TL;DR: In the UK a child must be 13 to run their own YouTube account, because a YouTube account is a Google Account and 13 is Google's minimum for any country it does not list separately. Under 13, a parent can create a supervised account through Family Link and choose a content level, or the child can use YouTube Kids. YouTube is not banned for under-16s in the UK; a ban is planned for 2027 but nothing is in force today beyond Ofcom's children's codes. The age rules decide who may sign in. They say nothing about which videos are right for your child, and that is the question this guide finishes with.
The short answer: 13 for an account, supervised or Kids below that
Google's age requirements page lists the countries with a specific minimum age and then states: "For all countries not listed below, 13 is the minimum age to manage your own Google Account." The United Kingdom is not on the list, so 13 applies. YouTube's own terms point at the same page.
Below 13, the page continues: "For younger children, parents can help create and manage a Google Account with Family Link." That Family Link account is what gives an under-13 a supervised YouTube experience on the main YouTube app and site. The alternative is YouTube Kids, a separate app with a younger catalogue.
So the answer to "how old do you have to be to have YouTube" is really three answers:
- Any age can watch YouTube Kids, or watch logged-out YouTube on a family device, because neither needs an account.
- Under 13 can have a YouTube account only as a supervised account created and managed by a parent in Family Link.
- 13 and over can create and manage their own Google Account and therefore their own YouTube account. Parents can still add supervision for teens, but the teen can leave it.
Supervised accounts: the three content levels
When you create a supervised account, YouTube asks you to pick a content setting. YouTube renamed the three levels and says "only the names have changed": the settings and what they show did not.
- Older kids (formerly Explore): "generally aligns with content ratings for viewers 9+". Vlogs, tutorials, gaming, music, news and education, with mild language and non-graphic cartoon or gaming violence possible.
- Teens (formerly Explore more): "generally aligns with content ratings for viewers 13+". Adds live streams, a wider range of topics, frequent profanity, and sensitive subjects framed around recovery. The child can read comments but not write them.
- Older teens (formerly Most of YouTube): "generally aligns with content ratings for viewers 16+". Nearly all of YouTube except videos marked 18+.
Two things are worth knowing before you rely on a level. First, the levels are broad ratings applied by YouTube's systems, not a list you control; Older kids is a very large slice of YouTube. Second, Family Link lets you block a channel after your child has found it, but there is no approve-first list. Our Family Link comparison covers what it does and does not give you, and the YouTube Kids comparison does the same for the separate app.
Is YouTube banned for under-16s in the UK? No, and here is the state of play
This question has been climbing UK search results since Australia's under-16 social media ban took effect in December 2025 and the UK government said in June 2026 that it would follow with an "Australia-plus" model. The facts as of 21 September 2026:
- Nothing bans under-16s from YouTube in the UK today. A 13-year-old can hold an account and a 9-year-old can use a supervised one, exactly as above.
- A ban is planned, not in force. The government has said regulations will be laid before Parliament by the end of 2026 and take effect in spring 2027. Its progress statement puts YouTube in scope and keeps YouTube Kids out. Until those regulations pass, the account rules are unchanged.
- Australia is the precedent. Its ban has applied since 10 December 2025 and included YouTube. eSafety's three-month evaluation found under-16 YouTube accounts fell from 33% to 23%: fewer accounts, not no watching. Logged-out YouTube on a family telly is untouched by an account ban.
Our research piece on the Online Safety Act and YouTube tracks this in detail and is updated as the regulations move.
What the Online Safety Act does about age, and what it does not
The Online Safety Act 2023 gave Ofcom the job of writing children's safety codes for platforms. Ofcom published its Protection of Children Codes in April 2025 and, per the government's own summary, from 25 July 2025 platforms have had to use "highly effective age assurance, like facial age estimation, photo-ID matching, or credit card checks" before letting children near the most harmful content: pornography and material encouraging suicide, self-harm or eating disorders. Bullying, serious violence and dangerous challenges must be kept out of children's feeds, algorithms must not push harmful content to children, and child-safe search must be on and locked.
