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 & 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.
Cat Escape’s gameplay is where a curious cat outsmarts guards by using rooms and objects while solving puzzles to move to the next level. Players must move in the correct direction and exercise caution to avoid falling into a trap. The visual content and animation have simple colorful graphics with bubbly characters that appeal to children. The charming gameplay allows players to use strategic planning and problem-solving skills.
There are general audience-directed advertisements shown in the bottom banner such as, “Temu.” Some ads shown during and after a level are child-directed with a mixed audience, for example,” Ice Cream Roll-Cool Place.”
In the game, players can collect power-ups by running into star or lightning bolt icons that will automatically be added to the cat’s skills. The power-ups give a short-term power boost to increase speed or ability to jump which makes it easier to get past obstacles and make escape quicker.
There is an age gate but it does not affect gameplay. The app does have in-app purchasing to disable ads. It is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and 4+ in the iOS store. A review posted in August of 2023 in the iOS store says, “I’ve been playing this game since I was 7 I’m 9 now and I’m loving it.” Another review in the Google Play store in December of 2024 says, “I love this game so much...I was young maybe two or four years old I would always play this game.” Both reviews specify age.
Privacy:
There is no COPPA policy but there is information related to GDPR. The developer’s privacy policy states, “We collect data as part of your use of the game and in some cases, you provide us with data directly...your IP address and general technical information will also be collected from your device to ensure the app will run properly.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Cat Escape
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.
