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Parents!
I share my mobile device with kids and let them play games. At that time I do my chores and have some time for myself. But I noticed that sometimes they watch inappropriate ads or even content.
If you face the same problem, please share some tips! I really appreciate them!
Your options depend on your device OS. If you have iOS - based device you will be able to lock down your phone, you can follow the link to Apple Support here.
Android OS's have more options - you can use a monitoring service to lock, screen, monitor and report on content viewed, accessed or where an attempt was made. Two options are here: Covenant Eyes, Net Nanny.
Please take heed, there is no perfect solution to control the content your children access. These steps help protect your children from accidental discovery, but where there is a will, there is a way. It is paramount that you see this a tool to aid in your parenting and guidance and not a replacement. The internet is a dark place with many bad actors looking to work a way to get to your children as has been witnessed by the recent YouTube Kids stories.
I hope those links help you out!
How old are the kids? What device OS is it?
What we do is two fold:
Create a separate user account for kids on our android tablet, and disable YouTube on it. Install YouTube for kids. It is not foolproof though, the algorithms still pick up bad videos, but not as much compared to the normal YouTube.
Let children watch Netflix in the kids account (comes with subscription cost), or the cartoon channel on normal TV.
We take the time to watch some videos with our child on the tablet, and downvote/flag videos as needed.
We also make them watch YouTube on smart tv sometimes, so that we can keep an eye on the videos they watch while we do other chores or take a break.
As mentioned already, there is no foolproof solution. It would be best to discuss with the kids about watching inappropriate videos, net safety etc depending on their age.
UPDATE: There is an iOS YouTube for kids version as well
Not from personal experience since I don't share my phone, but maybe you could give them an other browser than the one you're using, or use a browser with addblocker plugin?
