See what Sky TV customers think about the Sky Kids app NOW CLOSED

[PoppyMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the MN testers who have been trying the Sky Kids app.

What is the Sky Kids app?
Sky say the Sky Kids app is - "a tablet app just for the kids and full of their favourite TV shows like Paw Patrol, Scooby Doo, Octonauts, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, SpongeBob SquarePants and more – all available to watch on demand. The app lets you set up a personalised profile for each of your DCs with shows tailored to their age and their very own homepage with their name on it. And you and your DPs can set time limits and put the app to sleep whenever you want – YWBU not to!"
Find out more here

Testers, please download the Sky Kids app on your Apple or Android tablets and share your views on the following:

• How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
• What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
• What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
• Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
• How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
• What did you like most about the app?
• Would you recommend it to other parents and why?

Also, please add a review of the app in the Mumsnet reviews section. Please follow the review guidelines here.

Everyone who takes part and adds feedback as required will be entered into a prize draw where one tester will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list - including Amazon, John Lewis, M&S, Mothercare, Argos, Debenhams, Tesco and loads more!).

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

It's also only available on an IPad not an IPhone which is a real shame. Not sure about Android.

Non-tester.

My favourite TV show as a child was Bagpuss. I loved the idea of all the toys waking up when no one was there, and the music and title sequence still really affect me - I get quite emotional thinking about them!

I also really liked Camberwick Green and Ivor the Engine. Again, a big part of my love of these was the theme music. No idea why, as I'm not a particularly musical person. :) I still make the Ivor engine noise whenever I go on a train with my DS.

Non tester as I didn't have the required Sky packages. My favourite TV show as a child was Captain Caveman. No idea why but I remember being distraught because I missed it when we were out shopping!

Non-Tester (now that we know you need specific Sky bundles to use the app)

My favourite show as a child was The Flintstones because it made me laugh.

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app? It's easy to use.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app? DD loves Paw Patrol. She could watcher favourite on the I-Pad.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app? It's good.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching? DD loves Paw Patrol and DS loves Gumball and Adventure Time. They both enjoy SpongeBob.

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose? They both loved that part of it. DD chose the heart one and DS chose the blue blob.

•What did you like most about the app? It's easy to use and had all their familiar programmes on it.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why? Sure.

Non tester as well because I don't have the family bundle, however my kids watch tiny pop etc.

My favourite show as a child was playdays, I remember watching it probably everyday after nursery when I was about 3. I looked it up on YouTube recently, very nostalgic!!

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
It was very straightforward and intuitive. My eldest son (7) could use it immeadiately and the younger one (4) figured it out very quickly too.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
7 year old - Thunderbirds and Lego Ninjago
4 year old - Paw Patrol (of course!)
They found the app very easy to use and liked the wide range of content - they could find all of their favourite shows very easily.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
I was impressed by how many different shows were available, and how many episodes of each show we could find.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
Paw Patrol, Fireman Sam, Thunderbirds, TMNT

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
They really enjoy the fact that they both have their own tailor-made 'area' with their favourite shows on - it's a nice touch. I don't know the Sky Buddies names but one has chosen a blue blob with an orange hat and the other has an orange blob with purple head phones!

•What did you like most about the app?
I like the fact that it gives us lots of child-friendly options. We only have one TV (and one iPad) and normally the boys watch together and 'share' programmes but one particular day when we were all poorly the Sky Kids app was invaluable - everyone could watch what they wanted and it helped us get through the day. I'm not a fan of giving children free choice on something like Youtube as you can never be 100% sure of the content but I feel I can trust the Sky app to have only child-appropriate content. And there aren't any adverts!

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
If you have the appropriate Sky package and tablet then I'd definitely recommend the Sky Kids app - it's very user-friendly. But I don't think it's something that I'd pay extra for.

We have been using this app for a while now, DS loves it.

How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app? Very easy navigation, icons a good size and easy to find what he wants quite quickly. Paw Patrol not on the front screen so that took some help to find. DS likes to use kids YouTube their voice control search is amazing. Shame this doesn't have that feature.
•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app? Paw Patrol, like being in control of the choosing next video.
•What did you think about the range of content available in the app? Very good.
•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching? All Nick Jr, PJ masks, Jake pirate, Top Cat.
•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose? I can't remember that bit as we set up the app a few months ago. He chose a purple blob thing.
•What did you like most about the app? Confidence that inappropriate content would not appear.
•Would you recommend it to other parents and why? Yes, easy to use and content control.

How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
Once I'd found out what our sky password was, it was easy to login and use the app. My preschooler could navigate it easily to find the shows she enjoys.
•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
Sofia the first is now a firm favourite in our house. She discovered shows that she wouldn't usually watch on TV as we only ever watch cbeebies on the TV.
•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
A good mixture of shows for boys, girls and all ages.
•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
Sofia the first, Peppa pig, Charlie and Lola
•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
Fine to use but not that important as she's the only child watching it. She chose the girly one with glasses.
•What did you like most about the app?
I liked how the shows are aimed at children by age so she was watching age appropriate things. This is a better filter than YouTube kids.
•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
If you are already a sky customer and pay for the kids shows, you might as well download the app for another way to watch!

