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 CTV app (1 million+ downloads) from the Roku Channel Store and the Amazon Fire TV 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.
The gameplay screenshots for HappyKids show that it is visual and animation content directed to kids by child-oriented shows, games, and movies. The age of models of the show series are Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, and much more. Kids can play video games such as Roblox and Minecraft that are directed at children. Parents can block specific programs and restrict content based on topics of interest and themes. The app allows kids to watch things that are enriching and informational. The language in the app section says, ”educate and entertain kids of all ages … one-stop place for kids favorite shows.”
The app is a part of the Kids and Family section of Roku and Fire Stick. Once downloaded the app opens to content groups to choose by age and categories. A review from Firestick posted in November of 2022 says, “We absolutely love this app, having 5 kids with 4 of them under 5.” In June of 2022, a reviewer on Firestick posted, “This is my 3 year old's favorite app on his tablet.”
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy says, “we do not knowingly collect personal data that can directly identify anyone under the age of 16.”
Screenshots of HappyKids
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.
