The app offers diverse content and a range of parental controls so that every family can customise their experience based on their preferences and interests.
YouTube has announced the launch of YouTube Kids in Arabic, which will cover 15 countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The free app will be available on smartphones and tablets for children under the age of 13.
The YouTube Kids app will keep “families across MENA in mind” and consider “language and culture” to produce a more locally-relevant experience, Google said in a statement.
“A key part of this is for families to be able to interact with our products in their native language.”
Tarek Abdalla, Google’s regional marketing director for the MENA region said: “Whether your children are 12 years old who enjoy arts and crafts or seven years old who want to understand more about the solar system, YouTube Kids is a family-friendly space for watching and exploring.
“It helps every family nurture their children’s curiosity and interests … offering a range of parental controls to tailor the experience based on their needs.”
The kid’s version of YouTube will also limit advertisements. We have ads that comply with our strict policies and human review guidelines … we will allow limited paid advertisements that are verified as family-friendly. All advertisements will be clearly labelled as ads and will not include any click through to websites or product purchases,” the company said.
YouTube Kids can also be customised to suit different age groups. It allows parents to create up to eight profiles for their children, which means those with more than one child can have separate profiles for each based on their age and interests.
They can also block specific channels or content and can restrict their children’s experience to a more limited set of videos by disabling the search function.
Content available on YouTube Kids will include the Arabic version of Sesame Street, Ahlan Simsim, or Emirati production Mansour, educational videos such as El Schoola and Learn with Zakariya or nursery rhymes.
It will also feature content for children from TV channels including Spacetoon, MBC 3, and Majid TV.
Children can learn about new topics and be entertained through channels and playlists organised into categories including learning and hobbies, arts and crafts, YouTubers and family vloggers, music and dance and toys and play.
