PBS KIDS

Are the PBS KIDS apps safe?

Yes, and they are among the few children's apps where the privacy promise matches the store labels. PBS KIDS Video and PBS KIDS Games need no account, carry no commercial ads or in-app purchases, have no open chat, and Apple's labels show nothing linked to you or used to track you. We score PBS KIDS 80/100, level with Khan Academy Kids (80) and well ahead of YouTube Kids (69).

The weaker points are housekeeping. The privacy policy was last modified on 12 May 2020 and still talks about Adobe Flash cookies. Parents cannot ask for deletion, because PBS says it holds nothing that identifies a child. And the Video app shows short sponsor messages, which are milder than ads but not nothing.

This page covers both apps together, because they share one publisher, one privacy policy and one record. Where they differ, we say so.

What the apps collect

The two labels are short. On Apple's listing, PBS KIDS Video declares coarse location, product interaction, crash and performance data and advertising data, all marked as not linked to you, and nothing used to track you. PBS KIDS Games declares only product interaction, again not linked. On Google Play, the Games app says it collects no data at all, and the Video app lists approximate location, app interactions and diagnostics, with nothing shared with other companies.

The privacy policy fills in the reasons. PBS says it does not collect information that directly identifies a child, such as a name, email address or phone number, and that it does not rent or sell information. It uses a zip code or IP address to pick the local PBS station, and says children's personal information, if any, is never used for marketing or online advertising. It does let analytics companies place their own cookies or identifiers, as long as these do not identify the child directly.

That is close to the minimum a free video service can run on. The one thing missing is a modern policy: a five-year-old document that still names Flash is not proof of bad practice, but it means the policy has not kept pace with the apps.

Ads, sponsors and the live channel

PBS KIDS is free because PBS stations, donors and sponsors pay for the shows. In the Video app this shows up as underwriting messages, the short "funding provided by" spots familiar from PBS television. PBS's policy says it collects some device data to debug these messages and cap how often they repeat, which is why Apple's label lists advertising data.

The Video app also streams the live PBS KIDS channel of your local station, with no subscription. That stream follows the station's broadcast schedule rather than your child's choices. There are no product ads, no links to buy anything and no in-app purchases in either app.

Is there any contact with strangers?

No. Neither app has open chat or uploads from other users. PBS's policy says that where children can post through interactive features, the text is canned or moderated, and that photos taken in games are usually stored only on the device. Every video and game comes from PBS shows, and Google Play labels both apps Teacher Approved.

How to use PBS KIDS well

1. Pick your local station by zip code in the app if you prefer not to rely on IP-based location.
2. Download episodes for car trips and flights; the app works offline once they are saved.
3. Let preschoolers start in the Games app, which declares no data collection on Google Play, and save the live channel for when you are nearby.
4. Skip creating an account unless you need to save game progress across devices. Nothing important is lost without one.
5. Use your device's own screen-time controls to limit sessions.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (90) and privacy (87) are PBS KIDS' strongest factors: closed, PBS-made content and labels with nothing linked to you. Security (70) reflects how little is held, without a bug bounty. Transparency and control (68) is the weakest, because the policy dates from 2020 and there is no deletion route. The regulatory record (87) is clean, but no regulator has reviewed the apps.