YouTube Kids Now Lets Parents Limit Children To Approved Videos

YouTube is tackling its inappropriate content issue by enabling parents to limit their kids to only pre-approved videos and channels. The new feature has launched in YouTube Kids, fulfilling a promise the company made back in April. As well, YouTube Kids now offers a new option created specifically for older kids, one that features a "less restrictive" experience than the version presented to younger users.

YouTube is full of great content, but unfortunately it is also full of inappropriate videos, including animated ones that use popular kids show characters, potentially earning unsuspecting innocent viewers. YouTube Kids is an app and service targeted specifically at families seeking children's content while also giving parents control over the use.

In its most recent update, YouTube removes the risk of kids finding inappropriate content by allowing parents to entirely limit their child to only approved content. Assuming the feature is enabled, parents will choose specific shows the kid is allowed to access; any attempt to watch anything else will be blocked.

The feature is available now to all users around the globe on Android; it'll be available on iOS "soon." Parents are able to choose individual videos, entire channels, or collections for approval. Search is disabled for the child when the approved content only feature is enabled.

As mentioned, older kids also have an optional new experience that parents can choose to enable. Under this mode, which is targeted at kids ages 8 to 12, users get access to gaming videos and music videos, enabling the service to evolve as the child grows. This feature is only available in the United States at this time, but YouTube says it plans to expand the feature to other countries in the future.

SOURCE: YouTube Blog