YouTube Kids adds personalized profiles, more controls

By JC Torres/Nov. 3, 2017 3:44 am EST

Kids these days are getting more and more tech-savvy and, while there's still some debate on whether they should be exposed to mobile devices and the Internet at that early age, it is an inevitable fact of life. YouTube Kids takes a proactive approach to help parents control the kind of content their children get exposed to right from the very start. With the latest update to the app, it gives parents even more control while also giving kids a little bit of personal space to call their own.

When parents log into the new YouTube Kids app, they will be able to make separate profiles for each child. More than just a way to keep users separate, these profiles also allow parent and child to transfer those settings and preferences to different devices using the same account.

Each profile can be customized, both manually and automatically, to a child's age. YouTube Kids will automatically adjust the interface, depending on that number. Younger ones will see less text while older ones get to see more content. Curated content will also be matched to the profile user's age.

Amusingly, kids can set their own passcodes for their profile. This is more a way to keep siblings out and messing with their viewing history or choices. Naturally, those won't keep parents out, who can very easily override their passcodes.

Parents also get to exercise more control over the age-appropriate curated content YouTube presents to kids. Just like Android malware, some bad ones still slip through automated checks. When that happens, parents can immediately block a video and flag it for review.

While YouTube Kids is already available in 37 countries, the new kids profiles are only available in 27. Those are:

• Argentina

• Australia

• Brazil

• Canada

• Chile

• Colombia

• Ghana

• India

• Jamaica

• Japan

• Kenya

• Malaysia

• Mexico

• Nepal

• New Zealand

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• Peru

• Philippines

• Singapore

• South Africa

• South Korea

• Sri Lanka

• Tanzania

• Uganda

• United States

• Zimbabwe

SOURCE: YouTube