You pick the YouTube topics. Your child picks the video.
No Shorts, no autoplay, no “Up next”. Your child cannot search for unboxing, slime or Skibidi videos unless you approve those topics. On the regular YouTube site, your child sees only videos on the topics and channels you chose, and can still search inside them.
Free with 5 topics. Unlimited topics with Pro, $24.95 once. No subscription.
Also free: the CtrlKid desktop app for Windows and Linux, which watches chats, games and searches.
Nothing leaves your PC. No account to create.
Try it: add a topic and watch your child’s YouTube change.
Choose the topics and channels your child is allowed to watch.
What is gone, and what your child keeps
Gone
- ✕Shorts.
- ✕The homepage feed.
- ✕“Up next” and autoplay.
- ✕Every video outside your topics, even one opened from a link or a Google result.
Your child keeps
- ✓The regular YouTube site your child already uses.
- ✓Search, inside the topics you approved.
- ✓The choice of which video to watch.
- ✓A button to ask you for a new topic. You approve or deny the request from the CtrlKid app.
YouTube is built to keep kids watching, not to help them grow. CtrlKid does not force your child to sit through boring lessons. Pick topics they love that entertain and teach, like robotics, programming, AI, digital art and animation, or money skills. Your child chooses the video inside those topics.
CtrlKid for YouTube is free with 5 topics. Pro gives unlimited topics. The extension works on its own; the free desktop app adds the keyword watchlist and the daily screen time limit.
Why not YouTube Kids, Restricted Mode or a supervised account?
YouTube Kids is a separate app, and regular YouTube stays one tab away on the same PC. Its “approved content only” setting turns search off and limits your child to the videos, channels and collections you picked.
Restricted Mode and supervised accounts remove the videos that YouTube’s own filters flag as unsuitable. YouTube itself says Restricted Mode “will never be 100 percent perfect”.
CtrlKid for YouTube works on the regular YouTube site. You approve topics, your child searches inside them and asks you for new ones, and Shorts, the feed and “Up next” are gone.
CtrlKid can erase the word before your child sends it.
A stranger in a game chat asks what school your child goes to, or for a photo, or to move the chat to Discord. CtrlKid watches for the words you choose, in any chat, game, search box or website, and can act the moment your child types one.
Strangers who groom, bullies whose harassment continues at home, and kids in your child’s own circle who pressure your child into things your child would never do alone: when your child types one of the words you chose, CtrlKid can erase it, log it or alert your phone.
Try it: type a word, then pick what happens.
Enter the words you want to know about if your child types them.
Pick one or more responses. Nothing happens unless you choose it.
You decide what happens when your child types a watchlist word.
Add the words and details that matter, such as your address, phone number, school name, “send a pic”, “meet up” or “don’t tell your parents”. For each word, pick one response or several:
Erase it
CtrlKid erases the word as your child types it, before your child can send it.
Lock the screen
The screen stays locked until you unlock it.
Sound an alarm
The PC plays an alarm when your child types the word.
Log it
CtrlKid records the word and the time. Your child notices nothing.
Alert your phone (Pro)
You get an alert on Telegram, Discord, Slack or ntfy the moment your child types the word.
No reading every message
CtrlKid alerts you only when your child types a word on your list, and only if you turned alerts on. You decide the list, so the alerts cover the words you chose and nothing else your child types.
Too much screen time? Set a daily limit.
Pick a daily limit in minutes. When time is up, CtrlKid locks the screen, so you do not have to. Watching videos counts toward the limit, even with no typing or clicking.
See what happened on the family PC.
Pro keeps a private log on the PC: the websites your child visits, what they search for, which YouTube videos they watch, which apps and games they use and for how long, and which watchlist words they typed. Full typing logs are optional and off by default. You check the log from your phone on your home Wi-Fi. Nothing leaves the PC.
Free to use. Pro costs $24.95 once. No subscription.
Free covers the YouTube extension with 5 topics, the keyword watchlist with erase, lock and alarm, and the daily screen time limit. Pro adds unlimited YouTube topics, phone alerts and the activity log.
