YouTube started rolling out Kid Profiles on November 2, 2017. The purpose is to have a kid-safe YouTube Kids account that your child can use to access kid-friendly content. It also means that parents won’t have to share their YouTube account with their children anymore.
YouTube explains the decision to create Kid Profiles this way:
“After talking to parents all over, we know that kids who love the YouTube Kids app are getting older and want a platform that’ll grow with them. Whether kids are watching Monster High, DC Kids, LEGO, learning their ABCs, or picking up the latest tricks in Minecraft, we want YouTube Kids to help. Here’s what’s new with YouTubeKids.”
The YouTube Kids accounts are free (just like the regular YouTube accounts are). It is an app. To create a YouTube Kids account, a parent must sign in with their Google account.
Parents can set up separate YouTube Kids profiles for each of their children. Kids can tell the app which profile is watching right now. To me, this sounds very similar to the way Netflix handles profiles.
The YouTube Kids app gives you:
* Kid profiles to customize your kids’ experience: Now you can create a profile for each of your kids. Even better, kid profiles work across all different devices!
* App design tailored to your kid’s age: When you enter a date of birth on the kid profile, YouTube Kids changes the way the app looks. Younger kids will get less text, while older kids will get more content on the home screens.
* A new setup process: The new app parent setup process will give you detailed information to help you make the right choices for your family before your kids use the app.
* Passcode for kids: Kids can set a secret passcode to get into their profile (and keep their brother or sister out). Don’t worry, parents can always override their children’s passcodes.
It is good to keep in mind that while YouTube works hard to filter out more mature content from the YouTube Kids app, no system is perfect. Parents who find a video that they think should not be in the app can block and flag it for review.
YouTube is intending to continue to add things to the YouTube Kids app. Coming soon, they will give parents the option to have more content available in the app experience for their child. The YouTube team is working on identifying the most relevant content categories for tweens to make the YouTube Kids app even more awesome.
Related Articles at Families.com:
* Your Tween May be Posting Personal Information on Instagram
* Social Media was Not Designed for Tweens
* Things to Know About Preschoolers and YouTube Videos