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.
Crazy Defense Heroes-TD Games is an action-packed game in which players enter into an adorable fantasy world with various levels to provide numerous hours of fun fighting through hordes of monsters. The more battles players win, their avatar levels up. The gameplay is about protecting the kingdom by selecting the correct combination of cards by placing them strategically to win the battle. The visual content and animation are vibrant and colorful designed with cartoon-style graphics. Overall, the app is a great way for players to exercise their brains with strategic thinking.
The objective is to stop monsters from entering the kingdom. Players decisively position safeguards to remove all dangers headed to the kingdom. With each level, players will level up and unlock new features, collect higher prizes, and more quests. Players that level up become a part of the clan.
The app is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and rated 9+ in the iOS store. There is no age gate but there are in-app purchases.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, ” Services are not geared toward children under the age of 13 and we do not knowingly collect any personal information from such children...if we collect any personal information from children under the age of 13, we will either comply with the requirements of COPPA and gain prior verifiable parental consent or direct parental notification of the nature and intended use of such information.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Crazy Defense Heroes-TD 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.
