A safer online experience for kids.

YouTube Kids is a filtered version of YouTube, built just for kids to explore their interests in a contained, age-appropriate experience. In order to find a variety of the best family-friendly videos from the broader universe of content on YouTube, we use a mix of automated filters built by our engineering teams, human reviewers and feedback from users (more details below).

For a channel or video to be included in the YouTube Kids app, the content must be family-friendly. Check out our Creating for YouTube Kids Field Guide, designed to help creators create programming that will be eligible for inclusion in YouTube Kids, like videos that foster positive interests, promote development and education, and inspire families to engage with each other and the real world.

YouTube Kids is a filtered version of YouTube, built just for kids to explore their interests in a contained, age-appropriate experience. For a channel or video to be included in the YouTube Kids app, the content must first be deemed to be family-friendly by automated filters (in addition to feedback from users and some human review).

This means that our automated filters scan multiple aspects of the video including thumbnails, titles and the actual content of the video. For example, if a video thumbnail features any inappropriate imagery, or if the video title includes profanity, or if the content of the video features a mature theme, these would not be eligible for YouTube Kids. Additionally, if there is a trend happening on the main YouTube app that is unsuitable for kids, we work quickly to update our automated filters to prevent any of that content from getting into YouTube Kids.

We work hard to exclude content that’s not suitable for kids, but we can’t manually review every single video and no automated system of filters is perfect. If you find something you believe is inappropriate for YouTube Kids, you can flag it for fast review. This makes the app better for everyone. Flagged videos are reviewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be removed from the YouTube Kids app for all users if deemed inappropriate after review. Learn more about flagging videos. And because no two families are the same and parents have different views on what suitable content is for their kids, you can customize the YouTube Kids app experience even more by blocking videos or channels that you decide are personally unsuitable for your family.

Our engineering teams work with our human reviewer teams to continuously ensure the automated filters are working as intended.

Human reviewers double-check the decisions made by automated filters by sampling videos. If there’s an error, our engineers use that information to refine the automated filters. The human reviewer teams also use videos flagged by parents as another checkpoint to ensure the automated filters are working correctly.

The YouTube Kids team has developed a set of content policies to help guide which videos are eligible to be a part of the YouTube Kids app. These policies are further informed by feedback from parents and through consulting with a variety of external specialists in child development, children’s media, and digital learning and citizenship. Our automated filters, which take these content policies into account, then identify family-friendly content for inclusion in the app. The YouTube Kids team also programs content for five categories (e.g. Learning, Shows, Explore, Music, and Gaming) on the homepage of YouTube Kids.

Flagging is a way to indicate that you believe a video on YouTube Kids is inappropriate for all users and want it to be reviewed for potential removal from the app. Flagged videos are reviewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be removed from the YouTube Kids app for all users if deemed inappropriate after review. Learn more about flagging videos.

Blocking is a way for you to remove content you don’t like for your family, based on your personal preferences. When you block a video or channel, your kids will no longer see that content in the YouTube Kids apps when you are signed in. Learn more about blocking videos.

Videos are recommended on the app’s home screen based on what your kids watch and search for as they use the app. Recommendations are drawn from all the videos available in YouTube Kids excluding content you have flagged or blocked. The recommendations are selected by our automated systems without human review. When you’re a new user, we don’t show recommendations until we have learned enough of what kinds of content you enjoy watching.

YouTube Kids has videos across a wide variety of topics. According to experts, there are benefits to content that models imaginative play or problem solving, or vlogs where families share personal experiences. However, some parents may feel concerns about content that may have commercial elements or language used by gamers (profanity is restricted on YouTube Kids). If you see things you’d prefer your kids not to watch you can block videos or channels or limit YouTube Kids to only videos or channels that you have approved.

The “Momo challenge” was a story circulated on the internet in early 2019. For more details, you can visit this article from the BBC, “Momo challenge: Why it isn't real and you don't need to worry”. Content encouraging harmful and dangerous challenges are strictly against our Community Guidelines. The Momo character is not allowed on the YouTube Kids app and we have safeguards in place to exclude it from the app. YouTube is a company made up of parents and families and we’re personally committed to protecting you and your family.

YouTube Kids has a full suite of parental controls in the app so you can customize your kid’s experience. You can create individual profiles for each of your kids, decide what content to make available for your kids, set a timer to limit screen time, see recent videos your kids have been watching, and so much more. Learn more.

Our built-in timer lets parents limit screen time by telling kids when it’s time to stop watching. The timer will display a friendly alert and stop the app when the session is over, so you don’t have to. Learn more.

We allow limited paid advertisements (“paid ads”) in the app so that we can offer it for free to all families to enjoy. All paid ads must be in strict compliance with our advertising policies, are clearly marked as advertisements and are only approved to be shown on YouTube Kids if they are family-friendly. Learn more.

Yes! With a YouTube Premium membership, you can let your kids watch all their favourite videos on YouTube Kids without paid advertisements. Learn more.

YouTube Kids has been thoughtfully built with both kids’ privacy and compliance to regional laws in mind. We only collect user data in YouTube Kids to allow parents to customize the app according to their needs and values, or to improve the video recommendations and overall product experience for kids; not to target ads.

For complete information about what data is collected by the app, why we collect it, what we do with it, and our privacy controls, please see the YouTube Kids Privacy Notice.

We take your feedback seriously and use it to improve the overall YouTube Kids experience. Learn more about how to give us product feedback -- this can be anything from issues you’ve experienced, to changes you’d like to see.

For specific feedback on inappropriate videos, please flag the video so our internal teams can review it. Learn more about flagging videos.

Yes! Our Creating for Families Field Guide is a great place to start. The tips in this field guide are designed to help you create programming that will be eligible for inclusion in YouTube Kids and resonate with family and kid audiences, but they will in no way guarantee that your content will appear in YouTube Kids.