YouTube finally integrates its ad-free subscription offering with its Kids app

YouTube finally integrates its ad-free subscription offering with its Kids app ,

YouTube Red, the subscription service released last summer, is finally being integrated with YouTube Kids. The Kids app already lets parents plunk their kids in front of the screen without having to worry that their little ones will stumble onto some unsavory content. With the addition of Red, I can now offline some videos for a long car drive, and hand my boys a smartphone knowing they won't be exposed to ads for junk food that would rot their little teeth.

YouTube hasn't released any numbers yet around the performance of Red. The Kids app has been downloaded millions of times and Malik Ducard, head of content for YouTube Kids, said that the app, which was launched in February of 2015, has already served up over 10 billion video views. YouTube creators we spoke with say Red payments now make up about 4 to 5 percent of their income, but it's impossible to tell how that translates in terms of total subscribers.

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Let the app set the limits, and take the blame

Another nice feature of Red I'll be using in combination with Kids is the background mode. I often rely on YouTube to pull up music that isn't on Spotify, and with background mode we can listen in the car while also utilizing Pokémon Go — ahem, I mean Google Maps. Finally, Kids does offer the option to limit how much time your children spend, offering you the ability to pass the buck as a parent, setting a time limit for the app and putting the blame on the machine when it puts an end to your toddler's viewing session.