The small print, in plain language

Terms of use

What Limelo Kids is

A small library of YouTube videos for South African children, in the languages we call home. Every video on a shelf was watched from beginning to end by a person at Limelo before it appeared, and each one records the date it was reviewed. We host no videos: everything plays inside YouTube's own player, and every video belongs to the channel that made it.

Using it

Limelo Kids is free and needs no account. It is built for parent-guided viewing. It is a carefully swept room, not a sealed one, and it does not replace a nearby adult. By using it you accept that you, the parent or guardian, stay responsible for your child's viewing.

What we promise

• A person watched every listed video end to end before approving it.
• We check regularly that listed videos still exist and haven't changed, and we take a video off the shelf while we re-check it if anything looks wrong.
• Nothing plays by itself. A video starts only when your child taps it, and when it ends, it ends.

What we can't promise

• A short advert may play before a video. It is YouTube's, not ours; we are not allowed to remove or cover it, and we won't pretend otherwise.
• We do not control what YouTube shows inside its own player, and we cannot guarantee that a child can never reach anything unsuitable. No honest service can.
• We can only count time spent here, not time spent on YouTube itself or anywhere else.

The boring but necessary bits

• Limelo Kids is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, YouTube or Google. Playback happens through YouTube's embedded player and is subject to YouTube's own terms of service.
• All videos remain the property of their channels. Titles shown on our shelves may be simplified for children; the original title and channel are always credited.
• This is an early release: features may change, move or occasionally break.
• These terms are governed by South African law.

Privacy notice (POPIA)

The short version: we do not ask for accounts, names, e-mail addresses or photographs, we run no analytics or advertising trackers of our own, and we never build a profile of your child. We cannot say "nothing is ever sent anywhere", because this is a website: the companies that deliver the pages, the fonts, the video thumbnails and the video player each receive basic technical information such as your device's IP address. The rest of this notice says exactly who those are and when.

What stays on your device

The Parent Zone settings (daily video budget, quiet hours, Calm Mode) and the recently-watched list are stored in your browser's local storage, on your device only. They are never sent to us and we cannot see them. You can erase them any time with "Clear this device's history" in the Parent Zone, or by clearing the site's data in your browser.

Who receives information, and when

Before anything is tapped. A shelf page shows each video's picture, and those pictures are served by YouTube's image servers (i.ytimg.com). Loading them tells Google's servers your IP address and device type. Our page text and fonts are delivered by our host and by Google Fonts, which works the same way. We used to say "nothing contacts YouTube until a video is tapped". That was wrong about the pictures, and we have corrected it here. When a shelf is opened, the page also gets YouTube's player ready (from youtube.com and youtube-nocookie.com), with nothing playing, so that a video can start the moment it is tapped. That tells YouTube your IP address and device type too, but no video plays until your child taps one.

When a video is tapped. The video plays inside YouTube's own player, which shares technical information with YouTube/Google under Google's privacy policy, the same as watching an embedded YouTube video anywhere on the web. We use the privacy-enhanced player (youtube-nocookie.com), which limits this, but we do not control it and won't pretend we do. Playback is also subject to YouTube's Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy.

Who the recipients are. Google Firebase Hosting (delivers this site and keeps standard server logs), Google Fonts (delivers the typefaces), YouTube/Google (video pictures and playback). We do not use any advertising network, analytics product or tracking pixel of our own.

What our host sees

Like every website, the server that delivers these pages records basic technical logs (such as IP addresses) in order to work and stay secure. We do not use these to identify or profile anyone.

Children

POPIA treats everyone under 18 as a child, and the only fully safe way to handle children's information is not to collect it. So we don't, from children or from adults.

Your rights

Under POPIA you may ask what personal information we hold about you. Our honest answer will be "an e-mail from you, if you sent us one", but you are welcome to ask, to ask us to delete any correspondence, or to raise a concern: hello@limelo.co.za. You may also complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa.

Takedown & reports

Channel owners and rights holders

If a video or channel of yours appears here and you want it removed, e-mail hello@limelo.co.za with the link. We will remove it within two business days, usually the same day, no questions asked. We only ever link official channels and we never re-upload or alter anyone's content.

Parents and anyone else

If a video seems wrong for children, or plays something it shouldn't, use the report button on the site or e-mail us. The video comes off the shelf while we re-watch it, and we will reply within two business days with what we found and what we did.

What to include

The video's title or link, and a line on what's wrong. That's all we need.