Parents' Guide to

YouTube Kids

By Patricia Monticello Kievlan, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 7+

Solid parental controls help sort variable videos.

YouTube Kids Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 12 parent reviews

age 2+

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

You have full control on your kids account + choose what they can watch and what age ratings you want it to be. It is safe for even a 1 year old(of course if you are just showing him something on your phone. I would say you can use YouTube kids independently at 4 years old.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
1 person found this helpful.
age 2+

Needs some more functions

I don't know why the four functions on the top disappeared for "shows, music, learning, " Could we add something that allows us to FAVORITE some videos? Thanks , and also to block some?
1 person found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (12):
Kids say (14):

Several levels of parental controls make this a solid go-to video app for kids, though its curation cracks and consumer-focused videos make parents work to insure appropriateness. The timer feature on YouTube Kids is a standout, letting parents set clear limits on how long kids can watch. And kids will love the whimsical visuals and silly sound effects, which will have them swiping through the video gallery with ease. They'll also love the Recommended menu, where they'll find suggested videos related to those they've previously viewed. Most importantly, parents can set a safe list of channels so that they can handpick content themselves. Or if parents are worried about what content might pop up, they can disable the search function so that kids are limited to videos from channels that have been "verified" by YouTube Kids.

That said, despite robust parental controls, a great kid-friendly interface, and the filters to -- in theory -- weed out videos with mature content, the quality of the videos ranges widely, and not all content that makes the cut will be something that parents really want their kids to watch. So, to really feel confident that your kids won't run into anything you don't want them to, you have to use the safe list feature. While it's great to have, this also puts a burden on parents who are hoping to let their kids watch and explore in a safe space. As with any tool for letting kids view videos -- and particularly for this one -- context and supervision are key: Parents should be close by to monitor which videos (and ads) their kids view and to give context and criticism as needed -- and to deal with any unexpected videos that may pop up.

App Details

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