Audible app/account for kids
October 23, 2022 5:33 AM Subscribe
I bought some Audible audiobooks for my 6 yo. I would like to be able to hand him my iPhone so he can pick a book himself, so while I use Guided Access to restrict him to the Audible app I can't use it to block parts of the screen. If the app is signed into my account I'm worried he'll accidentally select one of my Stephen King books instead. So how do I get him a kid-only Audible experience? Do I create an Amazon account for him?
I see that Amazon has something called Amazon Household Sharing but I'm unclear on whether I'm supposed to create a separate account for him first and if Amazon Household Sharing is even the best way to do this.
I see that Amazon has something called Amazon Household Sharing but I'm unclear on whether I'm supposed to create a separate account for him first and if Amazon Household Sharing is even the best way to do this.
Response by poster: I created a child in Amazon Household but I can't see any way to restrict the app to just his child account. Guess I'll try creating a whole Amazon account for him?
posted by Tehhund at 5:56 AM on October 23, 2022
posted by Tehhund at 5:56 AM on October 23, 2022
Audible has an area called Collections where you can create categories and then add titles to it so that only they display. There's no way to lock that collection so anyone who wants to can find the other books if they're determined but when you choose a category, only books in that category display unless you click out of that collection.
posted by dobbs at 6:39 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dobbs at 6:39 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Amazon has a 'parents dashboard' where you can share content with children and restrict access but I think it's just for kindles or fires, etc. I've only used it for my kids' kindles (which we primarily use to play audio books).
Our solution has been to let the kids use an external speaker when they want to listen to something that's on a device that doesn't have content restrictions, i.e. my phone, my computer. Which we have to do for some Audible content that isn't shareable to their kindle, usually that's something free/included with my membership. But that doesn't really solve letting him pick the book.
posted by snowymorninblues at 10:59 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
Our solution has been to let the kids use an external speaker when they want to listen to something that's on a device that doesn't have content restrictions, i.e. my phone, my computer. Which we have to do for some Audible content that isn't shareable to their kindle, usually that's something free/included with my membership. But that doesn't really solve letting him pick the book.
posted by snowymorninblues at 10:59 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
hmm - I was just googling to see if there was a way to do this using the amazon kids+ app, thinking he could access your content through that app on your phone instead of the audible app, and found this article about setting up various profiles, not sure if you've already seen it.
posted by snowymorninblues at 11:02 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by snowymorninblues at 11:02 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
While I realize this doesn't address the issue of the Audible books you've already bought, in the future, you might consider Libby, the app that lets you borrow digital books (including audio) from your local library. Apparently it can be configured into a kid-friendly mode.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 1:36 PM on October 23, 2022
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 1:36 PM on October 23, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'd start there.
In this setup you buy all the books through your account and send them to their acct one by one so you get to choose.
posted by aetg at 5:42 AM on October 23, 2022 [1 favorite]