What you need to know
- YouTube has sent out notices to Family Link users with supervised accounts.
- Soon, these accounts will be able to access YouTube Music and sign in on smart TVs.
- Content will still be restricted based on age.
YouTube informed users on Thursday that it's finally giving your kids' supervised accounts access to more apps and devices.
The email was sent out to users who manage supervised accounts through Family Link. For the uninitiated, supervised accounts were launched in 2021 as a way for parents to manage the content their kids have access to on YouTube. This will restrict certain videos based on the age range.
That said, there were other limitations, such as which apps and devices could be used with supervised accounts. However, some of those limitations are being lifted "in the coming weeks."
As per the email, your kids will finally be able to log into YouTube Music with their accounts. Here, they will be able to create their own playlists and have access to their own curated mixes without any of it affecting your account.
This also applies to the main YouTube app on eligible televisions, including the best Android TVs, so they can log in and watch their videos on the big screen.
YouTube maintains that the same parental protections and restrictions will apply when their kids use these apps. Of course, the system isn't perfect and may still make mistakes, in which case, parents are able to go in and change their child's account settings or report any inappropriate videos or music they may come across.
This should be a bit of a relief to parents, some of whom may have had to resort to subscribing to some of the other best music streaming services for their kids to have their own listening experience.
While it may still be a few weeks before these new capabilities are enabled, now may be as good a time as any to set up supervised accounts for your kids on YouTube.
