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having a passcode to enter into streaming apps for parental controls. is this availible?

There has been many times that I have caught my kids on Youtube watching videos that are "supposed to be for kids", but it is these 30-40 something-year-old men playing video games that are meant for kids and they play these games using language and doing things that are not meant for kids. Youtube does not censor or give the videos a rating of any kind (when they REALLY should)  My kids arent old enough to understand that even though it looks like it is ok for kids it is not. I have tried to hide the remote, unplug everything at night, and it isn't doing any good. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

4 REPLIES 4
atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: having a passcode to enter into streaming apps for parental controls. is this availible?

No, there is currently no method of requiring a PIN to access an installed channel. The only thing controlled at this time with a PIN is to add or remove a channel. 

Many channels ask who's watching when the channel loads, which are usually considered profiles, and Kids is often one option. However, I haven't seen any of them provide a method of controlling access to the user profile. For that functionality, it would have to be added within the channel itself, not something under the control of Roku. 

I can't say if the Roku OS is capable of supporting PIN access on an installed channel. With the programming knowledge I have (not a huge amount, but some), I would think it could be done. However, the Roku OS is a highly modified version of Linux, and one way to keep it small enough to fit in the Roku memory probably requires removing a lot of unused functionality. Since many Roku devices only have a small amount of operational memory, Roku can't easily add those removed functions back.

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

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Re: having a passcode to enter into streaming apps for parental controls. is this availible?

Can Youtube be removed for Roku?

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atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: having a passcode to enter into streaming apps for parental controls. is this availible?

Certainly. There's no requirement for any channel to be installed. Just select it on the home screen, press the * button on the remote, and choose Remove channel. After you do that, make sure you reboot your Roku to complete the removal.

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee, just another user.
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rharkrid
Newbie

Re: having a passcode to enter into streaming apps for parental controls. is this availible?

This feature definitely needs to be added.  The requirement of a pin currently exists to "add" an app, it shouldn't be that hard to add the feature to also "watch" the app.