Are we there yet? How many times have you heard this from the back seat? Far too many times. Now Foxtel have got you covered and will entertain the kid(s) with the new Foxtel Kids app released today.
Foxtel Kids is basically a Foxtel Go with only kids channels with one addition of note — offline viewing. The app allows parents to control the shows their kids watch through classification and channel blocking and the app also has a built in timer to ensure the kids do not overdo the screen time. Parental controls are secured by a four digit PIN and can be altered by you at any time.
Foxtel Kids also has the ability to download shows for offline viewing with a simple long press of the cloud and arrow icon. The only limit to the number of shows you can download is the storage space available. Downloads remain on the device for up to 31 days when they are automatically deleted but there is no limit to how many times you watch them.
The kids channels included are:
- Nick
- Nick Jr
- Disney Channel
- Disney XD
- Disney Junior
- Cartoon Network
- Boomerang
- CBeebies
- Discovery Kids
It is available to Foxtel, Foxtel Play and Foxtel from Telstra customers who subscribe to the Kids subscription packages. If you subscribe to only some of the kid channels you will need to upgrade to the full kid package to be able to use Foxtel Kids. Alternatively, Foxtel Go can be used although it does not offer the features listed above, including the downloading of shows.
Foxtel and Foxtel Play customers can register 5 devices to Foxtel Kids, and have 2 of them running Foxtel Kids at the same time, linked to one Foxtel account. A nice piece of fine print I found is that the Foxtel Kids registered device count is specifically for the Foxtel Kids app and will not impact your Foxtel Go registered device count.
Keep in mind that if used while mobile, the app, if watching shows that are not downloaded, will chew through your data at a rate of 320MB per hour. This data usage can be limited by decreasing the quality of the video within the settings.
The only other downside is the annoying animations and sounds which your kids probably won’t get much value from either, as it just gets in the way of what they actually want: the video content.
So, if you are a Foxtel subscriber with kids who love their kids channels (or even if they don’t but you need to amuse them for a long drive) head on over to the Play Store and check it out. I know one person (who may or may not be a kid) who will be downloading the entire series of Star Wars Rebels before heading away for the holidays. Anyone else interested in this? Or is Foxtel Go enough for you?
Shoot, have to be a subscriber? Stick with ABC kids and YouTube kids then. No complaints with these ones, at all, though.