YouTube

YouTube

One of the most popular platforms for kids and adults, YouTube is easy to get lost in - or it used to be, anyway. Now you can see a full rundown of how much time you and your kids spend scrolling through videos, and if you think you're overdoing it, you can enable settings to curb your use. You can't password-protect the settings, though, so they're mostly helpful for you if you let your kids use your phone or if you help your kid set them so they can regulate their own use. 

Key features:

• Time Watched. Available only on the app, these stats show how much time you've spent watching videos for the present day, the day before, and the past week. Within this feature, you can also set a reminder to take a break after a certain amount of time and disable autoplay so you won't get sucked in to watching endless videos.

• Scheduled digest. Instead of random notifications about the latest video that distracts you at all hours, you can get all your alerts bundled together at one time. (Click on your profile photo, select Settings, scroll down and tap on Notifications to find scheduled digest as well as other features including the ability to disable sounds and vibrations to reduce distractions.)

• Restricted Mode. Though it's been around for a while, Restricted Mode, found on the main Settings page, can be a helpful additional setting to give you some peace of mind. It limits mature content from showing up in your kid's feed (it's not perfect, though).