Amama TV
Set up a phone for the kids
Amama TV is a video app for little kids. Grown-ups choose the videos, and the kids swipe from one to the next. In kiosk mode the phone is locked into Amama TV, so the kids can’t open other apps, change settings or turn up the volume.
It plays videos with YouTube’s own player, so the phone needs the internet.
Before you start
- Use a phone just for the kids. Setting it up erases everything on it.
- Take the Google and Samsung accounts off the phone before you reset it (Settings › Accounts), or have their passwords ready. After a reset, the phone asks for them.
- Wi-Fi, or a hotspot from another phone.
- Android 9 or newer, with Google Play on it (most Android phones).
- This page open on another phone or a computer, or the QR code printed, so the kids’ phone can scan it.
Setting up
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Reset the phone
Samsung: Settings › General management › Reset › Factory data reset.
Most other phones: Settings › System › Reset options › Erase all data.
A brand-new phone doesn’t need this.
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Tap the welcome screen 6 times
On the very first screen (“Welcome” or “Hi there”), tap the same empty spot 6 times, quickly. A QR code scanner opens. If the phone asks, connect to Wi-Fi first.
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Go through Android’s screens
The phone says things like “This device belongs to your organization” and “Let’s set up your work device”. That is Android’s usual wording for this kind of setup. Here, the “organization” is just Amama TV on this phone. Tap Next, then Accept & continue.
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Let it finish
The phone downloads Amama TV (0.1 MB) and sets it up. If more setup screens follow, go through them. You can skip signing in to Google.
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Amama TV opens by itself
A few seconds after the setup, Amama TV opens and locks the phone. Home, Back, the pull-down panel and the power menu all stay in Amama TV, and the volume buttons do nothing on the kids’ side.
Right after setting up
- Set a parent PIN. Press and hold Grown-ups for a second, then Settings › Parent PIN. Without a PIN, the kids can get into the grown-ups’ screens the same way. Remember it: with kiosk mode on, the only other way out is a factory reset.
- Add videos. Grown-ups › Add videos. “Picked for age 3” has more than 100 videos chosen for small children, some of them in Kiswahili. Add them to a playlist, and the playlist appears on the kids’ screen.
- Set the volume in the grown-ups’ screens before you hand the phone over. The volume buttons only work there.
Later
- To use the phone normally for a moment: Grown-ups › Settings › Kiosk mode › Use other apps. Press Home to come back: Amama TV locks again.
- To switch kiosk mode off: the same place, Off. On locks it again.
- To remove it for good: Remove kiosk setup, tapped twice. After that, you can uninstall Amama TV like any app. Setting it up again needs another reset.
If something goes wrong
Tapping 6 times does nothing
It only works on the very first screen after a reset, before choosing a language or Wi-Fi. Tap a blank part of the screen, not a button, 6 times without stopping.
“Can’t set up device”
Usually the phone couldn’t reach the internet. Check the Wi-Fi, then reset the phone and start again.
The normal home screen shows instead of Amama TV
Open Amama TV once from the apps. It locks the phone and stays as the home screen from then on.