Questions parents ask
Why not YouTube Kids?
It sorts by broad age band and builds a feed. Fine — until the thing you care about isn't an age band.
A kids' video appHeyGilli
Who sets the limitA platform-wide age bandYour answers
What's on the shelfA feed chosen for youOnly channels you approved
A borderline videoShown or hidden, silentlyComes to you, with the reason
What you learn afterWhat was watchedWhat they made of it
Your child's accountA profile that follows themA nickname and an age
How is HeyGilli different from YouTube Kids?
YouTube Kids sorts videos into broad age bands and builds a feed for
you. HeyGilli works from your own answers instead: only channels you
approved reach your child, every new upload is read against what you
said is fine, and anything borderline comes to you with the reason
rather than being shown or hidden silently. Afterwards you learn what
your child made of what they watched, not only what they watched, and
your child has a nickname and an age rather than an account that follows
them.
What happens if my child gets an answer wrong?
Nothing bad. At a natural pause Gilli asks one question — a four-year-
old taps a picture, a nine-year-old answers in a sentence — and then
says the answer back either way, so a wrong guess still gets heard
properly. Nobody is told they are wrong. A concept that stays shaky
comes back in a later video, never as a retest.
Can the screening get it wrong?
Yes, and it is built expecting to. A model reads each upload against
your answers; it can misjudge in either direction, which is why a
preference never hides a video outright but sends it to you. Use it
alongside knowing what your child watches, not instead of it.
Does it cost anything?
Not today, and no payment details are taken. Being straight about it
though: reading every upload costs real money per household, so if
this grows there will have to be a paid plan. Nobody will be charged
by surprise — you would be told well before anything changed for you.
Where do the channels come from?
You choose them. HeyGilli suggests children's channels for your child's
age and what you say they like, you can paste any channel yourself, and
a Google Takeout export brings across a YouTube Kids profile. Nothing
reaches your child from a channel you have not approved.
Is my child's voice recorded?
No — HeyGilli only ever receives the words, never the audio. On the Android app the recognition happens on the device itself, so the audio never leaves it. In a browser the recogniser is the browser's own, and Chrome does the job by sending the audio to Google under Google's terms; if that matters in your house, use the Android app.
Can I use it without connecting Google?
Yes, and signing in gives HeyGilli nothing but your name and email —
it does not ask for access to your YouTube account and cannot read
your subscriptions or your history. Nothing about the screening or the
buddy depends on being signed in at all.
Does my child sign in, or give any details?
Never. You create their profile — a nickname you choose and an age,
no legal name, no photo. They never sign in, never type anything to
us, and never see the parent side without your PIN.
Can they search, or wander off into other channels?
Only if you switch search on, and it is off to begin with. Otherwise
nothing reaches them from a channel you have not approved.
What happens to their watch history?
History is off by default and opt-in per import. When you do include
it, only an aggregate is kept — how much, when, which channels — and
the video-by-video list is discarded on your device. The
privacy policy sets out exactly what is
kept.