Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#1

Post by beechwood » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 5:49 PM UTC

Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids
maekitsafe.com

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#2

Post by beechwood » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 5:50 PM UTC

This is not a fancy web app. I simply made it because I'm a single parent and while I'm trying to make dinner my 9 year old is down some YouTube rabbit hole. I figured I would share because I can't be the only parent that has this issue.

So I made a web app where I could add channels that I approve. There is no algo recommendations in the side bar, just the video.

Please share feedback if you have any.

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#3

Post by nofalsescotsman » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 6:17 PM UTC

beechwood wrote: post #2

This is not a fancy web app. I simply made it because I'm a single parent and while I'm trying to make dinner my 9 year old is down some YouTube rabbit hole. I figured I would share because I can't be the only parent that has this issue. So I made a web app where I could add channels that I approve. There is no algo recommendations in the side bar, just the video. Please share feedback if you have any.

So is the idea here, that you block access to the YouTube website directly, but allow watching through approved channels on https://maekitsafe.com?

If so, I'd like to see some detailed instructions for users on how they can actively block YouTube.com while still allowing embed to play on your site. I think that may trip a lot of non-tech people up.

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#4

Post by beechwood » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 6:20 PM UTC

nofalsescotsman wrote: post #3

beechwood wrote: post #2

This is not a fancy web app. I simply made it because I'm a single parent and while I'm trying to make dinner my 9 year old is down some YouTube rabbit hole. I figured I would share because I can't be the only parent that has this issue. So I made a web app where I could add channels that I approve. There is no algo recommendations in the side bar, just the video. Please share feedback if you have any.

So is the idea here, that you block access to the YouTube website directly, but allow watching through approved channels on https://maekitsafe.com ? If so, I'd like to see some detailed instructions for users on how they can actively block YouTube.com while still allowing embed to play on your site. I think that may trip a lot of non-tech people up.

That is correct. I can add some detailed FAQ.

Thank you for the feedback.

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#5

Post by e-clinton » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 6:41 PM UTC

Interesting idea, but I’d take it a step further. I want to control exactly what videos the kids can watch, not just the channel.

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#6

Post by beechwood » Mon, Apr 07, 2025, 6:54 PM UTC

e-clinton wrote: post #5

Interesting idea, but I’d take it a step further. I want to control exactly what videos the kids can watch, not just the channel.

I added the ability to exclude shorts. Is it wrong to assume if the channel is ok, that all videos within the channel are ok?

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#7

Post by derwiki » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 2:39 AM UTC

e-clinton wrote: post #5

Interesting idea, but I’d take it a step further. I want to control exactly what videos the kids can watch, not just the channel.

yt-dlp + Plex

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#8

Post by cdolan » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 3:53 AM UTC

I was working on this myself! Also my family uses the name beechwood (its a street we grew up on). Is this an alternative universe?

Love the implementation. I'd really like to block Youtube on my firewall but let it through via this tool with a proxy or something.

Can I get this to load on the SmartTV, too?

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#9

Post by cookiengineer » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 5:17 AM UTC

e-clinton wrote: post #5

Interesting idea, but I’d take it a step further. I want to control exactly what videos the kids can watch, not just the channel.

Minitube is pretty great, and uses MPV (and therefore yt-dlp) behind the scenes. It has filters that are really neat, and is very minimalistic.

I personally use it, too, to avoid distracting myself and to actively search for everything I consume.

[1] https://flavio.tordini.org/minitube

Re: Show HN: I tried making YouTube safer for my kids

#10

Post by scottyeager » Tue, Apr 08, 2025, 6:48 AM UTC

Looks nice.

There's also this project with a very similar concept: https://playtoob.com

I ended up creating my own solution, based on mitmproxy and a bit of JS that gets injected into each new page that loads. The end result looks like YouTube, but with guardrails that redirect toward the approved set of channels. Seeing another take on this idea inspired me to finally publish my code, in case anyone is interested in a DIY approach:

https://github.com/scottyeager/newtube