On YouTube specifically, a UK user who tries to watch an age-restricted video may be asked to verify their date of birth with an image of a valid ID or a credit card. YouTube has also said publicly that it uses account signals to estimate whether a signed-in viewer is under 18 and applies its teen protections when it thinks so.
All of that is real progress, and none of it is parental control. The codes regulate how a platform treats a user it believes is a child. They do not know your child is nine when she is watching on your logged-in account, they do not curate which channels a ten-year-old sees within the enormous space that is not "harmful", and they have no view on Shorts. Ofcom's own Children's Online Experiences report (May 2026) puts the gap plainly: YouTube requires users to be 13, and 63% of 8-12s use it.
"Is YouTube appropriate for a 10-year-old?" is two questions
Parents type that question into Google every day, and the age gate cannot answer it, because it is really two questions wearing one coat.
The account question is settled: a ten-year-old can have a supervised account, and probably should have one rather than borrowing yours, because it tells YouTube the viewer is a child and switches on the teen and kid protections.
The content question is the one that keeps you up. YouTube at the Older kids level still contains millions of channels, including the AI-generated cartoon rip-offs, the overdubbed "kids" content and the prank and challenge culture that UK parents describe on Mumsnet as a game of whack-a-mole. Whether YouTube is appropriate for your ten-year-old depends almost entirely on which channels they watch and whether Shorts is on. A supervised account and Restricted Mode narrow the space. Neither lets you say "these twenty channels, and nothing else."
The age gate decides who can sign in. You decide what plays.
Approve the channels your 8 to 15-year-old can watch. Everything else on YouTube stays blocked, on tablet, laptop, phone and Android TV.
Answering the content question: approve channels, block everything else
This is the gap WhitelistVideo was built for, and its stated range, ages 8 to 15, maps onto the awkward middle of the age table: too old for YouTube Kids in their own eyes, too young for the algorithm to be handed the keys. It blocks every YouTube video by default on the devices your child actually uses: a Chrome or Edge extension on Windows, Mac and Chromebook, a child app on iPhone, iPad and Android, and an app for Android TV and Google TV. You approve channels from the parent dashboard, and only those channels play. Shorts are off by default with a per-child toggle. When your child wants something new, they request it from inside the app and you approve or decline from your phone. It is prevention rather than a report to read afterwards.
It is designed to sit on top of the account rule, not replace it. Keep the Family Link supervised account (or the Child Apple ID and Screen Time on an iPad), because that native layer is what makes the pairing hold: WhitelistVideo + Family Link cannot be removed without the parent's Family Link login, and WhitelistVideo + Screen Time cannot be removed without the parent's Apple Account. On a personal Chromebook with Family Link alone the child can remove the extension and the dashboard shows it; a Google Admin console enrolment makes that pairing un-removable as well. The per-device detail is in our bypass-proof guide.
Scope, stated plainly. WhitelistVideo is built for YouTube, and only YouTube; that focus is what lets it block every video by default and still give kids real, full-length channels, and other apps stay with Family Link or Screen Time. It controls what plays, not how long; the time limits already in Family Link and Screen Time do that job. On the telly it covers Android TV and Google TV today, while Sky Glass, Fire TV, Samsung and LG use the TV's own app PIN. Plans are per child, from £6.49 a month for Basic, with a free 2-hour test period to confirm it works on your child's device before you pay.
