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Welcome the newest member of our family: YouTube Kids app launches in parts of Africa

Oct 05, 2016

[[read-time]] min read

Teju Ajani
proud Aunt and YouTube Content Partnerships lead

Today, we’re excited to launch YouTube Kids in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe! YouTube Kids is an app built with parents and children in mind that makes it easier for kids to find videos on topics they want to explore. YouTube Kids has already been downloaded tens of millions of times by families who rate it among the top kids apps available. Family-friendly content from creators around the world is now available to download for free on Google Play and the App Store. Here are some of the key features:

Welcome the newest member of our family: YouTube Kids app launches

Bright and playful design
Your 4-year-old may already be a swiping expert, but the app’s design makes it even easier for little fingers to navigate with larger images and bold icons. And we’ve built in voice search so that even if your child can’t spell or type, they can still find videos of things they’re curious about.
Family-focused content
We’ve built the YouTube Kids app to be a more family-friendly experience than YouTube, a place for kids to explore their imagination and curiosity. You can browse channels and playlists in four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Your favorite shows like LittleBabyBum, The ChuChuTV, Sockeye Media and Peppa Pig are in YouTube Kids. You’ll also find popular content from beloved African creators too.

Parental controls
We’ve built options into the app that help you control the experience for your kids and put parents in the driving seat.

  • Learn how the app works: When parents open YouTube Kids, they learn upfront how our systems choose and recommend content and how to flag videos. We always try to make the videos available in the app family-friendly, but no system is perfect. So if you ever find a video you’re concerned about, please flag it. This helps make YouTube Kids better for everyone.
  • Search settings: We’ll also prompt you to make a choice about how broadly you want your child to explore - turn search on to access millions of family-friendly videos, or turn search off to restrict your child’s experience to a more limited set. Either way, parents decide the right experience for their family from the get-go.
  • Timer: Let the app be the bad guy with a built-in timer that lets you limit kids’ screen time. The app alerts your child when the session is over, so you don’t have to. (You’re welcome.)
  • Sound settings: Sometimes you need a little peace and quiet! You have an option to turn off background music and sound effects, so your kids can keep watching while you catch a breath.
  • Customize your passcode: We’ve also heard some parents prefer a personal passcode, rather than a spelled-out code, so we’ve added this option to access parental controls.
  • Logged out experience: The app is currently a signed-out experience with no ties to an account. We’ve also removed all features that are linked to an account like uploading, sharing, liking, etc.

We’re excited to bring YouTube Kids to parts of Africa, and look forward to your ideas too so that we can better help your family explore, learn and sing along. From our family to yours, happy exploring!


Teju Ajani, proud Aunt and YouTube Content Partnerships lead, SSA, recently watched Peppa Pig's Bubbles episode with her 6 & 2 year old nieces, along with countless videos on how to do the splits.
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Please view the original post at http://africa.googleblog.com/2016/10/welcome-newest-member-of-our-family.html

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