We’ve been fans of the YouTube Kids app, but admittedly when so many questionable videos were making it onto their little eyeballs, we were waiting for them to make some updates to give parents more control over what their kids were seeing. And well, they did.
Related: Our review of the YouTube Kids app
The YouTube Kids new parent approved content feature allows parents to pick every video and channel available to their child in the app. So, you can keep the search off, and just pick certain things for your kids to see, or well, not see.
They’ve also added a new experience for older kids, geared specifically to 8-12 year olds, which includes new content like popular music and gaming videos. If parents deem their kids ready, they can choose this “older” version when setting up a new profile or updating a profile that already exists. The “younger” version will still remain the default.
Related: Parents beware of these horrible YouTube parodies
These features definitely make us more inclined to allow our kids back on the app, as like many parents out there, we’ve been limiting their use of it, as well as their main YouTube app. If you want to ensure your kids are just using YouTube kids, along with deleting the YouTube app off their phone, you can restrict it on Safari. (We realize many parents completely restrict Safari, but if you want to keep it on, and keep them off YouTube, there’s a way). Thanks to Stephanie, a member of our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook Group, for this helpful tip!
Using the Restrictions on iPhone that you probably are using already — Settings -> General -> Restrictions (turn on) — go to Allowed Content: Websites -> Never Allow -> Then pick the sites you want to restrict.
Whatever you choose, we’re glad to see YouTube listening to parents and giving them more control over the content their kids are viewing.
Photo by Igor Starkov on Unsplash