By age: an honest recommendation for UK families
Scroll horizontally to see all columns.
| Age | What the rules allow | What we would actually do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 8 | No YouTube account of their own. YouTube Kids (any age) or a Family Link supervised account created by a parent. | YouTube Kids with "Approved content only" switched on, or no YouTube at all and CBeebies on iPlayer. WhitelistVideo starts at 8, so this age is one for the tools designed for it. |
| 8 to 12 | Family Link supervised account at the Older kids level (9+), or YouTube Kids. 63% of UK 8-12s already use YouTube. | Supervised account so YouTube knows it is a child, plus WhitelistVideo on every device they watch on: approve the channels, Shorts off, everything else blocked. This is the age the request-and-approve workflow was designed for. |
| 13 to 15 | Own Google Account allowed at 13. Parents can add teen supervision but the teen can opt out. | Keep the pairing: WhitelistVideo + Family Link on Android or + Screen Time on iPhone, with a bigger whitelist that grows with them. Move channels onto the list as they earn them, and turn Shorts on deliberately if you decide to, rather than by default. |
| 16+ | Full account. Under the planned UK ban, 16 is the age at which restrictions would lift. | Beyond WhitelistVideo's range. Restricted Mode, honest conversations and the platform's own 16+ protections are the tools here. |
Where to go next
If you want the full walk-through of Restricted Mode, supervised accounts and device settings, start with our YouTube parental controls setup guide. For a UK-specific overview of devices, broadband filters and pricing in pounds, see YouTube parental controls for UK families. And if your child is somewhere between 8 and 15 and the question on your mind is not "may they have an account" but "what on earth are they watching", the answer is a list of channels you chose. The rest can stay blocked.
Frequently Asked Questions
13. Google's age requirements page lists country-specific ages and says that for every country not listed, including the UK, 13 is the minimum age to manage your own Google Account, and a YouTube account is a Google Account. Under 13, a parent can create and manage an account for the child with Family Link, which gives a supervised YouTube experience.
Yes, in two sanctioned ways. A parent can set up a supervised account through Family Link and choose a content setting (Older kids, Teens or Older teens, formerly Explore, Explore more and Most of YouTube), or the child can use YouTube Kids. Ofcom's 2026 Children's Online Experiences report found 63% of 8-12s use YouTube, so most UK ten-year-olds already do. Whether it is appropriate depends on which channels they watch, which is what a whitelist tool like WhitelistVideo controls.
No. As of September 2026 nothing bans under-16s from YouTube in the UK. The government has announced an Australia-style under-16 social media ban with regulations due by the end of 2026 and implementation expected in spring 2027, and YouTube is in scope of that plan. Australia's ban has applied since December 2025. Today, what is in force in the UK is Ofcom's Protection of Children Codes under the Online Safety Act.
Partly. To watch an age-restricted video in the UK, YouTube may ask a signed-in user to verify their date of birth with an image of a valid ID or a credit card, under the Audiovisual Media Services rules. Since Ofcom's children's codes took effect on 25 July 2025, platforms must use highly effective age assurance, such as facial age estimation, photo-ID matching or credit card checks, before showing the most harmful content to children. None of this checks the age of a child watching on a logged-out family tablet.
Three, chosen by the parent in Family Link or YouTube's Family Centre: Older kids (generally aligns with content for 9+), Teens (13+) and Older teens (16+, nearly all of YouTube except videos marked 18+). YouTube renamed them from Explore, Explore more and Most of YouTube; the settings themselves did not change. Parents can also block individual channels after the fact, but there is no approve-first list.
Pair the account rule with a content rule. Use a Family Link supervised account so YouTube knows the viewer is a child, then add WhitelistVideo on the devices they use so every video is blocked by default and only the channels you approve will play, with Shorts off. WhitelistVideo + Family Link cannot be removed without the parent's Family Link login.
Published September 21, 2026 · Updated September 21, 2026
About Amanda Torres
Family Technology Journalist
Amanda Torres is an award-winning technology journalist who has covered the intersection of family life and digital technology for over a decade. She holds a B.A. in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School and an M.A. in Science Writing from MIT. Amanda spent five years as a senior technology editor at Parents Magazine and three years covering consumer tech for The Wall Street Journal. Her investigative piece on children's data privacy in educational apps won the 2023 Online Journalism Award. She hosts "The Connected Family" podcast, with over 2 million downloads. She is a guest contributor at WhitelistVideo.
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