So I made a web app where I could add channels that I approve. There is no algo recommendations in the side bar, just the video.
Please share feedback if you have any.
If so, I'd like to see some detailed instructions for users on how they can actively block YouTube.com while still allowing embed to play on your site. I think that may trip a lot of non-tech people up.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Parenting/comments/179fqem/how_the_...
I have YouTube kids setup TV for my 3yo with videos from Vooks, Stella and Same, Guess How Much I love you etc. Also using Projectivity Launcher that has parental controls which means he can't just pick remote and launch the app whenever + an alarm clock app to limit watch time. It's an OK setup so far.
Love the implementation. I'd really like to block Youtube on my firewall but let it through via this tool with a proxy or something.
Can I get this to load on the SmartTV, too?
There's also this project with a very similar concept: https://playtoob.com
I ended up creating my own solution, based on mitmproxy and a bit of JS that gets injected into each new page that loads. The end result looks like YouTube, but with guardrails that redirect toward the approved set of channels. Seeing another take on this idea inspired me to finally publish my code, in case anyone is interested in a DIY approach:
I made a similar setup for my kids, but simply locally using Freetube (https://freetubeapp.io/).
They watch Minecraft building channels.
Then from your main account, go to a channel, click three dots -> Share with children -> Share. Can do the same with a single video too.
It can be a painful process though. If you want to unshare, you have to find that video and repeat the process. Or unshare it in the youtube kids android app by logging in as a parent first.
Would have been nice if i could share a play list. That way I would only have to modify that play list to add/remove a video.
The main problem is when children get older and YouTube Kids is simply not a good fit anymore (my children refer to it as "Baby Youtube"). The way I remember it, I would consider the content to be applicable for children up to maybe 6 or 7 years? Until that age, I did at least casually monitor what my children watched anyway and didn't just leave them alone with a tablet.
The regular Youtube has a "content setting" for parents with categories like "9+" and "13+", but when I actually tried this, these categories were an absolute joke and still contained a ton of adult content, especially all the influencer gaming grifts, the right-wing "manosphere" bullshit, and so on. It is obvious that some AI does the filtering here, and we all know how well that works.
How do you set up YouTube in a way that only an explicit list of channels can be watched, without the possibility to trivially circumvent this by simply opening a browser and going to youtube.com directly without being logged in?
Freetube allows me to
- set up a list of channels that are OK
- disable the search box
- set up a PIN so that the configuration cannot be changed.
The installed browser is simply using a different filtered DNS and will not be able to connect to youtube.com directly.
This also has the advantage that I don't even need a Google account for anything.
Process is still somewhat ass though. But its better than giving full search and recommendations access.
Perhaps this solves the fatal flaw that your kid has to have your google account signed into their tablet to watch yt kids. I got my child their own tablet, created a child Google account, signed into the Android tablet with it, and then I was unable to restrict what they watched. Best I could do was the young child algorithm, but there’s still so much trash.
Make the experience so much better for all videos, and entirely removes most of the obnoxious ones.
I personally use it, too, to avoid distracting myself and to actively search for everything I consume.