Kids are open to varieties of vast information in this digital world. Though this is useful for improving knowledge, protecting kids from unsafe online websites is one of the most challenging tasks for parents. Unlike Chrome and Firefox, Microsoft Edge offers a dedicated kids mode which parents can make use of to keep their children away from malicious content. In this article, we will explain what is kids mode in Microsoft Edge and how to use it properly.
What is Kids Mode?
Kids mode is an option in Microsoft Edge that parents can enable and allow kids to browse online safely. It has the following features:
- Kids mode will open in full screen mode restricting access to open normal mode.
- Edge will only allow websites that you consider appropriate for children and add in the allowed list.
- By default, SafeSearch is set to strict level when using Bing with kids mode.
- After started using, your kid needs a password to exit kids mode to return to normal mode in Edge.
- There is no need to create separate profile or Microsoft account for your kid.
- It is possible to set custom theme only for kids mode to differentiate it from the normal mode.
Kids mode is available in Edge for both Windows and macOS versions and is an ideal option for parents to keep their kids on track while browsing. However, it works in United States English and not with any other language or country.
How to Use Kids Mode in Microsoft Edge?
Follow the below instructions to enable kids mode in Edge:
- Click on the profile icon and select “Browse in Kids Mode”.
- Edge will open a new browser window and you will see a welcome screen as a pop-up and click on “Get started” button.
- On the next screen, you need to select the age for your kid. There are two age groups – 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 years – and select your kids age group.
- Now, Edge will open a new browser window in kids mode in a full screen. You can move the cursor to the top and confirm a “Kids Mode” button is showing next to address bar.
Accessing Restricted Sites
In order to check the kids mod access, you can test any website that is not suitable for kids. In most cases, you will see an access restriction when launching the kids mode as your new tab page in Edge will have MSN feed.
Your kid needs to click on the “Get permission” button which will show the pop-up to enter the administrator password for your Windows account.
This essentially means your kid should not know the admin password or you should use a different Windows account before your kid starts browsing with Edge. You can enter the admin password and click “OK” button to provide access to the restricted website.
Quitting Kids Mode in Edge
As the kids mode works in full screen mode, your kid will not be able to access normal browser mode.
- Move the cursor to the top position to view the title bar.
- Click on the “Kids Mode” button.
- Select “Exit Kids Mode window” option.
- Enter your admin password to quit kids mode and return to the normal mode of Edge.
Kids Mode Edge Settings
The browser settings in kids mode is restricted with limited options. Basically, your kid can change the followings and the changes are applicable only for the kids mode and will not affect the normal Edge browser.
- Change appearance and theme of the browser.
- View and clear browsing history.
- Adjust download location.
- Let the browser read the page content and zoom in/out the view.
Adding Websites for Access
As a parent, you can control the kids mode settings through normal Edge settings page.
- Open Edge in normal mode and go to edge://settings/family page.
- Change the age group of your kid if required. Alternatively, you can set the browser to always as the age group whenever launching the kids mode.
- Click on “Manage allowed sites in Kids Mode” option. Here, you will see the list of sites Microsoft considered safe for kids. You can review the sites and additional websites or delete any existing items if needed. Remember, kids mode will only allow the sites listed in this section. Your kid will not be able to access any other websites.
- Click on the “Add website” button, provide the correct URL and click on “Add” button to add a site to the allowed list.
- For deleting a site, simply click on the X mark showing against the site in the list.
Kids Mode and New Tab Page
Kids mode in Microsoft Edge is a useful option to protect your kids from unsafe websites. However, opening new tab page at startup may annoy you as the feed can easily distract kids to link those links. This is so dumb that Edge will try to open a new tab page when launching kids mode instead of opening a startup or blank page. This new tab page will have quick links and MSN feed and appears each time when your kid opens a new tab. As mentioned, this may work well for United States English websites and not in other countries where Microsoft forcibly redirect new tab pages to local country version.
Though the feed shows kid related articles, it does not make sense. Because you should give access to the MSN feed URL and your kid will be stopped when clicking any links from the feed as those sites will not be in the allowed list. Even you can disable quick links and MSN feed for your new tab page with normal mode, Edge will still try to show these items when launching kids mode. As far as we checked, there are no options available to customize this setting in Edge. Therefore, you may need to tell your kid to ignore the new tab page or look for other solution to control your kid’s browsing behavior if you do not like to show the new tab page on kids mode.
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