Free
- ✓YouTube extension with 5 approved topics or channels
- ✓Keyword watchlist with unlimited words: erase the word, lock the screen or sound an alarm
- ✓Log of the watchlist words your child typed
- ✓Daily screen time limit, video time included
- ✓30-day Pro trial included
Pro
- ✓Everything in Free
- ✓Unlimited YouTube topics and channels
- ✓Instant phone alerts, including the first time your child opens a new app or game
- ✓Activity log: websites, searches, YouTube videos, apps and games
- ✓Daily activity report: apps used, top websites, first and last use
- ✓Dashboard on your phone over home Wi-Fi
Compare every feature+
| Compare features | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword watchlist | ||
| You choose the words and phrases to watch for, e.g. “send a pic”, “meet up”, your home address or school name | ||
| Unlimited watchlist words and phrases | ||
| Edit your watchlist from your phone or PC on home Wi-Fi | ||
| When your child types a watchlist word, you choose what happens | ||
| Erase the word before it can be sent | ||
| Lock the computer | ||
| Sound an alarm on the computer | ||
| Log it, so you can see later what was typed and when | ||
| Send an instant alert to your phone (Telegram, Discord, Slack or ntfy) | ||
| Stay informed | ||
| See which watchlist words they typed, and when | ||
| See every website they visit | ||
| See what they search for online | ||
| See which apps and games they used each day, and for how long | ||
| See their most-visited websites each day | ||
| See what time the computer was first and last used each day, e.g. late at night | ||
| Get a phone alert the first time a new app or game is opened on the computer | ||
| Get a phone alert when a video they watch has a watchlist word in its title | ||
| See everything they type, in any app (optional, off by default) | ||
| Check logs & settings from your phone or PC on home Wi-Fi | ||
| Control & limits | ||
| Daily screen time limit: the screen locks when time is up | ||
| Time spent watching videos counts toward the limit, even without using the keyboard or mouse | ||
| Password needed to change settings or quit | ||
| Update in one click when you choose. Never automatic, and your license and settings are kept | ||
| You pause both the desktop app and the YouTube extension with the same password | ||
YouTube extension  Available in theChrome Web Store | ||
| Topic buttons replace YouTube’s search box, so your child can only search topics you approved | ||
| Search results show only videos that match your approved topics | ||
| Approve whole channels, e.g. @MathAntics | ||
| Any other video is blocked, even if opened from a link or Google search results | ||
| Shorts are hidden | ||
| Homepage feed, “Up next” recommendations and autoplay are switched off | ||
| Allow whole YouTube categories, e.g. Education or Science & Technology | ||
| Password needed to change the extension’s settings | ||
| Approved topics & channels | 5 | Unlimited |
| Manage YouTube topics from the desktop app, or from your phone or PC on home Wi-Fi, as one shared list | ||
| Price | $0 includes a 30-day free Pro trial | $24.95 once (1 PC) $34.95 family (up to 5 PCs) |
Pay with PayPal
Secure checkout · we never see your card
30-day money-back guarantee
Runs 100% on your PC · no data uploaded
*Introductory price. Pro activates automatically when you buy from the app, or paste the key we email you.
Runs on your PC. No cloud, no account, no data sent anywhere.
Keyword matching, logs and screen time tracking all happen on the PC itself. CtrlKid uploads nothing about your child’s activity, to us or to anyone else.
Dashboard on your home Wi-Fi only
You check logs and settings from a phone on the same home Wi-Fi. There is no cloud dashboard, and no third-party server ever sees the data.
Password-protected
Changing settings and quitting the app both need your password. Your child cannot close it.
The only two things that leave the PC
A one-time check when you activate Pro, and phone alerts if you turn them on; the alerts go straight to the service you choose.
Made by a parent.
I built CtrlKid because I could not find an app that would protect children online and help them learn when they used YouTube.
I wanted to stay informed, and to get an alert when they typed words or phrases I knew could cause trouble.
I wanted YouTube to be more than entertainment: something fun and educational that could teach them skills to help them succeed as adults.
And I wanted it private: running on our own computer, not in someone else’s cloud.
Questions or problems? Send me a message. I read every message myself and usually reply within a day.
Free to download. Free to run forever.
Installs in a few minutes. Pick your YouTube topics and watchlist words, and CtrlKid is working the same session.
System requirements
- Windows installer: Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
- Linux .deb: Ubuntu 20.04 or newer, Debian 11 or newer, or Linux Mint 20 or newer. These versions come with Python 3.8 or newer already installed, which CtrlKid needs. Any other packages CtrlKid needs are installed automatically with it.
- Linux AppImage: Linux Mint 20 or newer, Ubuntu 20.04 or newer, or Debian 11 or newer. The AppImage carries its own Python, so nothing needs installing first.
- YouTube extension: Google Chrome 88 or newer, or Firefox 115 or newer.
Common questions
Do I need the desktop app to use the YouTube extension?+
No. The extension works on its own with 5 topics. The free desktop app adds the keyword watchlist and the screen time limit. Pro adds unlimited topics, phone alerts and the activity log.
How does the YouTube extension work?+
You type topics or @channels into the YouTube Whitelist, the list of topics and channels you approve. Your child sees topic buttons and a search box in place of YouTube’s own search box, searches inside a topic or across all your topics, and sees only videos that match your topics. Shorts, the homepage feed, “Up next” and autoplay are off. CtrlKid for YouTube blocks any other video, even one opened from a link or a Google result. Changing the extension’s settings needs your password.
Can my kid just quit the app?+
No. Quitting the app needs your password, just like opening its settings.
How many alerts will I get?+
Only when your child types a word on your watchlist, and only if you turned phone alerts on. CtrlKid does not read or judge whole conversations.
Does this record everything my kid types, all the time?+
No. By default CtrlKid logs only the watchlist words you chose. You can turn on full typing logs in Pro.
Is any data sent to CtrlKid’s servers?+
No. Everything runs on the PC itself. The two exceptions are a one-time check when you activate Pro, and phone alerts if you turn them on; the alerts go straight to the service you choose.
Does CtrlKid run on a Mac?+
The desktop app does not; it runs on Windows 10 and 11 and on Linux.
Is this legal to use on my own child’s computer?+
CtrlKid is for open parental oversight of a minor child’s own PC; the parent controls the settings by password. CtrlKid is not designed or intended for covert monitoring of another adult.