YouTube Kids app now actually looks like YouTube
Your small children being on YouTube is inevitable at this point. From experience, I know kids master how to swipe and scroll on touchscreens at just months old. This is why YouTube launched a YouTube Kids app for iPhone and Android devices back in 2015.
Now, for the first time since that launch, YouTube Kids has received a complete redesign. With that update, YouTube Kids looks a lot more like YouTube.
"As part of YouTube's design modernization efforts, we’re happy to announce that we’re bringing a new look and feel to the YouTube Kids mobile app!" reads a new update posted by YouTube earlier this week on the official YouTube Kids community site.
Here's what's new in the YouTube Kids app
The biggest update to the YouTube Kids app is obvious: The redesign.
Previously, YouTube Kids (as seen above) looked like an app for children. It barely resembled the current YouTube design at all.
The new YouTube Kids (as seen below) looks like YouTube, but with a kids-oriented twist. The design is more colorful and visual, but it still distinctly like YouTube. The previous design was geared toward toddler-aged children, whereas this one looks like it's meant to be enjoyed throughout childhood.
The redesign also brings a more YouTube-like user interface to YouTube Kids as well. YouTube Kids now displays video categories at the top of the homescreen just like YouTube does. The new navigation bar at the bottom of the page is basically straight from the main YouTube app as well.
Another big change is that YouTube Kids can now be used both horizontally and vertically just like the main YouTube app. Previously, YouTube Kids had to be used in landscape mode. But, now that shortform video is popular on the platform thanks to YouTube Shorts, that no longer makes sense.
Aside from the redesign, everything else in YouTube Kids is basically the same. The app remains the best way for kids to safely watch age-appropriate YouTube content. YouTube has greatly improved the content moderation issues that plagued the app years ago.
A few comments on YouTube's update announcement have generated a negative response to the redesign. However, like it or not, the redesigned app should be preferable to what YouTube did to its smart TV kids app. Earlier this year, YouTube completely shut down its standalone kids app for TVs and integrated it into the main YouTube app for smart TVs.