Kagi for Kids
168 comments
·March 31, 2025Roritharr
MostlyStable
I had a lot of frustrations with the Youtube Kids app until I realized that if, when setting it up, rather than choosing the appropriate age range, you picked the "custom" (or whatever it was, it was annoyingly hidden all the way to the right, so you can't even see it at first), you are able to white list channels and videos, rather than just blacklist. Why this feature is hidden behind a different age selector rather than being part of any of the age settings I do not understand, but it's a lot better, and it could prevent the issue you describe, although admittedly it does require more work on the parents part to find and approve appropriate content. This is easier for younger kids at least.
theshrike79
Now only if they added parental controls for the standard Youtube app to block Shorts completely.
My kids aren't allowed to use TikTok and now Google decided to shove it in Youtube - and make it impossible to block.
philips
I wrote a blog post about that if it helps others. It is a real game changer: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
aNapierkowski
wait is this real? this is a thing ive been wanting, some channels that are fine are not in ytkids and some of the stuff in ytkids is just junk if we could curate a whitelist that would be perfect
MostlyStable
I think you can only whitelist channels that are approved kids channels, not from the full youtube library, but it does allow you to avoid the ocean of crap and pick just the good stuff.
philips
Yes, it is real, but a bit tricky to setup with caveats: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
bluGill
Perfect only if you have a small list that is allowed...
voisin
Is there a list somewhere to start a whitelist from?
skydhash
Why not curate a video repository? I think novelty is actually overrated and even harmful for kid. Deeper exploration on familiar subject may be beneficial as that would let his/her imagination to take on the job of inventing new things.
kridsdale1
I did this. I set up a plex server in my home that connects to a NAS which has the full runs of every PBS style kids show that I could find and found good reviews of. Along with classic movies.
Just trying to recreate the media conditions of my youth, with modern content as well as long as it’s “pure”.
I’m also putting me-vetted YouTube content like Kurzgesagt on it.
Minor49er
You might want to vet your video collection more closely. Kurzgesagt got into hot water a few years ago after it came out that they were being sponsored by large corporations to push messaging that used those sponsors' publications as primary sources. They're not as unpartial and objective as they lead people to believe
loughnane
I’m in the same boat. Curated is the only way to go.
voisin
Another great resource for vetting content for kids by age is Common Sense Media.
bombcar
Jellyfin + ytdlp + playlists = pretty good, in general. and avoids ads; the ads are worse than almost anything else you can find.
murphm8
No need for manual ytdlp! I use TubeArchivist[1] to download channels and then share them with kid's account on Plex. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Great self-hosted solution.
reaperman
If it’s just the ads that are the issue, paying for YouTube premium would be a similar cost solution, and funnel some money to good creators.
Towards a better Jellyfin solution, I wonder if adding Whisper and an LLM model could transcribe the YT videos and flag any which contains themes that go against parents values.
philips
Do you have any automation on ytdlp and Jellyfin?
I built this with Jellyfin and Home Assistant for my kids: https://github.com/philips/homeassistant-nfc-chromecast
mvieira38
This seems like a cool idea. Maybe using something like a Peertube instance to join like-minded parents would end up working out for scaling
jmathai
I found that most of the content on YouTube kids existed as a means to advertise products. I don't necessarily care to understand the economics of it because it just doesn't provide enough value to bother.
What I do understand is that I don't want my kids being tricked into watching ads because something about watching adults open toys is entertaining.
newsclues
Kids have many people they can ask for gifts from.
mvieira38
May I ask how are you dealing with the hole Youtube left in his life? I grew up on the internet, but seeing the effects it had on me and the world I don't want the same for my kids. The problem is I don't even know what to do in my own free time if not browsing Youtube or playing games, imagine a kid.
skydhash
My advice would be hobbies. Learning and practicing stuff can take a lot of your free time if you’re passionate about it, meaning you give it your full attention.
mvieira38
Maybe I'm weird, but hobbies just feel like work anyways, except maybe reading. Learning Japanese just doesn't have the same feedback loop as grinding Dota or something... Alas, how would I tackle this issue with a kid? Maybe just throw a bunch of activities at him and see what sticks as a hobby?
theshrike79
PBS and whatever equivalent there is in your country.
There is a metric ton of professionally made non-commercial content for kids.
jkkramer
As a fellow parent and hater of YouTube Kids, I've thought about building a replacement.
