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 game which is available 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.
Mr Bullet-Spy Puzzle is all about preciseness and understanding the composition of the puzzle layout. In the gameplay, players have to eliminate enemies to make it to the next level with a limited number of bullets. The plan is to use explosives, forceful impact, and shoot your enemy. Players need to aim their shots with perfection so that the bullets recoil to hit the enemy behind walls. Find your ideal direction, hit your enemy, and win each level like solving a puzzle using physics. The visual content and animation have simple 2D characters and environmental graphic design with cartoon violence that may not be appropriate for younger children. However, the game has child-oriented visuals and no age gate, so parents must monitor usage and ensure it is age-friendly.
Players can earn three stars by killing an enemy with a single bullet to unlock a new game level. When a level is completed players earn in-game cash to upgrade weapons, skin, and clothes.
The game is filled with advertisements after every level for other games such as, “Kick the Buddy fun action game.” These ads are child-directed with a mixed audience. There are banner advertisements throughout the game that are directed to a general audience, such as “K9-Advantix and Sensodyne.”
There is no age gate. The app does have in-app purchasing and in-game currency. It is rated T for Teens in the Google Play store and 12+ in the iOS store.
Privacy
The developer’s privacy policy states, “Services are not intended for use by children...aged 16 or higher…we do not knowingly collect personal information from children through the services or knowingly allow them to use our services.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Mr Bullet - Spy Puzzles
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.
