Parents now have more control over how long their children spend scrolling through YouTube Shorts.
YouTube has introduced a new feature that lets parents set daily time limits on Shorts for kids’ and Teen accounts. The limit can be set anywhere from fifteen minutes to two hours, and YouTube says an option to set the limit to zero minutes will be added soon. Once the limit is in place, children and teens cannot change or turn it off themselves.
This update builds on a Shorts time limit feature that YouTube launched in October, but this version is designed specifically for users under the age of 18. Along with Shorts limits, parents can also create custom reminders for bedtime and breaks. These reminders already exist for adult users as optional tools, but parents now have direct control over how they work on their children’s accounts.
The new controls come as YouTube continues its efforts to better identify and manage accounts belonging to minors. Last year, the platform began using AI-based age estimation, which looks at account history and activity to determine whether a user is likely under 18. These new tools are part of a broader push to make those protections more effective.
YouTube is also making changes to how accounts are created. In the coming weeks, parents will be able to manually choose whether a new account is for a child or a teen during sign-up. They will also be able to adjust what type of content the account can access, making it easier to ensure kids are placed in the correct age category from the start.
These updates reflect a wider trend across social media platforms to tighten rules for younger users. Meta introduced new restrictions last year across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, including content filters designed for teens. TikTok has also offered time limits for users under 18 since 2023.
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