glurpaHow do I lock YouTube on a Samsung TV — or limit it to the channels I approve?
Want to lock the YouTube app entirely? Samsung's app lock does that, and the steps are just below. Want your child to keep YouTube but only the channels you approve? You can't — not with any setting on the TV. Samsung's parental settings lock whole apps, YouTube's Restricted Mode filters mature content only, and YouTube Kids no longer has a TV app. The method that works is the two together: the app lock below, plus the TV's web browser for the channels you approve.
How to lock the YouTube app on a Samsung TV
Samsung's app lock puts the TV's PIN on any app, YouTube included. Samsung's own steps:
- Press Home, open Apps, then Settings — the gear. If your menu says General & Privacy, look for App Settings near the bottom instead.
- Select YouTube, then Lock.
- Enter the TV's PIN. The factory PIN is 0000. Change it under Settings → General → System Manager → Change PIN; if your menu says General & Privacy, it's Settings → All Settings → General & Privacy → System Manager → Change PIN.
What the lock does not do: it is all-or-nothing, so locked means no YouTube at all for anyone without the PIN, and it cannot narrow what plays. A lock behind the factory PIN is decoration. If you want your child to keep watching, but only the channels you approve, keep the lock on and keep reading — and for every screen in the house, not just the TV, see every method compared. Steps from Samsung's support pages, read September 2026.
What each Samsung and YouTube setting actually does
| What you might try | What it actually does | Only approved channels? |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Parental Settings (PIN) | Locks whole apps or broadcast channels; menu names vary by model year | |
| YouTube app → Restricted Mode | Filters age-restricted and mature content; junk aimed at children isn't "mature" | |
| YouTube Kids | Google retired the standalone YouTube Kids TV app in July 2024 and moved it to a child profile inside the main YouTube app. Its hand-picked "Approve content yourself" mode is set up in the YouTube Kids phone app, and Google documents no way to manage it from the TV | |
| Google Family Link | Governs the child's phone or tablet profile, not what plays in the TV's YouTube app | |
| Samsung browser lock | All-or-nothing PIN on the browser | |
| TV browser + an allowlist player | The browser is the one app on the TV that shows a page you control |
Every row above was checked in August 2026. Samsung menu names move between model years; what none of them offer, on any year, is a list of channels you approve.
The method that works, in three steps
About five minutes, once. Nothing to install on the TV — every Samsung smart TV ships with a web browser, and a browser shows whatever page you point it at.
- On your phone, create a free account at glurpa.com/app and approve the channels you choose.
- On the TV, open the built-in web browser and go to glurpa.com/tv. A short pairing code appears.
- Type the code into your phone. The TV switches to your child's approved channels.
Setting up a tablet or phone rather than a TV? Skip the code: open glurpa.com on that device and sign up there. The child’s app sees you’re signed in and sets itself up with one tap. (An iPad or iPhone in Safari has you add it to the home screen first, then shows a code.)
The whole thing, start to finish. Nothing installed, nothing bought.
What Glurpa is — and is not
Glurpa is a parental-control player for the YouTube channels you approve. It is free forever for 5 channels; the paid tier is parent software — screen-time limits, bedtime, content-drift alerts, pausing every screen from your phone — and never buys videos. Videos play in YouTube's own embedded player, ads and all; Glurpa works with your family's own YouTube Premium subscription and never touches ads. Among what we store: the parent's email, the child's first name, and what they've watched, deleted after 90 days — every item is listed on our privacy page. Glurpa is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google. Built by a dad after hitting exactly the wall this page describes.
Questions parents ask
How do I restrict YouTube to only approved channels on a Samsung TV?
Not from the TV itself. Samsung's parental settings lock whole apps, and YouTube's Restricted Mode filters mature content only. YouTube Kids' approved-content-only list is set in its phone app and belongs to the child's profile, which the TV's YouTube app opens. To keep regular YouTube channels instead, use the two together: lock the YouTube app as above, then open glurpa.com/tv in the TV's web browser and pair it with a code from your phone.
Does this work on older Samsung TVs?
Yes — the player is built as ES5 for 2014-era TV browsers; if the TV has a browser, it works.
What is the default PIN on a Samsung TV?
0000 on most Samsung TVs, and Samsung says to change it. Settings → General → System Manager → Change PIN; if your menu says General & Privacy, it's Settings → All Settings → General & Privacy → System Manager → Change PIN. Every lock on this page is only as strong as that PIN.
Can I lock YouTube but still let my child watch some of it?
Not with the app lock — it is all-or-nothing, and nothing in Samsung's settings reaches inside the YouTube app to pick channels. What works is both together: lock the YouTube app as above, then use the browser method on this page — glurpa.com/tv shows only the channels you approve, and nothing else.
Will there be ads?
Videos play inside YouTube's own player, so YouTube's ads behave exactly as they do on YouTube — we never touch ads. Glurpa works with your family's own YouTube Premium subscription: if you have one, a setting switches to the standard YouTube player so your household subscription applies on a signed-in TV. That's YouTube's feature, sold by YouTube — we won't pretend otherwise.
Can my child get out of it?
Glurpa shows one thing: the channels you approved. No search box, no feed to scroll, nothing else on the screen. It's designed to prevent accidental taps and navigation by pre-readers — the remote and touch do only what you'd expect: play, pause, skip, back. Inside Glurpa there is simply nothing to wander into.
What does Glurpa collect?
The main items: your email address, and for your child the first name and avatar you pick, the limits you set, and what they've watched — every item is listed on our privacy page, including the code that keeps each screen paired. No advertising trackers, nothing sold. By default we also use YouTube's more private player setting, which holds off on cookies until a video actually plays.
Checked August 2026. Samsung and YouTube both move their menus; this page is re-checked yearly, and the date above is the last time someone did.