How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?

Really easy, big, child friendly, simplebto use/understand buttons.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?

My DS'S love Paw Patrol, Ben and Holly, Blaze and the Monster Machines. They can easily navigate to the channels they know and recognise to find the shows they enjoy.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?

The content is just right although they may enjoy some games, similar to the cbeebies app.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?

My DS'S could happily spend hours just flicking through the shows they enjoy and finding new ones they've not watched.

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?

I found that it was really easy to personalise, DCs enjoyed choosing different Sky Buddies and learning to read their names new to to it.

•What did you like most about the app?

I like that I know my kids are only able to watch age appropriate content, unlike the SkyGo app where they could potentially watch anything we subscribe to.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?

Yes, I find it really useful when (the DCS could do with some distraction) we want to watch something different to DCs. They can watch the app.

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app? Overall very easy. I struggle to save programs and it took me a while to work out how to turn the volume down. My 2 year old however does not have any of these struggles haha!

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app? Team umizoomi is her favourite but within the app she enjoys bouncing around show to show always changing.
The most played single video is the nursery rhyme 3 little monkeys jumping on the bed.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
Fantastic really. For example I didn't realise Cartoon Network would have shoes that would please my toddler. My younger brother who is 8 likes Cartoon Network so I assumed she was too younge a target audience but she loves Daniels tiger neighbourhood

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
There is a nursery rhyme group of videos. Team unizoomi, peppa pig, puffin rock, Daniels tigers neighbourhood. Sofia the firsts

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
She insisted on choosing it all herself. We had this app from when it very first came out so it was all set up quite a while ago now.

•What did you like most about the app? That I could save a huge range of videos for offline viewing.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
Yes I would. such a huge range of shows on there and you can save them for offline viewing. If I'm having a mad housework day sometimes peppa pig can be on all day and it's just the same thing over and over. Little ones can control what they watch, change shows and find new shows. It's a very good app to have. If I didn't have the kids tv bundle or even sky at all o would be willing to pay a few quid a month for this. If I had to pay even though I was paying for the sky kids tv bundle I wouldn't out of principle.

Non-tester
Favourite kids tv show: FULL HOUSE

Non Tester...

My favourite kids show when I was a kid, GOSH, there were so many!! I adored Button Moon, it was so cute and lovely. And then I really liked Fraggle Rock! And Round the Twist too!!! Sometimes I wish there was a channel dedicated to the tv shows I used to watch as a child. Ahhh, those were the days!

Non tester:
I loved button moon and rainbow when I was a child. Rainbow was just silly, including songs by rod, Jane and Freddy!

I don't have an account with Sky so I can't test, but my favourite cartoon as a kid was Bananaman, actually nope, it was SuperTed, geez, BraveStar wants to be in there too, but he ain't quite got what it takes to topple SuperTed and his cosmic spotty friend.

How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app? Very easy to use and DS found it easy to navigate too.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app? Blaze and The Monster Machines, he liked that it was easy to pick what he wanted to watch.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app? Seems pretty good to me, it had most of the shows that he watches on Sky on demand available.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching? Paw Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Octonauts.

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose? We found it easy to use and scroll through to which Sky Buddy we wanted to use. We chose the Buddy that is singing.

•What did you like most about the app? All his favourite programmes on one app, easy to navigate.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why? Yes, it's a good addition to the iPad and there's a good range of programmes available.

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
My 7 year old daughter found it following an advert at the cinema so I assume it was pretty easy to find!
•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
Most of the shows they liked already were on there (Peppa Pig/Scooby Doo etc) but both found Morph (from Hartbeat fame) and really liked that. It was then easy to find it and download it so they could watch it on tv. We downloaded it onto two IPADS so they can in theory watch separate shows.
•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
Good but no different to what I get on the TV (and I can download on demand) its just another means of watching it.
•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
Morph, Peppa Pig and Morph
•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
Fine although my daughter managed to set them all up in her name!
•What did you like most about the app?
Its easy for children to use both of mine (7 and 4)
•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
Children can watch different shows
Yes although in order to watch it its goes against Sky Go (where you can stream it to a lap top) and therefore were only allowed 4 devices. This meant deleting some of those we had already for the adults to watch - Sky Kids devices should be separate to Sky GO

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?

This app is to really easy to use and set up. My daughter can navigate through the pages easily and select what she wants to watch with little/no help from me.

The parental controls ere easy to find and set up.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?

My daughters favorite show is Paw Patrol but she's explored other shows through the app and watches a wider range of content. Her favorite thing about the app is being in control as she can pick and choose what she watches. Second favorite is royally the lack of adverts, she's impatient to get to the next episode when one finishes.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?

I think there's a great range of content suitable for a range of ages all in one app. The parental controls limit access to channels not suitable for her age which gives me confidence that the content she sees is the right stuff.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?

