What app do you all use for YouTube parental controls?

Hey parents, my 2-year-old daughter loves watching CoComelon and nursery rhyme channels. However, she's very active on touch screens and has started tapping on sidebar recommendations. She ended up watching some bizarre unboxing channel with a grown man screaming at toys, which was incredibly weird.

I want to let her watch her songs without having to sit next to her and swat her hand away from recommendations. Is there an app or layout that lets me lock standard YouTube to just her nursery rhymes?

21

DrWilsonEd Child Psychologist 🎓

2,567 reputation

Answered 5 weeks ago

From a child development perspective, toddlers (under 3) easily become overstimulated by fast-paced video editing (common in modern toy unboxings and algorithmic clickbait). If you want to let her watch nursery rhymes, standard YouTube is very risky because of the autoplay feature and visual side links.

I'd suggest two secure paths:

Move to the dedicated PBS Kids or Noggin apps—they are heavily curated and have zero risk of weird side channels.
If you must use YouTube for her rhymes, set up a dedicated profile on WhitelistVideo. You can lock her profile so that it only shows 2 specific toddler channels: Super Simple Songs and CoComelon. It removes standard search and blocks any tap-through recommendations completely, giving you a safe, closed-loop experience.

15

MamaBearsWorld Verified Parent ✓

Answered 5 weeks ago

Seconding Dr. Wilson. We use the WhitelistVideo extension on Safari. I only approved Super Simple Songs and Pinkfong on her profile. It's fantastic because even when she taps randomly, she cannot leave those vetted channels. Standard YouTube autoplay is blocked. Totally worth setting up.