Remember my post on 50 Shades of Frustration? Well, guess what? YouTube heard the voices of thousands of parents across the country and is launching a new YouTube Kid’s app.
Here are a few of the features of this new kid-friendly app:
Family-focused content
For years, families have come to YouTube, watching countless hours of videos on all kinds of topics. Now, parents can rest a little easier knowing that videos in the YouTube Kids app are narrowed down to content appropriate for kids.You can browse channels and playlists in four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Or search for videos of particular interest to your family, like how to build a model volcano, math tutorials, the amazing (and endless) world of trains—and everything in between
Parental controls
We realize every family is different, so we’ve built options into the app that help you control the experience for your kids:
- Timer: Let the app be the bad guy with a built-in timer that lets you limit kids’ screen time. The app alerts your child when the session is over, so you don’t have to. (You’re welcome. 😉 )
- Sound settings: Sometimes you need a little peace and quiet! You have an option to turn off background music and sound effects, so your kids can keep watching while you catch a breather.
- Search settings: If you’d rather limit your children to just the pre-selected videos available on the home screen, you can turn off search.
- Product feedback: Our goal is to improve YouTube Kids all the time, so we’ve included a space for you to give us your feedback.
This app is available now for Android devices on Google Play, and iOS devices on the Apple App Store.
Thanks, Ashley!
Any word on whether Youtube will be curating the ads that play on the family friendly app? Not so much an issue in my home as we really don’t use you tube a lot and my kids virtually never do (they’re 6 & 8). But it would be good to know.
I totally thought of your earlier post when I saw the announcement of this app/site on the news! Nice work!
So aps are good for you all who have mobile devices but what about those who do not and still use a home desktop computer? Any help from Youtube there?
Thanks for the post.
Hmm…anyone know what the status is with the ads on this version?
I was SUPER excited when I heard about this app the other day… Til I went to try to download it. It’s not compatible with my old Android I let the kids use. So I checked on my newer one, and lo and behold won’t work on it either.
I feel like if Google is going to put out an app they should make it compatible with ALLLLLLL Android devices.
So I emailed them via the contact the developer link and got an awful canned reply and told that it was a no-reply address!
Bummer! 🙁