Set up SafePlay in ten minutes: a step-by-step guide

SafePlay plays only the YouTube channels you approve, per child. Setting it up takes about ten minutes: a parent account on the web, a profile for each child, a handful of approved channels, and a one-off pairing of your child's phone or tablet. This is the whole path, in order.

Step 1: Create your parent account#

Go to safetubeforkids.com and choose Get started free. Enter your email and a password, then confirm your email address using the message we send. This account is yours: children never sign in to anything.

Step 2: Add your child#

The dashboard first asks who this is for. Enter a name (any name or nickname; it doesn't need to be their real one) and, if you like, their birth year. Year only, never a full date of birth. Each child gets their own profile and their own list, so a four-year-old and a ten-year-old never share channels by accident.

Step 3: Approve your first channels#

You'll be offered a few well-known children's channels to start, or you can add your own. In the box on the child's page, paste a channel link, an @handle or a channel name, and SafePlay looks it up and shows you a preview: the channel's details and its recent uploads.

Take a moment here. Look at the last few videos, not just the name. If you're happy, approve it. If you're not, nothing has been added.

On the Family plan, each approved channel can also show a plain-English safety grade with a reason. It's advisory, and the decision is always yours.

Step 4: Set the rules for each channel#

Every approved channel has two small settings.

• Strict Mode (new uploads need your OK). Switch it on for channels you trust today but can't vouch for tomorrow. New videos then wait in a single review queue until you approve them. The videos you already looked at stay available. This is free on every plan.
• Shorts. Choose follow the child's setting, block on this channel or allow on this channel. (More on Shorts below.)

Step 5: Check the Shorts setting#

On each child's page there's a Block Shorts for [name] switch, and new profiles start with it on. Turned on, it keeps Shorts out of anything they can watch, unless you've allowed them on a particular channel. Clear Shorts are blocked outright and anything the app is unsure about goes to your review queue. Our post on how to block YouTube Shorts for kids explains why this is worth doing.

Step 6: Set a daily time budget#

Under screen time, set a daily limit in minutes. You can add an optional weekly limit, and per-day overrides for days that should differ, such as a longer Saturday. When time runs out, your child sees a single Ask for more time button. It sends you a request, and you approve or decline from your phone. If you'd like the thinking behind the numbers, read how much YouTube is too much.

Step 7: Pair your child's device#

Install the SafePlay Kids app on your child's phone or tablet. On Android it's free on Google Play; on iPhone and iPad it is coming soon, at the time of writing. Open the app and go to Grown-up setup. Sign in with your parent account, pick the child, and set a grown-ups PIN. Your account isn't kept on the device, and the PIN is what protects the settings from small hands.

That's the last step. Hand the device over. Your child sees big picture tiles of their approved channels, and only those: no search, no recommendations, no autoplay into something you haven't seen.

Step 8: Check in#

For the first few weeks, look at what's being watched in the dashboard. If you turned on Strict Mode, check the review queue when you get a moment. On the Family plan a weekly email digest summarises the week so you don't need to remember.

Changing your mind#

Everything is reversible and quick.

• Remove a channel from the child's page, and it disappears from their screen in seconds.
• Remove a device from the child's page if a tablet is lost or handed on.
• Add channels whenever your child finds something new. It's an easy conversation to have when you can say yes.

If you get stuck, the support page has our contact details, and pricing explains what the free and Family plans include. For the bigger picture behind all of this, see our complete guide to making YouTube safe for kids.