If you have a smart tv platform, even your youngest children will master it quickly. But just because they can, doesn’t mean they should. You may not want them getting into all your channel options and apps, after all. To that end, the Chromecast with Google TV will soon have kids profiles, so you choose what apps they see.
Kids profiles are precisely what they sound like, separate profiles for your kids to use. Think of it like the profiles you set up for your children on Netflix or Hulu, but for your overall Chromecast platform. You get to choose what apps your children have access to, like YouTube Kids and Noggin. And Chromecast’s suggestions for new content will come from child-friendly platforms as well.
If you have a Google Play family library, you can share just the movies, and tv shows you want with the child’s profiles. And yes, they can watch the same thing over and over again. So prepare yourself for the 10,000th play of Into the Unknown.
Google recognizes that not every parent is ready to create a Google account for their children yet, so while you can create a kids profile with a linked account, you don’t have to. Instead, you can set up a basic profile and add a name and age, no Google account necessary.
The addition of kids profiles will come with tools to help control things as well. You can use screen time management tools to narrow how long your children watch TV. You can either cut off access after a specific time (bedtime mode), limit how long your child can watch, or both.
And for fun, the kids profiles will have custom theme options. To start, you can choose from Dinosaur, Under the Sea, and Space Travel. Later, Google will add custom avatar options. Google says kids profiles will roll out starting this month to Chromecast with Google TV devices, along with other Google TV devices, in the U.S. Other countries will follow in the coming months.
Source: Google
