YouTube is expanding its parental control features as global concerns continue to grow around children’s safety and screen time on social media platforms.
The Google-owned video service announced on Wednesday that it is rolling out new controls aimed specifically at managing how much time children and teens spend watching YouTube Shorts, the platform’s short-form video format similar to TikTok and Instagram Reels.
With the update, parents can now set a time limit on how long a child’s linked account is allowed to watch Shorts. The goal is to reduce excessive scrolling and help curb time spent on short, easily consumable videos.
In addition to timers, parents also have the option to block access to Shorts entirely. This can be done either on a permanent basis or temporarily — such as during study time when a child is expected to use YouTube only for educational content.
YouTube is also introducing customizable “Bedtime” and “Take a Break” reminders, which prompt users to step away from videos after a set period. These reminders are not limited to kids’ accounts; adults can enable the same features on their own profiles to manage viewing habits.
For families that share devices, switching between adult and child accounts can sometimes be inconvenient — especially for parents who don’t want their recommendations overwhelmed by children’s programming. To address this, YouTube says it will update its in-app sign-up and account-switching experience in the coming weeks, making it easier to move between parent and child profiles with just a few taps, provided users remember to switch accounts.
The new features build on YouTube’s existing supervision tools for teens, which already allow parents to monitor a teen’s channel activity if they upload videos. Similar supervision and safety controls have become common across major platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.
Last year, YouTube also introduced age-estimation technology designed to identify whether an account likely belongs to a teen, allowing the platform to deliver a more age-appropriate experience automatically.
