Disney+ is still fine-tuning its age-restriction system, and in the process it has blocked a lot of G-rated movies from kids’ profiles. According to a report by The Streamable, a Disney+ update on Thursday changed the movies that show up on a kid’s profile while implementing the new ad-supported membership options. You can tweak the parental control settings to get around this block, but it’s a little complicated.
Disney+ changed its prices starting on Thursday so that the ad-supported tier costs $7.99 per month while the ad-free service costs $10.99 per month. However, Disney+ stratified its profiles by age earlier this year, and apparently, the company did not want to show ads on younger viewers’ profiles even at the cheaper tier. Therefore, profiles in “Junior Mode” won’t be shown any ads, but for some reason, they are blocked from watching most movies as well. Parents can toggle off Junior Mode without losing all their age-restriction capabilities.
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To turn off Junior Mode and open up the full catalog to your child, you’ll need to visit the website or open the app and select “Edit Profiles” from the main screen. Under “Parent Controls,” You should see “Junior Mode” as the top option. Flip this switch off to allow more movies on Disney+. As you’ll see, you can also fine-tune parental controls by choosing content ratings your child is allowed to watch including the typical MPA ratings of G, PG, PG-13 and so on, as well as TV ratings like TV-Y, TV-Y7, TV-Y7-FV, TV-14 and TV-MA.
The catch is that once you set these preferences, you or your child will see ads on G-rated movies. However, the alternative is missing out on most of the film library altogether. At the time of this writing, a profile in Junior Mode will only have a handful of movies. Some of the absences are surprising – for example, you can watch Frozen II in Junior Mode but not Frozen. Other staples like Toy Story are missing as well.
Disney+ added its age-restriction system earlier this year when it brought the Defenders-era Marvel shows into its library. The shows had been produced for Netflix originally, and so they had a much more mature tone. Disney needed a way to put them in the same place as the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe without compromising its branding.
Disney+ is available now at $8.99 per month with ads and $10.99 per month ad-free. The subscription can still be purchased annually for a savings of about two months per year.