Paw Patrol
Team Umizoomi
Blaze and the Monster machines
Peppa Pig
Octonauts

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?

They were fun and cute. As my daughter can't read she the character allows her to select the right profile for her content.

•What did you like most about the app?

The range of easily accessible content. Everything my daughter could want home or out and about is available with one app.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?

Definitely, because of ease of use for both child and parents when setting up controls and the range of content available. It. Safe environment for a child to explore without fear that a advert will pop up or they'll have access to something not suitable.

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
I find the app so easy to use and so does my 3 year old daughter. It was easy to download.

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
She loves the new Dc McSuffins, I think she likes the fact that she can change and pick what she wants to watch without my help.

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
I like the fact that there is such a wide range of content available, I like the fact that they have some up to date episodes as well as the older ones.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
She loves watching Morph, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Ben and Holly. Doc McStuffins is a big hit too.

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
To be honest i did not notice much about this option.

•What did you like most about the app?
I like the fact its simple to use, the kids can use it and navigate through the programmes on their own without me needing to change it. The design is simple and fun. The fact that there is no adverts, its age appropriate.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
The design is simple and easy to use. It is full of content and is great that you can download things.

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?

We found it very easy to use my 4yr old uses it herself!

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?

Paw Patrol and PJ masks are her favourite for now. My DD liked that she could use the app herself and that she could add her name and personalise it!

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?

I was really happy with the range of content it could keep my children entertained for hours!

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?

Paw Patrol & PJ Masks

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?

My DD loved this part she loved all the buddies and even more so that she could dress them!!

•What did you like most about the app?

It is easy for little people to use which is important as it is for them after all.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?

its really fun for the kids and really easy for them to use. I have already told some friends about it who have children the same ages mine.

How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
Easy to use once downloaded, thankfully as I have sky q at home we have the right package. Easy to download and enter information
•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
PJ masks is their favouriye programme so it's nice to have it so easy to access
•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
Is very good lots of different shows and variety that my little loved
•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
PJ masks, Peppa Pig
•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
Like the options to add more than one child and the he colourful
Buddies are eye catching and draw your attention
•What did you like most about the app?
Variety and the easy of use
•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
Yes I would recommend but obviously it only is a good app if you actually have he relevant Channels. I think this is a shame on sky's part and something they should definitely looki into!!

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?

Very easy once we’d got through the setup. We have a long and complicated sky password so it was a bit of a pain having to type that in. Perhaps a PIN option for the grown up content?
As an app it’s along the same lines as Youtube kids and the BBC iPlayer app.

8yo DD says - definitely easy to use

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?

2 year old DS - I restricted his content to the younger stuff. He managed to navigate through the screens easily to find what he wanted. He spent his time skipping between shows like Fireman Sam, Fifi and the flowertots and some of the CBeebies programmes so no clear favourite. He just liked the fact that it was all his choice

8 year old DD - I let her watch any of the content and she chose things like Winx Club to watch. She had no trouble selecting episodes and channels that she wanted to watch. She says she liked the feature where you could pick programmes off the dashboard

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?

It’s very good. There’s definitely something for every mood and every child there.

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?

DS - Fireman Sam, Fifi and the flower tots
DD - Winx club, Elena of Avalor

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?

Not too complicated to set up. Perhaps it would be a good feature to allow/block channels individually for each child and have a time limit, rather than just sleep hours. DD had the pink thing with glasses and I picked the blue thing with the cap for DS.

•What did you like most about the app?

It’s easy to navigate, even for a 2 year old and they can make their own safe choices.

DD says she liked being able to switch programmes whenever she wanted to.

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
Yes, I would recommend it. It’s simple to use and looks like a good start for an entertainment platform for children, although it could perhaps do with more customisation options and a PIN option to get to the grown-up section, rather than the sky id and full password

•How easy did you find it to use Sky Kids app?
Very easy to use to you use the app

•What was your DC’s favourite show and what did they like about the app?
My son's favourite show is paw patrol and he choose the episode that he wanted to watch and he could design the avatar

•What did you think about the range of content available in the app?
There are loads of cartoons to choose from

•Which shows did your DCs enjoy watching?
paw patrol, doc mcstuffin and mickey mouse

•How did you find the personalisation options and which Sky Buddies did you and the DCs choose?
The personalisation options are basic , my son chose a blue blob with pirate

•What did you like most about the app?
That my son could watch what he wanted and at any time

•Would you recommend it to other parents and why?
Yes because there is loads to choose from

Non tester. It has to be button moon!

We found it very easy to use the app - both to install it and set it up and to navigate round it once fully installed.

As always, my childs favourite is Paw Patrol and he liked the range of PP episodes to choose from.

There is plenty of content to choose from so your child will never get bored.

He enjoyed watching Paw Patrol and Blaze.

We really liked the personalisation options - makes it that little bit more special. I can't remember which buddy my son chose but he did
deliberate over it for quite some time!

Its easy to install, plenty of content, you can download shows to watch later, keeps children entertained

I would definitely recommend to others as its a great app thats simple but packed full of content