YouTube recently announced a new app, compatible with Android and iOS, made exclusively for children.
YouTube Kids is free, and features educational and informational videos, kid-friendly vlogs, music, television shows, and more.
"Parents have been asking us for years to build a friendlier version of YouTube for families," product manager Shimrit Ben-Yair told The Guardian.
The new offering does not have registered users, so kids cannot leave comments on videos, and the app's content is not tailored to their viewing preferences. Ben-Yair said those features could become available in the future.
If children try to search adult content, they will get a prompt asking them to search something else. Parents can also disable the search option, and limit the amount of time their child can spend on the app.
"Kids are excellent negotiators, so we always want to arm parents with more tools to help in this ongoing battle of wills!" Ben-Yair explained. "The timer lets this app be the bad guy, with parents setting it to how little or much they prefer."
She also insisted that the app's necessary ads will be kid-friendly.
"It was really important for us to make the app free and available to everyone, therefore it's ad-supported," she said. "We are taking a similar approach with the ads as with the content: narrowing it to what is family-friendly."
The YouTube Kids app is available now in the Google Play store and in the iTunes store. Availability on other platforms is expected in the future.
