Spotify makes homeschooling a little easier with Spotify Kids app

As tens of millions of parents turn to homeschooling their children under the COVID-19 outbreak, many are realizing that having these adorable little people at home at all times can be just a tiny bit tough. This crisis in management becomes very obvious when you notice the mushrooming of articles online on how to keep kids educated, entertained, and busy at home.

To make things just a little easier, Spotify's standalone Kids app is now live for Spotify Premium Family members in the United States, Canada, and France, the company announced on Tuesday. Initially, Spotify launched the Kids version in October 2019, which now seems like centuries ago, debuting a beta version in Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia.

Separate libraries for the family — Spotify's Kids app allows parents to have their own separate libraries while their children curate their own audio archives. The company went one step further and ensured that while parents' listening experience is impacted by internal algorithms (like suggestions, playlists, and the like), Spotify Kids falls under the manual review, inspection, and expertise of Disney, Discovery Kids, and Nickelodeon experts.

Pro-COPPA, pro-privacy — In a decision that will please privacy advocates, Spotify says that its Kids app is compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This is key. In a world where children heavily depend on virtual resources for both learning and fun, COPPA is a federal law that requires tech companies to ask for parental consent when it comes to the collection, distribution, and use of data related to children below the age of 13.

Bright, colorful UI — Unlike the adult version of Spotify, the Kids app follows a simple UI with cards, a tray of animated avatars, Your Favorites library, bright colors, and fewer words. The app comes in two tiers: a 0-6 group and a 5-12 group. Users can pick from a library of over 8,000 songs, lullabies, audiobooks, short stories, and you probably guessed it, children-appropriate future podcasts. In a genius move of combining an insanely popular kids song and hygiene, Spotify also launched a wash-your-hands song along the Baby Shark tune. It's equally addictive.

Parents will welcome this — As evidenced by the hilarious memes about homeschooling, it's clear that parents are trying to adapt to this strange and new normal. An app meant entirely for their young ones in this time could prove to keep them busy without compromising their privacy (like, you know, in the case of Zoom).