Parental controls for YouTube Kids profiles

YouTube Kids offer a safer and simpler experience for kids. There are various controls and settings for you to guide their viewing journey.

Note: If you want to learn more about parental controls and settings for pre-teen supervised experiences, get more info in our Help Center.

Manage parental controls & settings

There are several ways that you can manage these controls. When you set up a Google Account for your child, you can set up parental controls for YouTube Kids experience through Family Link. When you set up a YouTube Kids profile for your child, you can set up parental controls through YouTube and YouTube Kids.

Use parental controls and settings on YouTube Kids

Select the Lock in the corner of your screen.
Complete the multiplication problem or enter your custom passcode.
Select Settings .

Note: There are some device settings, such as Cast and Custom Passcode, that you can change without selecting your child’s profile.

Use your linked parent account's YouTube settings

Sign in to YouTube with your linked parent account.
Click your profile picture .
Select Settings .
Scroll down to Family Center and click Manage kids profiles and features for teens.

Use the Family Link app

On your device, open the Family Link app .
Select your child.
Tap Controls Content restrictions YouTube.
Change your YouTube Kids settings, under "YouTube Kids Settings."

Change specific parental controls & settings

You can tailor the YouTube Kids experience for your child by adjusting specific parental controls and settings.

Change your child's content level settings

Parents can choose how content will be selected in YouTube Kids.

YouTube Kids: How to select content levels based on your kid’s age

Note: In addition to the content setting you choose for your child, any content you share with them from YouTube will also be available in YouTube Kids.

Change your child’s content level setting from YouTube Kids:

Select the Lock in the corner of your screen.
Complete the multiplication problem or enter your custom passcode.
Select Settings .
Select your child’s profile and enter your parent account password.
Select EDIT.
Select Preschool, Younger, or Older. To choose the Approve content yourself content level setting, use the YouTube Kids app.

Change your child’s content level setting from YouTube:

Sign in to YouTube with your linked parent account.
Go to your profile picture .
Select Settings .
Select Family Center.
Select your child’s profile or account.
Under "YouTube Kids Settings," select EDIT next to “Content Settings.”

Turn off search

You can restrict your child to a more limited set of videos in YouTube Kids by turning off the Search feature.

With the Search feature turned off, your child can’t search for videos. Your child will also be limited to videos and channels verified by YouTube Kids. Learn more about Search in YouTube Kids and how to turn it off.

If you turn off Search, the watch and search history for your kid’s YouTube Kids profile is cleared. Recommended videos and Watch it again will also be reset.

Clear history

You can clear the watch and search history for your child’s account across all of their linked devices from YouTube:

Sign in to YouTube with your linked parent account.
Go to your profile picture .
Select Settings .
Select Family Center.
Select your child’s profile or account.
Select Clear history.
To save your changes, select CLEAR.

You can also clear your kid’s history, and reset videos on Recommended and Watch it again from YouTube Kids:

Select the Lock in the corner of your screen.
Complete the multiplication problem or enter your custom passcode.
Select your child’s profile and enter your parent account password.
Select Clear history.
To save your changes, select OK.

Turn off autoplay

You can turn off Autoplay for your child by selecting Disable autoplay. Your child can’t turn on Autoplay when this setting is on.

To disable autoplay for your child from YouTube:

Sign in to YouTube with your linked parent account.
Go to your profile picture .
Select Settings .
Select Family Center.
Select your child’s profile or account.
Switch Disable autoplay to on.

Pause watch history

You can stop new video views from being used as signals to recommend other videos. Pausing watch history will also stop new video views from being used as signals for Recommended videos and Watch it again.

To pause your child’s watch history from YouTube Kids:

Select the Lock in the corner of your screen.
Complete the multiplication problem or enter your custom passcode.
Select your child's profile and enter your parent account password.
Switch Pause watch history to on.
To save your changes, select OK.

To pause your child’s watch history from YouTube:

Sign in to YouTube with your linked parent account.
Go to your profile picture .
Select Settings .
Select Family Center.
Select your child’s profile or account.
Switch Pause watch history to on.

Pause search history

Pausing search history will also stop new search terms from being used as signals for Recommended video s. Learn more about how to pause search history.

YouTube Premium

There are several benefits to using your YouTube Premium membership with YouTube Kids. For example, you and your child can watch videos on YouTube Kids without any paid ads.

You’ll also get access to downloads and Background play. Learn more about these settings.

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