Skip to Main Content

Inside YouTube

A decade of building for teens and families

Jan 26, 2026

By The YouTube Team

YouTube has been building products specifically for kids and teens for over 10 years. Our platform is designed to provide age-appropriate experiences that put families in control, serving as a streaming library for educational and entertaining content.

The right experience for the right age

YouTube provides three distinct experiences that match a child’s developmental stage, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

  • YouTube Kids (Ages 0-12): A standalone "walled garden" featuring a curated library of family-friendly videos, with no public comments or private messaging.
  • Kid accounts (Tweens): A managed on-ramp to YouTube through a Supervised Experience, where parents choose from three tailored content settings based on their child’s maturity: Explore, Explore More, or Most of YouTube.
  • Teen accounts (Ages 13–17): Proactive features by design, including uploads set to private by default and autoplay not on by default for users under 18.

Controls that empower parents

We believe parents should be in the driver’s seat. We provide industry-leading tools that let parents make the best choice for their families.

  • Industry-first Shorts timer: Parents can set daily time limits for the scrolling Shorts feed—including setting it to zero minutes to turn the feed off entirely.
  • Encouraging mindful viewing: "Take a Break" and "Bedtime" reminders are enabled by default for all users under 18 to encourage healthy boundaries.
  • Content settings: Parents can choose the content setting that works for their kids, and block specific videos or entire channels.
  • Active supervision: Through the Family Center, parents can link accounts to gain shared insights into their teen's activity.

Content that inspires learning and discovery

We’re focused on building high-quality and enriching experiences that allow kids and teens to explore their interests and curiosity.

  • A library for education: YouTube is a primary tool for learning; 94% of teachers globally use it as an instructional tool, and 74% of teens use it specifically to help with schoolwork.
  • Expert-backed quality principles: We partner with child development specialists and advisory committees to prioritize enriching content that inspires curiosity and positive behavior.
  • Recommendations safeguards: Our recommendations system automatically intervenes to break negative viewing loops for sensitive content categories that could be problematic if viewed in repetition, like content about physical comparison.
  • The living room experience: As the #1 streaming platform on TV screens in the U.S., YouTube provides a communal viewing experience where families watch and learn together, with more people now watching YouTube on their TVs than their phones.