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 & Apple App Stores. 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.
Pet Doll is the pet version of the popular Unnie and Oppa doll apps. Players can build their pet avatars, choosing from numerous animal features including tails and ears. Like with the Unnie and Oppa doll apps, there are plenty of different clothing and accessory options to customize the dolls. The style of the dolls and their customizations are very child-like with plenty of bows, hearts, and even school uniforms to choose from.
After a user saves the dolls they have created, scenes can be designed featuring the dolls. Users can add decorative items around the dolls and build their own unique backdrop to play with the dolls. Many of the items that can be placed are very cartoonesque and dream-like, appealing primarily to children.
Background music plays softly while playing the game, as well as sound effects each time an item is added or a button is pressed within the game. The constant sound effects help to encourage children to continue to interact with the app.
There are no incentives within this app. The creation of dolls and the building of scenes for the dolls encourage creative play amongst children without the need for incentives.
The advertising is where this app strays from child-directed. There are numerous video ads that play at random points while using the app. This is not a game in the traditional sense, with levels and natural transition points for advertisements. Due to this the advertisements just pop up out of the blue when the app is open (and quite often). There are also banner ads that are often shown across the top of the screen and additional video advertisements can be viewed to unlock customization items.
The advertisements are primarily for general audiences, with occasional child-directed advertisements. However, there are also some advertisements for dating apps and role-playing apps with mature content. While the app itself might be appropriate and appealing to children, the advertisements are not all child-friendly.
Despite the mature advertisements mentioned above, this app is rated E for Everyone in the US Google Play Store, PEGI 3 in the European Google Play Stores, and 4+ in the Apple App Store. While the app description doesn’t specifically mention a targeted age range, the language within the description hints at a child-directed audience. Phrases like “Your pet will be the most adorable character in the world” are more appealing to children than adults.
Reviews reflect a mixed audience with reviews written by both adults and children, as well as parents writing about their children using the app.
Privacy
The privacy policy, which was last updated on July 31, 2024, does not specifically mention children in any capacity. It does indicate that the developers use targeted advertising and utilize third parties to collect advertising, analytical, and device data. The developers themselves also collect IP addresses and information about how a user is interacting with the game. The developers and third parties “combine and share data we have collected.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Pet doll
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.
