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.
Fish Out of Water gameplay is about tossing different types of fish over the water to make them skip and travel across the waves as far and long as you can until they plunge below the water. The point of the game is to get a high score rank from 0-10 from a panel of quirky crabs. Players have to figure out which fish to catapult depending on weather changes which can influence how far the fish will travel. The visual content and animation have cute colorful characters. The music and sound in the game have fun sloshing water sound effects. The game has child-oriented characters and activities that are geared towards children. The game is visually engaging for kids and a good practice for hand and eye coordination.
Players complete a section and will level up to earn crystals. As the fish are thrown, players angle the throw to collect the crystals. Players can earn bonus crystals to give throwing perks to aid their progress.
There is no age gate and you can play as a guest for free. The app does have in-app purchasing and in-game currency. It is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and 4+ in the iOS store. A review posted in the Google Play store in September of 2023 says, “ I loved this game so much when I was a kid.” In September 2020, in the iOS store, a review stated, “ I’m still a kid but I remember playing this game…I played it all the time.” Both reviews did not specify age.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “If you permit your child to use one of our Services that is not labeled a Child Safe App, you should disable in-app purchases on your phone and actively monitor your child’s use…we do not knowingly contact or collect from children under 13 without the permission of their parent/guardians. ”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Fish Out of Water!
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.
