We've all experienced just how useful a YouTube tutorial can be. Recently, I had to change my car's oil, and I was able to find someone with my exact model of car walk me through how to do it. 

YouTube provides untold thousands (or perhaps) of useful videos that someone will eventually find useful. Some of videos are not necessarily useful, but instead, provide good entertainment. Some videos, however, are not good. 

This guide will walk you through some of the techniques that we at Tech Lockdown believe parents should consider. Every family is different, and the ground rules that you deem appropriate for your children may require you to choose different methods. This guide provides several different ways you can use parental controls on the platform, but you can feel free to mix and match which ones work for you and your family.

What Parental Control Options Exist for YouTube?

There are several different ways that you can use out-of-platform settings to change how content on YouTube is presented to your child. The best way to do this is to enable or enforce strict mode on YouTube.

We highly recommend doing this, because strict mode is able to eliminate most (although not all) inappropriate videos on the platform. As a bonus, strict mode also blocks the comment section on videos.

Using a DNS Filter to Enforce YouTube Strict Mode

One of the simplest methods for enforcing Strict Mode on YouTube is to use a DNS Filter. This method is also very effective at blocking content on all kinds of devices, since if you install a content filter on your home network , you will be able to have filtering for all connected devices.

Tech Lockdown provides a very simple dashboard for changing you DNS settings. One of the settings that we do provide is the YouTube Restriction Level:

To learn more about how to get started with your own DNS Filter, check our main page for more information !

Using the Hosts File to Force Strict Mode on YouTube

For PC and Mac users, you can use the hosts file to change how your computer interacts with the internet. In our case, you can force YouTube's restricted mode on your computer.

To do this, you first need to be able to edit your hosts file .

Once you're able to access and edit you hosts file, you can the following entries to force Restricted Mode on YouTube:

## Youtube Safe Search ##
216.239.38.119 www.youtube.com
216.239.38.119 m.youtube.com
216.239.38.119 youtubei.googleapis.com
216.239.38.119 youtube.googleapis.com
216.239.38.119 www.youtube-nocookie.com

Pros:

• Generally effective, since most users won't be able to access the hosts file.
• Works at the network level, so it can't be bypassed by using a VPN or Proxy service.

Cons:

• Can be cumbersome to maintain and edit.
• Only an option for PCs and Mac devices; most smartphone don't have this option.

Using Device Supervision and Management to Enforce YouTube Restricted Mode

For Smartphone devices, forcing restricted mode is a lot tougher. It is usually necessary for you to create a supervised or managed device (especially for iPhones).

One of the key features that a supervised or managed device offer is the ability to choose which apps are allowed on the device, and which are blocked. You can do this if you want to only allow YouTube Kids, instead of the full YouTube app.

If you pair this with a DNS Filter, then you take advantage of both controlling which apps are allowed, and which websites you want the device to be able to access.

You can choose to block the app entirely, or you can enforce restricted mode at the network level for your smartphone:

If you want to learn more about device supervision and management, and how they can be used to improve your blocking solution, check out our blog article .

Tech Lockdown premium members get access to many different guides (device management and supervision only cover smartphones).

Blocking YouTube Thumbnails on YouTube

One of the ways that YouTube advertises its content to users is through thumbnail images. These images are almost always made to entice viewers to click on it, which has two problems:

• First, this naturally encourages the viewer to keep watching more videos, even if they only wanted to watch a little bit. Before you know it, much more time than you expect could have passed. This can be especially true for younger audiences. 
• Second, there is a chance that a thumbnail is inappropriate in nature. This is usually not a problem, but it can happen. 
  

We explain how to block thumbnails on YouTube in our filter content on YouTube article if you want to learn more.

Use YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids is a different app and website from normal YouTube, and it provides a more moderated selected of videos. Parents might consider uninstalling the default YouTube App and replacing it YouTube Kids.

YouTube Kids is an even more filtered version of Strict Mode. Since the emphasis is on children, the videos available are curated or selected more carefully.

In order to learn more about how to get started, parents should take a look at YouTube's official website for YouTube Kids .

Using Family Link to Enforce Restricted Mode for YouTube

Family Link is a type of device supervision. It's a service that Google provides to families to help parents control the content their children see while using Google's platform. This includes YouTube.

We generally discourage setting up Family Link, because while it does provide some useful features, it fails to provide a full content blocking solution. For example, while it does allow parents to enforce restricted mode on YouTube , and even force Safe Search in Google Chrome , it doesn't block categories of content for websites, or allow you to have any assurance that your child isn't using Google while signed out of their account.

We recommend using either a supervised or managed device for your child, since you also have the option to pair an enforced DNS Filtering application with their device. You will also be able to:

• Add Apps to a blocklist.
• Block websites.
• See their DNS history.

Family Link might a good idea if you are willing to go through the work of setting up the required Google accounts and setting up the required Android devices. Some of the options that Family Allows you to (outside of set YouTube's restricted mode) include:

• Set Screen Time limits for different apps.
• Choose to allow or block certain apps.
• Use location to see where your child has been.

Overall, Family Link is a decent option, however, it is not the most powerful solution available.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Difference Between Family Link and Device Supervision?

Family Link is a type of Device Supervision. However, many of the features that would normally be present on fully supervised or managed devices have been trimmed out for simplicity. Device Supervision, when used to its fullest potential, offers many more benefits than Family Link currently does.

How does Blocking Thumbnails of YouTube work?

To block YouTube thumbnails , you can a DNS filter or the Hosts file to block the images that YouTube needs in order to display images. This won't interfere with the videos on then platform, but it will stop images from displaying.

How can I block Shorts on YouTube?

Blocking Shorts on YouTube is unfortunately a bit complicated. There are ways for you to limit Shorts, but because it is built into the platform itself, it's almost impossible to remove easily.