YouTube Kids is coming to main YouTube app on game consoles, smart TVs, Roku

Ben Schoon | Feb 15 2023 - 7:16 pm PT

YouTube Kids has been around for a few years now, and the service is now expanding to more smart TVs through an update to the core YouTube app. The biggest advantage of this is that, finally, YouTube Kids will be available on more popular platforms, including Roku.

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Announced this evening via email, but apparently still rolling out, YouTube Kids is coming to more TVs by integrating the experience into the core YouTube app. YouTube says that switching accounts on the main app across smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Roku, etc.), game consoles, and more will launch a YouTube Kids experience for supervised accounts.

The full YouTube Kids app is currently available for Samsung, LG, Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV/Google TV devices, but this new change expands the option to even more platforms, such as game consoles.

The obvious glaring omission for YouTube Kids on TV prior has obviously been Roku, which lacks the official app entirely, so this is certainly a change that many families will be happy to see.

YouTube’s announcement, sent via email, reads in full:

We are excited to share a new way for your family to enjoy the videos they love on the big screen. When using the YouTube app on a smart TV, streaming device, or gaming console, you will now be able to enter the safer, designed-for-kids YouTube Kids app through your child’s YouTube Kids profile. This change will be rolling out to families over the next few weeks.‌

When on the Accounts tab, you can easily toggle between your profile and your child’s profile, which will take you directly into the YouTube Kids app — with your existing parental controls, content settings, and child’s preferences ready to go. This means a seamless transition from your YouTube profile to your child’s YouTube Kids profile and less navigation with a remote.

For simplicity, we will now show your existing YouTube Kids profiles on your Accounts page within the YouTube app on smart TVs, streaming devices, and gaming consoles. If YouTube Kids is no longer the viewing experience you want for your child, you can easily delete those profiles by visiting families.youtube.com, selecting your child’s profile, and clicking on the three-dot menu. Note that deleting the profiles will delete them on all devices.