To help parents ensure their kids are following safe web browsing practices, Microsoft is rolling out a new kids mode on its Edge browser based on Chromium. The best part is that you don’t have to go through the hassle of setting up a child account or profile. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at how you can use the feature on Microsoft Edge.
Before getting started, it is important to point out that the availability of kids mode is limited to US English on Windows and macOS. In addition, as of this writing, kids mode is getting a controlled rollout on Edge, so you won’t necessarily have the feature even if you’re using the latest Edge Canary. That said, we could expect the general availability of the feature in the coming months.
- What is Kids Mode?
- How to enable Kids Mode?
- Change Kids Mode Theme
- Allow Specific Websites on Kids Mode
- How to exit Kids Mode?
What is Kids Mode?
Kids mode is a new Microsoft Edge feature to help parents efficiently manage how their kids browse the internet. When you enable kids mode, you get custom browser themes that are more appealing to children, browsing on allowed websites, and strict Bing SafeSearch. The browser will also request password authentication when someone tries exiting Kids mode.
- If you have access to the feature, you’ll see kids mode in Edge’s profile switcher. Access the profile switcher from the top-right corner of the browser and click on ‘Browse in Kids Mode.’ Microsoft points out that signing in to the browser with your MS account will sync kids mode settings across your devices. Image: Microsoft
Change Kids Mode Theme
Once you’ve entered kids mode, you can change its look and feel with custom themes. It is worth mentioning that the theme applied in kids mode won’t affect the theme of your regular browsing sessions. To change the theme inside kids mode, click on the ‘Colors and background’ button. Choose one of the themes and click on ‘Done’ to apply it. Image: Microsoft
You can’t set website permissions when you’re inside kids mode. To do that, you should be in the profile you used for creating kids mode.
How to exit Kids Mode?
To exit kids mode, you need to click on the Kids mode icon at the top-right corner and choose ‘Exit Kids Mode window.’ You should now authenticate using your device password so that the browser knows the kid is not trying to exit the mode without permission from the parent.
