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Children’s mode, where Google says you’ll receive “lines with app recommendations for children.”
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This is the normal appearance of the Google TV interface.
Google
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You can choose a cool dinosaur theme.
Google
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Parental controls look much more user friendly and are not just something buried in the system settings.
Google
It looks like Google is committing itself again to the TV space with Google TV – a renamed and revamped version of Android TV. In addition to the new content-centric (rather than app-centric) home screen, watch list and an upcoming “dumb TV” mode, Google is now renewing support for parental controls.
The new “children’s profiles” will have a fun and friendly interface for children with themes like “dinosaurs”, “space” and “bottom of the sea”. The big new feature of Google TV – content-centric recommendations – will also switch to a kid-friendly mode, bringing educational content to the home screen.
Parental control functionality looks a lot like Android TV, with parents able to set limitations on total screen time, bedtime and individual apps. The big difference is the interface, which has a friendlier UI that no longer looks like a system administrator panel. Controls are also compatible with Google’s Family Link app, which allows remote administration and tracking.
Kids mode looks like a baby step to solve Google TV’s biggest problem at the moment: the lack of support for multiple profiles. The main feature of Google TV is the content recommendation mechanism on the home screen, but there is no differentiation between users, so it will mix the viewing habits of the whole family. Google dealt with this deficiency lightly in the blog post, saying, “I personally want to be able to find my shows and movies, without being overwhelmed by my kids’ content.”
Child mode allows you to quarantine Sesame Street recommendations, but there is still no way to separate viewing habits among adults. Fortunately, child mode is the beginning of full profile support with personalized recommendations and watchlists, but Google hasn’t said that yet.
Currently, Google TV is very rare, mainly available (only?) In the new “Google Chromecast with Google TV” released in September. It is also targeted at Sony’s entire Bravia XR 2021 line and selected TCL TVs to be launched later this year. Google’s decision to rename its TV product from Android TV to Google TV makes it all unnecessarily confusing, but it’s all the same code base. Google TV operating systems based on Android 9 and below are called “Android TV” and the new versions, based on Android 10 and above, are “Google TV”. In theory, some Android TV set-top boxes and smart TVs can be upgraded to Google TV, as it is only the next version. Your device manufacturer would need in reality however, an update is released and many smart TV manufacturers do not.
Google says support for children’s profiles on Google TV will be launched “in the United States starting this month and globally in the coming months”.