What holds me back is knowing that -- if this was an iPad app, for example -- I'd be at the mercy of both Google AND Apple. It's a minefield of sensitive topics:
- Kids & privacy
- Content moderation
- Intellectual property
- Third-party UGC
Way too risky.
petepete
This is why iPlayer is worth its weight in gold in the UK.
smusamashah
For my 3yo, I have setup YouTube kids but with only approved content. He gets to see only selected channels or videos. YouTube with search enabled for kids isn't as walled as one might expect.
stankot
I stumbled on this some time ago and saved it for when my kid grows up enough. It is a collection of a few thousands kid friendly videos. I think their curation is pretty good, but check it out for yourself.
thijson
My son watches this YouTuber, it's Eystreem. My guess is that he uses the Bible as a prop to add drama to his videos. Another video he was marketing Prime energy drinks. Maybe I should download a whole bunch of 80's TV shows line A-team or Macyver, and only have that available to watch
viraptor
> to ensure children are not exposed to harmful content.
Strong claim. I like the idea, but wish they were more realistic about what they can provide. If you ever get a Reddit result you're likely one click away from harmful content.
That said, I like the lenses applied in this case. It may be the best we can get today in terms of search filtering.
prawn
Or they head to Wikipedia, search for "fish" and end up on the Albert Fish page.
I think aiming for better rather than perfect is the best option, as you said. As long as it's framed in this way, and not as an ideal option to let your impressionable child loose on the internet.
al_borland
Kagi lets you block results for various sites you don’t like, if sites like Reddit are of concern.
viraptor
I get it, but that wasn't the point. There's lots of sites which will have your result and harmful content right next to each other. Reddit is known for being a collection of very unrelated subreddits, but you won't know every site like that. Kagi writes "ensures", but they can't really ensure anything here. They'll have the best guess of the first click being safe and even that is often problematic (what kind of safe?, for what age?).
jmathai
Kagi seems like a cool company - I'm not a customer yet. I'd like there to be technology companies I can trust - perhaps like Kagi.
I have been really happy with NextDNS though. My kids, not so much. But hey ... that's parenting.
dustincoates
I've moved from NextDNS to ControlD. NextDNS seems like it's been abandoned--good luck getting any level of support--and I've been really happy with the feature set of ControlD.
jmathai
Any features or capabilities in particular from ControlD that you find most useful?
drcongo
Kagi and NextDNS are the two subscriptions I have that I couldn't live without, you should give Kagi a go.
facile3232
Content for kids strikes me as something you'd curate around an experience and value system you sell to parents. I can't imagine anything else would work very well.
Granted, this doesn't mean we shouldn't try to build filters. I'm just rather pessimistic about a hands-off experience with such software.
jmathai
I think curation is the key. I sort of trust Disney to curate content for my kids. I definitely do not trust Youtube to do it.
I don't want my kids to be able to "discover" content. Why is that always the feature? Rhetorical question....I know the answer, engagement and stickiness. I just don't like the answer.
dcchambers
Disclaimer: I am a happy paid Kagi subscriber and absolutely am an advocate of their product. I really hope the company makes it work financially because we NEED something like it.
I have two young kids of my own (4, almost 2) and have so far been able to avoid the issues of letting them free roam on the net, but it's obviously something that's coming. This was not something I ever paid attention to in my youth but now as a parent the open internet completely terrifies me. And I say that as a core millennial that basically grew up with the internet.
The current status quo of "kids friendly" content (eg YouTube Kids) is mostly awful. I would still never let my young kids browse something like that without supervision.
I am appreciative that Kagi knows this is an issue and is investing into the area.
pants2
Feels like in my youth the biggest risk was stumbling on some freaky gore/porn that scarred you, but somehow that doesn't seem as bad as the risk of getting hooked on dopamine-optimized brainrot, alt-right propaganda, or micro transaction focused games.
joshstrange
I couldn't agree more, this pretty much describes me in my youth. I am legitimately terrified of what would have happened to me had I had access to some/certain alt-right influencers, I know for a fact that a younger me would have easily fallen into that mess. I get why it's appealing (at least to a certain person in a certain headspace).
I'm so glad the worst I feel like I ran into were freaky gore/porn.
Snacklive
This. I was a kid with too much free time and exposed to the internet with some but not enough supervision.
I stumbled with some f up stuff that i still remember to this day. But somehow I'm grateful that it wasn't the current brainrot
dcchambers
Yep, that's exactly my fear. The brain rot zombification of our society. How do I stop my kids from getting suckered into an endless scrolling doom loop?
dharmab
Pretty much every parent I know does not allow their preteens and younger unsupervised tablet/phone use because the internet is so bad for them at that age. Typically they allow a curated set of content during specific times, and devices are physically removed from the children's environment afterward.
