How to force get Kids tab in the Play Store and Teacher Approved badge on apps

The world has been fighting with the COVID-19 pandemic for quite some time now. Movement restricted, institutions closed, and all recreational gatherings seized — our definition of “normal” isn’t the same as it was, even a couple of months back.

Kids, too, have been heavily affected by this global crisis. Forced to stay at home and away from friends, their morale is at an all-time low. Parents, who are suddenly met with added responsibility, have been trying to find a solution, but the struggle to find age-appropriate applications is quite real.

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When you’re looking for family-friendly apps, Play Store is a great place to look. However, scouring through millions of apps, looking for the safe app that your child would love, isn’t a walk in the park.

Fortunately for us, Google has come to the rescue. The tech giant has confirmed that its Play Store will get a special Kids section, which would only house apps approved by a special panel of teachers.

What are ‘Teacher Approved’ apps?

Google has teamed up with over 200 teachers across the United State to vet children’s apps on the Google Play store. The panel has rated the apps on a number of categories: age-appropriateness, educational value, fun value, and more.

If an app passes Google’s extensive testing, it would be granted a ‘Teacher Approved’ badge and will feature under the newly-curated Kids category.

Additionally, if you only want to browse the ‘Teacher Approved’ apps, you could do so by simply heading over to the Kids tab of the Google Play Store.

Why can’t you see Kids tab and ‘Teacher Approved’ badge on apps

Google has confirmed that it will start rolling out its new Play Store alignment — Kids tab — over the next few days. However, the new release is currently only for users in the United States. The global release is set to take place in the coming months.

Users in the United States, too, can face a bit of discrepancy, as these roll-outs are usually incremental. So, some regions could end up getting the update ahead of other regions.

Admittedly, Google wasn’t prepared to roll out this feature so early this year. So, there are still a few apps missing. The company, however, has promised to deliver the missing apps in due time.

How to get Kids Tab in the Play Store and ‘Teacher Approved’ apps

If you are in the United States and are dying to download the approved apps, you should simply keep an eye out for Play Store updates.

Users outside the US, on the other hand, can’t do much right now, at least officially. Unofficially, there’s always the option of using a VPN service and setting your location to the United States. By doing so, you’ll get the Kids tab in the Play Store and will be able to find the ‘Teacher Approved’ badge on the apps at the same as users in the United States.

Download a VPN app of your choice from the Play Store. Check out our list of Best VPN apps to find a good app quickly.
Once you have downloaded a VPN app, open it.
Provide required permissions.
Once you reach the VPN app’s homepage, change the country/region to the US.
Now, open the Play Store app.
Select the Apps section in the bottom bar.
Check out the tabs right below the search bar. You may see the Kids tab there. It’s got all the Teach Approved apps right there.
Done! All the apps you see here are the apps approved by teachers. Tap on the app to get more details about and install it.