14 DAY TRIAL // Every social network tends to get messy when it becomes a global phenomenon. Vine is no different. In the few years it has existed, it has become the home of some of the sickest short-videos ever made.
Which makes the service highly inappropriate for young audiences, despite the fair warning ahead of every questionable clip which states “this post may contain sensitive content.”
A Vine network just for kids
Apparently, Vine Labs Inc. isn’t satisfied with the traffic it gets from adult audiences and wants the kids to get in on the fun as well. Instead of implementing new settings and parental controls in the existing Vine app, the company decided to design an all-new version from the ground up and target it only to kids.
“Vine Kids gives children a fun way to watch Vines. Through adorable animated characters, kids can watch hand-selected videos that are appropriate for a young audience,” according to the official description.
Children will swipe left to see the next Vine – unlike with the official Vine app, which has users scrolling up and down to load new clips – and tapping the screen will produce funny sounds to entertain the youngsters even more.
Apparently, there's no sharing or following, or any of that Internet mumbo jumbo that can get you in trouble for being too young to understand the rules of good social networking. Which is a very good thing. Vine Kids has been designed to work like a toy, and it's the best approach Vine Labs could have taken.
The software is supported on iOS 7 devices and works with iOS 8 as well. Vine Labs welcomes any feedback that parents and legal guardians might have at [email protected]. Download Vine Kids and take it for a spin today.