YouTube Kids app received an update this week by Google. Changes to this kid-friendly YouTube Kids mobile application regarding parent control were added in the app to address problems raised by parents and consumer watch groups earlier this year.

The app's new features include a 'just for parents section' that helps adults how to use the application and allow user to add a customized passcode.

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Shimrit Ben-Yair, director of product management, posted in a blog that when parents open YouTube Kids, the application will explain upfront how the system chooses and recommends content or flagged videos. He also added that parents decide the right experience for their family from the get-go.

The application also lets the users to choose their boundaries, turning search on to enable access on millions of family-friendly videos and restrict the experience to a more limited set by turning it off.

Google billed the applications as a safer and easier alternative to the main video-streaming service according to PC Magazine. YouTube Kids app featured a voice search intended for younger kids as well as large and brightly colored icons for small hands including the new parental control.

According to The Market Business, a complaint was filed with the Federal Trade Commission in April, stating the program is loaded with advertisements that children should not be watching. According to the Center of Digital Democracy group, the application is an intermixing advertising and programming in ways that deceive young children who, unlike adults, lack the cognitive ability to distinguish between the two including branded channels for McDonald's, Barbie and Fisher-Price.

A statement Ben-Yair was addressed to the urging users about the imperfection of the system. The creator of the app is trying to make videos available in the app which is 'family-friendly'. He added that this helps YouTube Kids to be better for everyone.

TagsYouTube Kids, YouTube, Parenting