ENTERTAINMENT
Parental Controls for YouTube
The main video platform set up either as a supervised account or a standard account with a safety filter.
THE 30-SECOND OVERVIEW
What You Need to Know About YouTube
YouTube is the full video platform, far larger than the separate YouTube Kids app, and the place most children move to as they get older. There are two ways to make it safer: A supervised account, set up through Family Link, applies content filters that follow your child to any device they sign in on. A standard account with Restricted Mode switched on is the lighter option for older teens, filtering out the worst of the mature content.
Without any parental controls, a standard account streams almost anything and keeps suggesting more. Most of the risk is not one bad video but the pull of autoplay and the next recommendation, which can carry a child from something harmless into territory you would not choose for them. Choosing supervised or Restricted Mode, then setting the filters, is what shapes the experience.
SET-UP GUIDANCE
👉 Do This First
Parental controls can feel overwhelming at the start. We recommend setting up these foundations first before anything else.
Choose How They Will Use It
What it does: There are two routes to choose. For most children under the mid-teens, set up a supervised account through Family Link, which keeps content filters on and follows them to any device. For an older teen you trust with the full platform, use their standard account with Restricted Mode on, and ask them to link it to yours for supervision. Pick the route first, because the settings below depend on it.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/families/answer/10495678
Set Up Family Link (For Supervised Accounts)
What it does: For a supervised account, Family Link is the lock, and your child cannot change what you set there.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13877231
Turn On Restricted Mode
What it does: For a standard account, switch on Restricted Mode and lock it on each device they use. Do this before handing the device over.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/174084
🛠️ Customise For Your Family
Fine tune what your child can do in the app with these settings. We recommend reviewing these settings periodically and adjusting them to match your child's growth.
Set the Content Maturity Level
What it does: On a supervised account, choose Explore, which aligns to around 9 and up, Explore More, around 13 and up, or Most of YouTube, which is everything bar age-restricted videos. Each step widens the range. Start tighter and loosen as you watch together. On a standard account, Restricted Mode is a single on or off filter instead of these tiers.
Learn more:
Set Daily Screen Time Limits
What it does: Set how long the device or the app can be used each day, with downtime or bedtime hours when it locks. YouTube's own take a break and bedtime reminders sit alongside it, but those are gentle nudges rather than limits, so pair them with a Family Link limit for real enforcement.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/families/answer/7103340
Limit or Switch Off YouTube Shorts
What it does: Shorts is the endless short-video feed, where the next clip plays before your child decides to keep going, so it deserves its own limit. You can cap the daily Shorts time or set it to zero to switch the feed off entirely while keeping normal videos available, and your child cannot override it.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/16671528
Disable Autoplay
What it does: You can disable autoplay so the next video doesn’t automatically start playing once one finishes. This is another helpful way to control screen time and manage the content your child watches.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13877231#zippy=%2Cdisable-auto-play
Review Your Child's Watch History
What it does: On a supervised account, you can review the videos your child has watched.
Learn more: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/13877231#zippy=%2Creview-your-childs-watch-history
⚠️ What These Controls Won't Do
The controls are useful, but two things commonly catch parents out.
Filters sort by age band, not by channel. The content settings widen or narrow a whole age range at once. They cannot pick the individual channels your child watches, and an automated filter lets some things through while blocking others you would have allowed.
Restricted Mode is per device, not per child. Restricted Mode only applies to the browser or app where you switch it on, so it does not follow your child to another device or a new browser. A supervised account is the only setting that travels with them wherever they sign in.
Things to Watch Out For:
Videos in the watch history that are darker or more extreme than what your child set out to find is a sign the recommendations are drifting.
Watching while signed out, or in a browser, which sidesteps a standard account's filter.
Long stretches on Shorts, where the next clip arrives before they decide to keep going.
Reluctance to show you the watch history, or a history that has been cleared.
LAST UPDATED: JULY 2026
Settings and features change often, so please visit the app's official sources for the latest updates. The links provided are external sources, please note that we do not assume responsibility for the content found on these external links.