Instead, Apple is (https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/13/ios-16-vpns-leak-data-e...). And so is your cell phone provider (https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/09/us-cell-carriers-still-sel...). And so is every third party app on your phone (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/how-federal-government...).

Carrying a smartphone is incompatible with privacy. Unfortunately, so is using a credit card (https://www.fastcompany.com/90490923/credit-card-companies-a...) and having a face (https://www.wired.com/story/get-used-to-face-recognition-in-...).

We're all doomed, so you may as well just use the software that makes you happy.

I think about this often. Without smartphones, none of the problems we blame on social media would exist. We've gained a lot from the smartphone form factor (I haven't been lost in 10 years, for example), but whether we've lost more is a really open question, in my view.

This is a good solution and pretty much what I've done. When you need screen time on the go, putting those videos on an SD card and sticking it in a cheap Kindle Fire with VLC installed also works well.

I tried YouTube Kids, but found it was suggesting a lot of surprise egg and colorful slime videos. I blocked those channels, but more showed up, so I deleted the app.

Its only usable (in my opinion) in the allow list channel mode. Otherwise its never ending reaction blocking.

Depends how old your kids are, but that's what I use it for. You can set the home screen to your subscription list, and it doesn't show related videos unless you go to a separate tab. Those two things have saved me from much screaming about not getting to watch the colorful slime videos that regular YouTube always suggests.