In Microsoft’s ongoing effort to turn people into its own the Edge web browser has been restarted, launches a new children’s mode that makes it easier for parents to control their children’s web browsing.
Child mode is a free option built directly into Microsoft Edge on Windows and macOS. Activating it is as simple as going to the user profile menu at the top right of the browser and selecting “Browse in child mode”. Parents can choose from two versions, one for ages five to eight and one for ages nine to twelve. Both allow the strictest level of prevention prevention in Edge and Bing SafeSearch by default to filter adult text, images, and videos from search results. The only difference between the two age groups is that the larger one includes a news feed with selected articles from MSN for Kids. Don’t worry – it focuses on more child-friendly topics, such as fun science and animal facts, rather than news and politics, Microsoft said.
Children’s mode also restricts places to which children have access, with approximately 70 popular places for authorized children from the beginning (any additional allowed places must be added to the list). If a child tries to see a site that is not listed, they are shown a short blog page, which is shown below, asking permission from an adult.
In a blog post Announcing the news on Thursday, Microsoft corporate vice president Liat Ben-Zur called Kids Mode a “game changer for parents who juggle all the demands of life today.” Microsoft intentionally designed it to make adding and removing allowed sites as comfortable as possible for parents, so that they can have peace of mind when using shared devices.
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Microsoft also addressed an alternative solution that children could use to overcome these measures. Child mode restricts popular Windows keyboard shortcuts to prevent users from leaving the browser and opening a new one. the Virgin reports.
More than anything, however, Microsoft designed children’s mode with its younger users in mind, Ben-Zur said.
“[I]It became clear that the best way to keep the kids from trying to leave was to make them want to stay. In other words, we set out to create the most attractive environment a child could want to surf the net.
So, as you can see in the screenshot above, Microsoft’s visual designers offered lots of bright colors and silly characters to make a child-friendly browsing experience. The option to customize the look of the browser was also added so that children could be creative and opt for an easy-to-navigate design.
To return the browser to normal, an adult must enter their Windows or macOS credentials.
Children’s mode is one of the several new features will be released on Edge this month, Microsoft said Thursday. So if you’re already a converted Edge, stay tuned future coverage.