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 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.
The game aims to rescue cute pets by clearing enough blocks to drop them to the bottom of the screen. Rather than being a match-three game, this one requires the player to tap on clusters of colored blocks to remove them. This is more straightforward than a match-three game and would be easier for children to access.
Although this game seems aimed at a younger audience, the app has an age gate that requires the user’s date of birth. Minors are not allowed to proceed past this, and I had to reinstall the app to gain access to the app. The apps are rated PEGI 3 in the Google Play Store, and 4+ in the Apple Store.
As expected, the levels become more complex as you progress through the game. Additional motivation comes in the form of gold bars which can be used to buy lives, boosters, and unlocks. Each completed level is awarded a star level out of three, which fills up your piggy bank with gold bars. Each level has targets to achieve and there appears to be no limit to the number of times you can attempt a level.
The game has the option to add other users as friends, but these appear to be random people who are also playing the game. It is possible to sign in with email Facebook, or a King Games account.
There are also daily rewards that can be claimed by logging in daily.
Privacy:
The King Games Privacy Policy has a section dedicated to children, stating that users must be over a certain age to access their games, depending on where they live. In the U.S.A. this means they must be 13 or over.
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Pet Rescue Saga
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.
