YouTube kids app: what is it? Easily explained

YouTube kids app: how it works

The YouTube Kids app is an app that is aimed specifically at children up to about 9 or 10 years old. They can watch selected and child-friendly YouTube videos in this app.

When you start the YouTube Kids app for the first time, you will be asked to set it up.
For security, you must enter a four-digit number combination.
You can also choose whether the search should be deactivated or available for your child.
If you want, you can set a timer or activate or deactivate certain content in the settings.
To ensure that your child does not make these settings, you must always enter four full numbers on the screen as numbers. Unfortunately, this makes the YouTube Kids app completely pointless, since very young children usually do not watch YouTube, and older children can already read and write.
The complete setup process can also be found in the picture gallery at the end of the article.

Caution: Not all videos are child-friendly

Recently, however, there have been problems with the YouTube Kids app.

So there were always incidents where videos with disturbing content appeared in the app. These circumvent YouTube's security precautions by specifically targeting children's titles and using well-known characters such as Peppa Pig, Spiderman, and Elsa from the Disney film "Frozen".
If children click on these videos, they will not see scenes from their favorite series, but blood, depictions of violence and similar crude content.
Spreading fake news doesn't stop at the child-friendly app either. For example, if you searched for the word "UFO", you would also find a video among the results, according to which these unknown flying objects cause chemtrails.
An automatic system at YouTube is responsible for filtering out inappropriate content - and this is exactly what the creators of these disturbing videos take advantage of. For what purpose, however, is unknown. However, the fact is that many of these channels have huge clicks for their videos.
Anyone who comes across an offensive video can and should report it. However, it can still take some time before it disappears from the platform.
The YouTube Kids app is definitely a somewhat safer alternative to regular YouTube. However, one should definitely not blindly trust the algorithm behind it. It's best to watch the videos with your offspring.