Changes to YouTube Kids app

[Crown]

YouTube Kids is giving parents greater control over what their children can watch in the app.

Now, parents can 'handpick' every video and channel that's available to watch on YouTube Kids, making it so that their kids can no longer search on their own.

Instead, kids are only able to watch the content whitelisted by their parents.

The feature comes as YouTube faced intense scrutiny earlier this year about the types of videos served up to children on the YouTube Kids app - some of which even promoted conspiracy theories.


The whitelisting feature was first announced in April but is now available today globally on Android and is landing soon on iOS devices.

To try out this feature, users open Settings in the YouTube Kids app, then navigate to the child's profile and select 'approved content only.'

From there, parents can choose any video, channel or collection of channels they want to approve by tapping the '+' button, YouTube says.

Parents can also search for a creator or video to add to their curated list.

'If parents choose to enable this mode, their kids will not be able to search for content on their own,' James Beser, product director for YouTube Kids, wrote in a blog post.

This way, parents can personally review and select every video or channel their kid encounters on the app, potentially preventing them from viewing any inappropriate content.

It adds an extra layer of security after YouTube announced in January that it would have 'real people' watch videos to make sure they're kid-friendly.

A YouTube moderator would watch several videos on a channel to make this determination.

However, some raised the issue that this process didn't effect any future videos uploaded to the channel. Those would solely be reviewed using YouTube's algorithms, not humans.

YouTube Kids also added a 'new experience' for users between the ages of 8 to 12 years old.

It includes new content like popular music and gaming videos that are geared toward tweens.

'If parents think their kids are ready, they can pick this "Older" version when setting up a new profile or updating an existing profile,' Beser said.

The 'Younger' experience is the default version on the YouTube Kids app, but parents can switch between it and the 'Older' version whenever they want.

YouTube Kids' tween experience is rolling out in the US now and will expand globally soon.

'We work hard to make videos in t he app family friendly, but no system is perfect,' Beser explained.

'It's always possible that a parent may find something that they don't want their child to watch in the 'Younger' or 'Older' experiences.

'If this happens, we ask that parents block and flag the video for review by our team. This makes YouTube Kids better for everyone,' he added.



Screenshots:

Sources: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6165747/YouTube-Kids-gives-parents-control-child-watches-new-whitelisting-feature.html
and
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/25/updates-to-youtube-kids-app-whitelisted-videos.html

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This has to be a good thing but OMG, I can't believe it has taken them so long to implement it!

Thoughts ?

 

[babyteeth4]

Interesting...we've been nagging them for some time to not treat all children like they are 4 years old on that app, most older kids don't bother using it because it had one big grouping of all children under 13.

Like you said, this is probably too late and most viewers habits are already ingrained, but at least it gives parents another option they didn't have before.

 

[Devin]

It's about time but it's taken too long for them to do this. But at least parents have more options now.

 

[Socratica Kim]

Interesting...we've been nagging them for some time to not treat all children like they are 4 years old on that app, most older kids don't bother using it because it had one big grouping of all children under 13.

True, kids are very sensitive about things that are too "babyish" for them. We have a hard time communicating the age range our kids' channel (Socratica Kids ) is trying to reach (mostly grades 1-4).