Spotify is launching a standalone app specially made for kids

Spotify launches Spotify Kids, a standalone app for families. Image: Courtesy of Spotify

Designed to offer families a range of kid-friendly audio content all in a single safe place, Spotify Kids is a standalone app currently being tested in Ireland.

Today Spotify announced a new, standalone app designed specifically for children and families: Spotify Kids.

As the original Spotify application was created with adult users in mind, neither the interface nor the content is kid-friendly to use. The company’s Chief Premium Business Officer Alex Norström described this new app as a “playground of sound for kids” aged three and older.

The content, which features music and stories for the whole family, has been hand-selected by a team of Spotify editors, to ensure that the available material is safe and “bursting with color.”

Without any ads on the app, kids are free to navigate it on their own. The company plans to enhance the parental controls on the application to bring families an even more customized experience. Eventually, Spotify will launch kid-friendly podcasts on the application in addition to the music, stories and audiobooks.

This app follows in the footsteps of other companies bringing families not just content for kids, but entire platforms. Back in 2015, YouTube launched its own kid-friendly app, YouTube Kids, which is designed for children 12 and under.

Currently, Spotify Kids is only available as part of a beta launch in Ireland, so that the company can collect feedback from parents and other caregivers before it rolls out to the rest of the world. The app will only be available to users with a Premium Family plan. NVG

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