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.
Clash Royale is a mobile game where players collect a variety of cards with distinct powers and use them on opponents in battles. In the gameplay, players have to assemble an army of yes-men and creatures in the form of cards and build battle communities. The goal is to construct your deck of cards and go head-to-head to obliterate your rival's palace. As the rounds advance, players need to ambush and attack their adversaries to protect their towers and base at the same time. Every card has details about your army which players can upgrade for spells and defenses. The player has to gain an understanding of the advantages and weaknesses of every creature to be victorious. The visual content and animation have cartoon violence themes with bright aesthetics, animated characters, vibrant scenes, and card illustrations. The sound in the game features battle sounds like triumph and rout. The game does have a chat feature for players to communicate with other clans to plan strategies but is only accessible when you reach King Level 3. However, children can look through the chats but can not write messages if they entered their age under 13 when signing up. Since kids can just enter a different age, there is a strong possibility that kids will be exposed to improper content such as harsh speech and online abuse.
When you play, there is a meter with points that can be used if you have a sufficient score to release them. Players can unlock prizes and chests throughout the game after meeting requirements. When players destroy their enemies' palaces and towers they receive a crown which goes to points players can utilize later in difficult challenges.
There is an age gate that allows under 13. It is rated E 10+ for Everyone in the Google Play store and 9+ in the iOS store. The app is available to download and use with in-app purchases.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “Our services are not directed to children under 13, and services do not knowingly collect personal data from children...for games that are not directed to children but may appeal to them, we take additional steps to limit access to these services based on the player's age..when a player indicates they are under 13, we will limit their access to certain features such as social media and chat features.” There is also a parent’s guide to assist parents/guardians in keeping their children safe.
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Clash Royale
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.
