Introducing Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer Kids
Dan Taylor-Watt
Director, Product & Systems, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Design & Engineering
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Children have been big users of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer ever since it launched and the . Fast forward seven years and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer is available on over 10,000 devices, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer app has been downloaded 38 million times and a third of the 2.9 billion iPlayer TV programme requests in 2015 were for Children’s programmes, more than half of which were from a tablet or mobile device. Head of iPlayer Dan Taylor-Watt now describes the launch of a new iPlayer app, aimed specifically at children.
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We knew from research and from developing the that parents really value having a version of iPlayer that’s guaranteed to be free of programming aimed at adults and that kids love a version of iPlayer that’s designed specially with them in mind. We also knew that parents and kids alike wanted the great features of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer mobile app in a child-friendly environment - features like , the saviour of many a long car journey.
Rather than create separate Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer apps for (which is aimed at children aged 0-6) and (which is aimed at 6-12 year olds), we decided to create a single app that enables kids to tell the app their age and instantly be presented with content curated specially for their age group. So 6 year olds are able to enjoy a mix of CBeebies and CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ programmes without having to switch between two different apps.
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With support for up to four profiles, we’ve made it easy for siblings to use the app on a shared device, entering their name and picking a character to denote their profile.
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In addition to the profile switcher and the age-curated home screen, there’s a Shows area with full A-Z lists of all CBeebies and CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ programmes available to watch (1,700+ episodes at the time of writing).
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And the all-important Downloads area, providing easy access to programmes downloaded to watch offline.
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There’s also a search option for kids who know exactly what they’re looking for, which automatically filters out CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ programmes for children under 5.
We’ve also invested in making Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer Kids accessible, with universal subtitles and a new toggle on the episode page to make it easy to switch to and from signed and audio described versions where available.
As all programmes in Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer Kids are suitable for children, there’s no need for a as found on grown-up Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer, however all app Settings (e.g. disabling downloads, enabling higher quality downloads) and links out of the app, are tucked away behind a Safety Lock.
We’ve got lots more planned for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer Kids app but couldn’t wait any longer to share it and start hearing your feedback.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer Kids is available to for phones and tablets from the Amazon, Apple and Google Play app stores.