Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsNice tablet, rubbish Amazon Kids+ service - and endangering children's online safety
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 13 July 2021
We have Amazon Prime and weren't bothered about Amazon "owning us", as long as the service is good. I was even happy with the fact that I'd be paying a small fee for a kids service after a year on top of the Prime membership. But what feels completely rubbish is that you can't watch Amazon Prime videos within the child's profile! Only stuff you've actually bought.
Within the parent account controls on the main Amazon site is a tab to select options relating to Prime Video, but when you click this, it simply says "We've added loads of great Prime content to Amazon Kids+, accessible from the app." Well, Amazon Prime doesn't have a great selection of kids films to start with, but as you work down the few decent quality films they do have, none are available within Amazon Kids+.
Gruffalo? Nope
Happy Feet? Nope
Stickman? Nope
Spy Cat? Nope
Despicable Me? Nope
The Nut Job? Nope
Room on a Broom? Nope
Shaun the Sheep Movie? Nope
The Lorax? Nope
Hotel Transylvania? Nope
So how do you actually get these on the tablet for your kids to watch? There are two ways. The first - buy them, even though you can already watch them with Amazon Prime. Yep - pay full price for a film you've been able to watch for free on your TV or all your other devices, purely for the luxury of accessing it within your kids profile on the tablet. Or, do what any sane person will do, and use the Prime Video app within the parent profile on the tablet. But obviously, you have to be with your kids because if they start messing around, scrolling and exiting the film you've chosen, they could see all Amazon Prime content, or make unauthorised purchases on your account.
Amazon must know that this is what people will do - no one is going to buy a movie they can watch for free with a few swipes on the same device. And so it feels frankly cruel and immoral to create this choice: "Pay us more money for the same movie, or risk your child's online safety!"
To add insult to injury, there is a clever functionality that allows children to access the age appropriate store and "request" new content, which is then approved in the parental profile. But no Prime content shows up! So even if you wanted to pay for it, the children can't select a film, you'd have to buy it first within your main Amazon account. It's quite mindboggling that I type in " The Gruffalo" into the kids profile store search, and it simply doesn't show up - despite the fact it's free to watch on Prime Video.
They don't deliberately hide this limitation, but they don't exactly publicise it either. Over the years we've bought enough premium films to still have a reasonable selection for the children to watch, plus you can access both BBC iPlayer Kids and Netflix (which, for safety, you need to add profile locks to so that children can only access the kids profile - a bit of a chore but a reasonable workaround), so between the three services it doesn't feel quite so limiting.
Still: Anyone would expect a Prime Video app within the kids profile that gives access to the full range of Prime Video kids content, given that we PAY FOR THIS ALREADY. It's really outrageous that Amazon don't offer this. And, it's a real shame because there's plenty to love about this tablet - feels solid, a no-quibble 2 year guarantee, a nice, well-designed protective case. But they really need to sort out whatever licensing issue is preventing them from giving this tablet the access it needs.
