Welcome to Pixalate’s CTV & Mobile App Manual Reviews According to COPPA, a series containing the detailed factors the Trust & Safety Advisory Board educators used to assess an app’s child-directedness.
The educators manually review thousands of mobile apps available in the Google Play & Apple App Stores as well as connected TV (CTV) apps from the Roku Channel Store and Amazon Fire TV App Store using the COPPA Rule factors shown below & make those results available to the public at ratings.pixalate.com.
This post takes a look at a popular mobile app (1 million+ downloads) from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Our reviewer discusses how the subjective factors set forth in the COPPA Rule apply to the app and factor into the reviewer's determination as to whether the app is child-directed or general audience (i.e., it is not targeting children).
The teacher will indicate the factors they relied upon in their assessment using the 10 factors shown below that reflect the 10 child-directed factors in the COPPA Rule.
ASMR Tippy Toe - ASMR Games gameplay is about stepping on a crazy assortment of objects that create their own fun sounds. There are traps along the path and players have to avoid perilous items dissipating across your path such as bananas and spikes. The game starts off with a character in a 2 piece bikini until players are able to purchase clothing and shoes. Parents may want to supervise. Players hold the foot of the character and move while stepping down to squish the objects and release an ASMR sound. Those sounds are those of squeaking toys and smashing of food. The visual content animation is bright and colorful with sensory stimulation to create a sense of perspective. The subject matter has key phrases that are directed to children including, “Pop it toys.”
The goal is to collect prize objects that are distributed along the pathway to earn money and gold in order to personalize your character and collect fashion.
There is continuous advertising throughout the game in order to move to the next level and also in the banner. Most of the advertisements are directed towards a general audience which includes, “Feelsy, Krylon, Bloating Relief, and a few are directed to a mixed audience such as My Perfect Hotel and Angry Birds.
The app is rated E for Everyone 10+ in the Google Play store and rated 4+. There is no age gate. Reviews posted in the Google Play Store show that children use the app. A review posted in February of 2023 says, ” My kids have been playing and laughing nonstop.” The review was posted by a parent with no ages specified. Another review posted in August of 2022 says, “ I played the game since I was 6.”
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy does not have a COPPA policy. It does state, “only process your personal data when strictly necessary for the objectives such as carrying out marketing, sales, and canvassing operations that tailor to your needs.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of ASMR Tippy Toe - ASMR Games
Pixalate’s Trust and Safety Advisory Board was created to bring in individuals with experience using child-directed apps in the classroom to review and assess which apps are child-directed. This manual review process serves to quality check Pixalate’s automated review process. See our full methodology for more information.
Disclaimer
This blog post published by Pixalate is available for informational purposes only and is not considered legal advice. By viewing this blog post, the reader understands and agrees that there is no attorney-client relationship between the reader and the blog publisher. The blog should not be used as a substitute for legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in the applicable jurisdiction(s), and readers are urged to consult their own legal counsel on any specific legal questions concerning any specific situation. The content of this blog post reflects Pixalate's opinions with respect to factors that Pixalate believes may be useful to the digital media industry. Pixalate's opinions are just that, opinions, which means that they are neither facts nor guarantees; and this blog post is not intended to impugn the standing or reputation of any entity, person or app, but instead, to report findings pertaining to mobile and Connected TV (CTV) apps.
