How WonderWatch works

Every video passes a written rating rubric before any family can see it, your child sees only creators you approve, and the clock, the switching budget and a daily report keep watching calm.

How is every video rated?

WonderWatch rates every video on a written rating rubric, on two axes: safety and value. Safety uses the film labels parents already know:

GSuitable for all ages. Nothing scary, crude, or mature.
PGMild content — parental guidance suggested. Exciting but not frightening.
PG-13Older-kids content. Nothing a confident 10-year-old would struggle with.
RNever published, whatever the creator.

Each family sets its own ceiling (G only, up to PG, or up to PG-13), and can set a lower ceiling on a single creator whose videos are mixed.

What does the value score mean?

A safe video isn’t automatically a good one. Every video also gets a value score from 1 to 5, and only 2 or better is published:

  • 5 — Exceptional: sparks a question, a project or a conversation.
  • 4 — Good: informative and well made.
  • 3 — Fine: adequate; passes the bar.
  • 2 — Passable: the minimum for publishing.
  • 1 — Filler: never published (reactions, unboxings without substance).

You can raise the bar for your family, for example to 3 or better.

Who decides which creators my child can see?

You do. Every creator is reviewed before entering the catalogue, and even then your child sees nothing from them until you say yes on your content page. Approving a creator lasts until you change it.

New videos from approved creators are rated against the rubric. A video is published automatically only when the result is clear-cut: rated PG-13 or lower, value 2 or higher, and close to that creator’s usual rating. Anything else waits for a person to review it.

How does screen time work?

  • Daily and weekly limits per child, with different limits for school days and weekends if you like.
  • Allowed hours: an optional window; outside it, nothing starts.
  • A clock your child can see. It warns at 2 minutes and 1 minute, then stops at zero.
  • Category shares: give a category, like Stories, only part of the day.
  • More time: grant extra minutes from the parent side whenever you choose.

What stops my child hopping between videos?

WonderWatch is built so finishing a video is the easy path. There’s no autoplay, no up-next and no search for children. Finishing a video is free; starting a different one spends one of a small number of switches, and skipping ahead inside a video uses a separate small budget.

What do parents see?

An email every evening with what was watched, for how long, and which limits were used, plus a weekly summary. Your parent page has the full history, and you can report any video to hide it from your family straight away.

What do kids see?

Big picture tiles, their own colour and theme, an optional picture PIN instead of a password, and badges for finishing videos that only ever go up. Children never see a rating, a rejected video or a reason.

How does WonderWatch use YouTube?

Our YouTube transparency notes, in plain language:

  • Videos play in YouTube’s official player on youtube-nocookie.com, YouTube’s privacy-enhanced domain.
  • The player is at least 480×270 pixels, never covered, and never plays in the background.
  • The player only appears when your child taps Play, and disappears when the video ends. YouTube requires its player to show some of its own links while a video is paused, and doesn’t let apps hide them, so locking the device (below) is the complete fix.
  • Each video’s made-for-kids status is looked up, and YouTube’s tracking restrictions apply when it’s set.
  • Cached YouTube details are refreshed within 30 days; removed or private videos are hidden automatically.
  • WonderWatch places no ads. YouTube may show its own ads inside its player, which we can’t control.

Using WonderWatch means agreeing to the YouTube Terms of Service. Google’s handling of data is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.

How do I lock the device to WonderWatch?

Guided Access (iPhone & iPad)

  1. Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → turn it on.
  2. Tap Passcode Settings → Set Guided Access Passcode, and pick a code the kids don't know.
  3. Open WonderWatch, then triple-click the side button (or home button) → Start.
  4. To finish: triple-click again and enter the passcode.

App pinning (Android)

  1. Settings → Security & privacy → More security settings → App pinning → turn it on.
  2. Turn on “Ask for PIN before unpinning”.
  3. Open WonderWatch, open the recent-apps switcher, tap its icon → Pin.

Don’t block youtube.com in Screen Time: WonderWatch loads the player from there, so blocking it stops WonderWatch working too.

What else do parents ask?

Is AI used to rate videos?
Yes, as a first pass. An AI model rates each new video against the written rubric, and it's published only when the result is clear-cut. Anything borderline waits for a person to review it, and a person's rating is never overwritten.
Can I hide one video without blocking the whole creator?
Yes. Report a video from your parent page and it disappears for your family straight away. Our later review never undoes your hide.
What happens when a video is removed from YouTube?
Cached YouTube details are refreshed within 30 days, and videos that have been removed or made private are hidden automatically.
Can I give my child more time today?
Yes. A parent can grant extra minutes from the parent side at any time.

Who makes WonderWatch?

WonderWatch is built by Paul Firmin, a parent of two in Aurora, Ontario, at Firmin Labs, a one-person studio making small, useful tools for families.