing resources for families.