Google TV launches new kids profiles with stronger parental controls

Google’s been making its products more child-friendly over the last year, this is just the latest step.

What you need to know

• Google TV is the latest Google service to add a kids profile feature.
• Once enabled, parents will be able to control what kind of apps and content can be used or consumed on the Google TV platform.
• It’s coming to the U.S. in March and other countries later in the year.

Google is building out an update for the Google TV platform that’ll make it more child-friendly, as expected from a report last month. It’s rolling out “kids profiles”, a feature that’ll allow parents to create a space on the Google platform focused on appropriate content for their children.

As with the main Google TV home screen, the kids profile home screen will be filled with recommendations revolving around apps and programs. They’ll all be child-friendly apps, think YouTube Kids, and parents will be able to control what purchased movies and TV shows are suggested if they’ve signed up to Family Library.

There’ll also be time limits to manage screentime, and Google is adding a profile lock so parents can lock controls behind a pin and away from prying hands. In addition to that, you can also manage Google TV with the Family Link app in the same way you can do on Android phones or Chromebooks.

Saleh Altayyar, Product Manager at Google TV shared in a blog post on Monday:

Kids profiles on Google TV are designed with young viewers in mind and feature bright colors and fun illustrations. The backdrop can be customized to a kid-friendly theme — like “Under the sea,” “Dinosaur jungle” or “Space travel.” In the coming weeks, we’ll also be introducing avatars so your kids can pick a profile picture based on their interests.

Google has been working on building out more child-friendly products. It’s worked on Kids Space for Android tablets. The company has also built out a tag in the Play Store to help parents find teacher-approved apps and help children learn from home. Not all these features have been well received. Making YouTube content more child-friendly has led to limitations on YouTube Music for Disney Music lovers, as Android Central’s Ara Wagoner noted.

Google is rolling out these profiles on Google TV-enabled devices in the U.S. this month, and globally over the next few months.

Chromecast with Google TV

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The Chromecast with Google TV is Google’s first real TV stick in the traditional sense. Coming in three sleek colors, the low-price and thoughtful interface make this a tempting product.