YouTube Kids

Is YouTube Kids safe?

For young children, YouTube Kids is a reasonable choice if a parent sets it up properly. It strips out the parts of YouTube that do the most harm to children: there is no interest-based advertising, and a child cannot share personal details or make anything public. We score it 69/100, far ahead of the main YouTube app (54) and level with Lingokids (69).

The catch is the size of the catalogue. YouTube Kids draws millions of videos from the main platform, and Google's own help page says plainly that it cannot review them all and that "no automated system is perfect". The default settings let a child search that catalogue freely.

How videos get into the app

This is the part most parents misunderstand. YouTube Kids is not a curated library like a children's TV channel. Google's automated systems select videos from the wider YouTube catalogue, and Google explains the gaps on its own help page:

• Search results are chosen by an algorithm and "are not subject to human review".
• Home screen videos are picked by an algorithm "and some human review".
• Recommended videos are "not always subject to human review" and draw on everything in the app.

Google adds that "there's always a chance that your child will find content you don't want them to watch", even with search switched off.

The history explains the warning. In November 2017 YouTube said it had noticed "a growing trend" of videos that tried to pass as family-friendly but were not, many using popular cartoon characters. It terminated more than 50 channels and removed thousands of videos in a week, and began age-restricting videos that use family entertainment characters with mature themes, so that only signed-in adults can see them. Filtering has improved since, but the model is the same: an algorithm decides first, and parents' reports catch what it misses.

Ads and commercial content

YouTube Kids is free because it shows ads. Google calls them limited paid ads, marked "Ad" and preceded by an ad intro, and its advertising rules ban some categories such as food and drink. The January 2026 privacy notice says the app uses identifiers for contextual ads and to cap how often an ad repeats, and does not allow interest-based advertising or remarketing.

What the rules do not cover is creator content. Google states that videos uploaded by toy companies or influencers are not paid ads, so they carry no label, even when the same company also buys ads in the app. For a five-year-old, an unboxing video and an advert look alike. YouTube Premium removes the paid ads but not this kind of video.

What YouTube Kids collects

Used without signing in, the app collects device details, IP address, app identifiers and app activity: the videos watched, search terms and interactions with content and ads. Google says it does not collect a child's name, address or contact details in that mode, and that voice searches are processed and deleted straight away.

Signing in with a parent's Google account adds the parent's email, child profiles with a name or nickname and age, and watch and search history per profile. Apple's privacy label lists no data used to track you across other companies' apps, but it does list coarse location, email address and advertising data as linked to you for Google's own advertising or marketing. That is less than the main YouTube app, whose label lists contact info and identifiers used to track you, but it is not a minimal profile either.

How to set up YouTube Kids safely

1. Sign in with your own Google account and create a profile for each child, so settings follow the child across devices.
2. For children under about seven, choose approved content only. Your child will see just the videos, channels and collections you pick, and search is switched off.
3. For older children, at least turn search off. This limits the app to channels YouTube Kids has checked and clears the watch history.
4. Set the timer. The app locks when time is up, which avoids an argument about one more video.
5. Block anything you dislike at once, and report clearly inappropriate videos so Google reviews them.
6. Pause or clear watch history in the parental settings if you do not want recommendations built from it.

How we scored it

The regulatory record (88) is YouTube Kids' strongest factor: the $170 million children's privacy settlement in 2019 concerned the main YouTube site, and no fine or order names the Kids app. Security (74) and transparency and control (74) reflect Google account protection and detailed parental settings. Privacy (58) is the weakest factor, held down by contextual advertising and data linked to the parent for Google's marketing. Scams and harmful content (60) is only just above it, because most videos reach children without human review.