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.
Make It Fly! gameplay is straightforward game based on flying aircraft features and performance. Players must get their aircraft full force with a swipe like a slingshot to complete a mission which gets more complicated as you progress through the game. Players will have to build their aircraft before each level. The objective is to get to the finish line with what you built. The visual content and animation have simple 3D graphics that have characteristics of child-oriented visuals. It is a challenging and casual game that can help improve focus and concentration.
Some advertisements are shown when a player fails a level or moves to another level and these ads are child-directed with a mixed audience, such as “Candy Crush Saga, Township, and Royal Match.” While playing the game advertisements are showing in the background environment, for example, “Shipt and Gut Health Gummies,” which are directed to a general audience.
Players can earn coins with each launch of their aircraft to the finish line to unlock upgrades.
There is no age gate and it does have in-app purchasing. It is rated T for Teens in the Google Play store and 12+ in the iOS store.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “We are aware of the obligation imposed on us to especially protect personal data obtained from children. Therefore we shall not collect data from children under 16 years of age without a legal guardian’s prior consent.” The developer also states, “We may process some of the following information about you…information provided by you when using the games…information you provide voluntarily such as avatar, username, email address, name, nickname, and other details to process your inquiries…information collected for advertisements, providing analytics, and information collected from our trusted partners.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Make It Fly!
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.
