Hey guys..
So we got a Kindle Fire HD for our son for Christmas. He is a slow learner and a tablet has proved a good way to teach the basics, sounds, letters shapes and the like. He’s 4 with the learning capacity of years younger.
Anyway…
We got him the tablet to install some basic learning apps. The Kindle seemed to get all the reviews.
But………. The home screen is filled with cr4p we/he don’t need. The poor lad will have choice overload and will never get to the apps that will be appropriate for him. Literally thousands.

I’ve been into the parent setting and located the way to remove content, but its per app, not per category or genre. It would take hours to tick everything.

The UI seems great though, no adverts, just apps. But just zero customisation.

We assumed we could download the apps needed, and hide everything else.. There seems no way to do that…

Can anyone with experience of the Kindle steer me in the right direction?

You can side load just a chrome system on them I think.

Set up an account for you, then set up a kids account for him. You then add content app by app, via the parental controls, so you can gatekeep the volume he is exposed too

Trout,

Yes we have done that, he has a kids account and it loads with a nice blue background.. but is filled with hundreds of apps that he doesn’t need or want. The poor lad would just be clicking at everything and not getting to what he needs.

I cant seem to find a way to only add selected apps, only remove everything else.. there are thousands I would have to remove, one by one
I cant find a way to just add what we want him to see.

These things are basically mobile Amazon billboards. While I don’t have an HD to try this tip out on, this worked with the previous version:

https://www.technipages.com/change-the-home-screen-of-kindle-fire-to-look-like-stock-android

OP It looks like manually is the way to go plus don’t use a child profile as this seems to be a pain as it loads everything and you have to select what is downloaded. A good instance of too much choice being a bad thing when computing

Too darn right Sandwich.. Its crazy and an overload.

It seems like a very simple thing to allow, considering its a tablet GUI aimed at children.
Fine if we want our lad to sit there for 6 hours watching complete sh1te, but thats not our reason for purchase, it’s to help his learning.

A quick google shows that my issue is shared with other parents too.

I can see this being sent back… 🙁

Medlow it looks like cheap coding was to allow all and then customer doing the heavy work afterwards. You may struggle to get it back as it will ‘technically’ work as intended but practically it’s a nightmare with the hope that you give up and lots of lovely money rolls in due to unintended consequences.

We are finding the same thing having bought our daughter one for Christmas. It seems completely are about face, unless we are doing it wrong.

I went for the kids Fire HD based on all the glowing reviews, but at the moment can’t help feeling it’s a bit shit.
I’ll have another fiddle about with it this evening.

The poor lad would just be clicking at everything and not getting to what he needs.

What does he need?

IIRC the top row of the home screen is the stuff you’ve used most recently, so if you just use a few apps they should be there.

The point about the Fire for Kids thing is that you get an almost endless set of apps and books with no ads, no in game purchase nagging and no interference from the online world. This is great for most kids. You are paying for a free stream of stuff, which is why you see the stuff on the home screen.

But that’s just the Fire for Kids thing. If you don’t want it, don’t pay the £2/mo and rely on the bog standard tablet experience which also includes parental controls and the like. Set up a normal user, buy the apps you want him to have and then add those shortcuts to the home screen, and restrict app purchases and so on. However I don’t think you can restrict websites using this method, although there’s a good chance there’s another way to do it.

Fine if we want our lad to sit there for 6 hours watching complete sh1te,

Well you must surely have some control over that as a parent? You can set daily limits on consumption on the device even if you aren’t in a position to police it personally.

Stumpy.. yes it is.. a PITA.
glowing reviews but all of them fail to mention this pretty big flaw.
Disappointed..

Molgrips. Just the apps we want him to have. Some specific learning apps and games etc .
What we wanted was a simple front screen with just what we download, not filled up with thousands of other tempting apps that he will get lost inside.

I think I need to experiment with moving him to a normal UI and move away from the kids thing/UI. Good idea.
As all in, it’s a nice package, weight, battery, cost etc..
I’ll drop out of the kids UI and see how much I can lock down or hide.. he understands nothing of internet etc so if it’s out of site he wont go looking.

Amazon have already accepted the return so I have a few weeks to try out before I box it up..

Molgrips. Just the apps we want him to have. Some specific learning apps and games etc .
What we wanted was a simple front screen with just what we download, not filled up with thousands of other tempting apps that he will get lost inside.

Then you specifically don’t want Fire for Kids, which is what you have signed up for. If you bought the kids’ version of the tablet with the rubber surround, it comes with a Fire for Kids subscription. The tablet is identical to other ones though.

Just set up a new user (as you have said) and apply parental controls for purchases and stuff, and for screen/game time.

Then you specifically don’t want Fire for Kids, which is what you have signed up for. If you bought the kids’ version of the tablet with the rubber surround, it comes with a Fire for Kids subscription. The tablet is identical to other ones though.

Just set up a new user (as you have said) and apply parental controls for purchases and stuff, and for screen/game time.

OK, that explains it.
I will try later to see what I can do with the ‘normnal’ user rather than the Fire for Kids.

Ok.. well it works, sort of. Thanks to molgrips for the advice.
I created a normal account and downloaded some test apps for him, then applied controls to the account to only show games and apps.
It works to a degree.
Annoyingly, some apps we want are included free in the Fire for Kids interface.. but are chargeable in the normal user interface. Grrr.

Thread revival. I sent it back, not impressed.
Amazon accepted the return, no questions.. Sweet.
Thanks for the ideas guys.

I got so utterly peeved off with my kid’s fire HDs while on a US road trip. The kids fires would crash roughly twice a day. The worst event resulted in one of them “losing” the adult profile entirely thus rendering the device crippled – couldn’t join Wi-fi, manage content, couldn’t even download the photos the kids had taken themselves.

I ended up seeking out an apple store in Portland and just taking the credit card hit on two basic iPads. They’ve been faultless. parental controls are logical and sufficiently robust. The kids love them.