Aeolun
> How do I stop my kids from getting suckered into an endless scrolling doom loop?
I think the first and best way to ensure this is to not do it yourself.
philips
I love Kagi and I think the basic ideas here are a step in the right direction. I would really like to see the curation be social so I can share and collaborate with friends and my kids school. As it is I help my kid use an EOL Chromebook to find Origami designs but it is always side-by-side and I have tight NextDNS controls to keep weird weird ads away from my kids.
On this topic I have been drafting and collecting thoughts on internet and digital media curation the last few nights. Here is what I have so far:
Thesis: The role of children's teachers and caretakers in curating an environment for children to learn and grow is more important than ever with the overwhelming variety of books, videos, shows, etc all of varying quality and alignment with caretaker and child interests. However, curation in the digital age is also more difficult than ever. The web is a collection of walled gardens which give parents limited and inconsistent controls over what the child will see once inside the walled garden. And, adding controls on-top of a walled garden is impossible or only possible by very computer savvy users (e.g. YouTube frontends).
What are ways care takers can practically and easily curate today?
Examples
- YouTube Kids: https://abparenting.substack.com/p/effective-youtube-kids
- Jellyfin or Calibre for ebooks
- Open WebUI with a custom system prompt for kids
Counter Examples
- Netflix, Disney, Amazon, etc: difficult to non-existent curation controls - all or nothing
- Kindle Kids: there are controls but for Library books the process is 12+ clicks between the Libby and Kindle app: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/can-you-share-kindl...
"Our young students are just beginning to develop their powers of discernment. By curating a good library collection, we can help them learn to weigh the merits of a few authoritative works on a subject rather than plowing through hundreds of internet sources of uneven quality. And while a computer search is undeniably efficient, we firmly believe that browsing a shelf of books is more rewarding and more educational. It deepens students' understanding of organizational principles, brings them unexpected discoveries, and rewards patient exploration rather than offering instant gratification"
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yzydserd
> Family Plan … We strive to provide a search engine that prioritizes the well-being of your loved ones, particularly the most vulnerable ones like children, by offering an ad-free and safe browsing experience. We offer two different group plans based on your specific needs.
I read it a few times and saw only one plan. What’s the second one? If it’s the Team plan, that seems like poor copy.
(Kagi Ultimate subscriber here)
saintfire
Duo, perhaps?
I'm not exactly certain but under the family tab there are two options: Duo and Family
kylehotchkiss
Wow, it’s be really great to block both CNN and Fox from parents searches. Maybe Facebook and TikTok too.
an_aparallel
Lol...i see why kids are shunning "online"... The internet was exciting as a kid (for me) back in the nineties specifically because it was the wild west: unique takes, mp3s, software torrents, private p2p chats with strangers around the world, porn, and most importantly...something my parents had no clue about.
In 2025, id definately prefer kicking dirt as a kid.
decimalenough
As a parent of kids in 2025, there are approximately zero kids out there who share your view.
However, they're all subscribed to SkibidiDirtKickerz on Tiktok, YouTube and Snapchat. Don't forget to smash that like button!
an_aparallel
Im very aware of the commercialisation of the internet. Sadly its something (tablets) given to children as a high tech dummy, more than it is a wierd and wonderful playground.
skyyler
Is it easy to disable the Quick Answer "feature"?
jdknezek
The first image in this section shows it is a switch at the bottom of the Parental Controls settings: https://staticmedia.kagi.com/family/parental.png
falcor84
I couldn't find that either. But did find myself laughing at the "always check this with an adult" disclaimer on the quick answers. It's nice to imagine an alternate world where being an adult is sufficient for proper critical thinking.
Kuinox
It show up when you put a "?" at the end of your query.
What Kagi or anyone could work on, is an actually working version of YouTube Kids.
I literally Pi-Hole Blocked all of YouTube after my son started reading the Bible after a Minecraft Influencer started preaching throughout most of his videos to the point my son became a bit too much interested in the topic.
Not that I'm a rabid atheist or would deny my child such a thing, but if THAT can enter my 8yr olds brain via his short allowed time where he can browse by himself, i'm worried what else is coming his way through it.
I'd love to give him access to valuable videos between rules I describe by natural language and can test myself, but nothing like this exists.