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. 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.
DIY Unicorn Girls Secret Diary is a diary for girls to hide their thoughts from prying eyes. Users get to play around with free unicorn games such as puzzles, drawing, coloring, horoscope, moods, unicorn musical toys, emoticon chats, pop it, and do-it-yourself games all within the diary. Users are able to get imaginative and customize the diary’s background with a personalized lock that has a unique identifier. The subject matter, of this app, says, “designed for girls…princess DIY diary for girls,” which shows that the language and other characteristics are directed to children. The visual content and animation have vibrant colorful graphics design with a pink tone which has characteristics of child-oriented activities. This app is a nice simple tool that can be used to articulate ideas and encourage deeper understanding.
The advertisements are played between levels and switching games, such as, “Spago Mini World: Kids Games and Star Maker.” Most of the advertisements are directed to children. However, there are pop-up ads and banner ads directed to a general audience that plays when exiting a game, for example, “ TikTok and Salon Five Nails.”
The app is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store. There is no age gate. A review posted in January 2021 on the Google Play store says, “My child likes it.” In March of 2022, a review posted said, “This app is so cute and so amazing because when my mom tries and open my diary it has a pattern. Another review posted in November of 2021 says, “I love this game it keeps all my daughter’s secrets.” The reviews do not specify age.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy does not have a COPPA policy. It does state, “Nonpersonal information is gathered by third party services while you access the services…we will not sell, trade, or transfer your information to any third party...we collect nonpersonal information to enhance the user’s experience on the service.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of DIY Unicorn Girls Secret Diary
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.
