How to Use YouTube Kids to Keep Children Safe Online

Regular YouTube contains billions of videos covering virtually every topic imaginable — including a lot of content that isn't appropriate for children. YouTube Kids is a separate app made by Google specifically for young viewers. It uses a combination of automated filters, human reviewers, and a curated library to limit content to age-appropriate videos. It also removes advertising for adult products and services, though some promotional content for toys and children's brands may still appear.

YouTube Kids is available as a free app for iPhone, Android, iPad, Fire tablets, and most smart TVs. You can also access it at youtubekids.com on a computer.

When you first set up the app, you'll create a parent account and then add a profile for each child. For each child, you choose an age group: Preschool (4 and under), Younger (5–7), or Older (8–12). The content library shown to your child adjusts based on this selection — Preschool mode shows mainly nursery rhymes and simple cartoons, while Older mode includes educational content, gaming videos, and more complex shows.

You can customize what your child can access. From the parent settings (protected by a PIN or your Google account password), you can search for specific channels and either allow or block them. You can also disable the search bar entirely for young children, so they can only browse what YouTube Kids recommends rather than searching for anything they type.

YouTube Kids includes a built-in timer. You can set a daily screen time limit for each child profile — once the time is up, the app shows a message that screen time is over. This is managed within the app and doesn't require any additional parental control software.

Keep in mind that no automated filter is perfect. Occasionally, content that doesn't belong will get through — this is documented and YouTube works to remove flagged videos quickly. The best approach is to watch along with young children when possible and use the report button if you see something inappropriate.

As children get older and approach their teens, you might transition to YouTube with Supervised Experience settings, which allow you to control content maturity levels within the main YouTube app. This is a middle step between YouTube Kids and unrestricted YouTube access.