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.
Royal Match is a typical match 3 gameplay where players create matches of identical colored tiles of at least three or more until they vanish. Players move to each level by completing the objectives set for that level. The visual content and the animation have colorful eye-catching graphics which are child-directed. The scenery of the palace has visually appealing themes, customization, and styles that let players put their own spin on the layout. It can be played for quick entertainment or long commutes.
The incentive is to finish each level and earn stars because they are significant for completing tasks and improving territorial areas. Players also acquire coins after each level to purchase boosters and extra moves. It helps the king create a more royal castle.
It is free with no advertisements.
The app is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and rated 4+ in the iOS store. The app has no age gate. Even though the app is free to play there is in-app purchasing within the game, such as extra lives and power-ups.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, ”we do not intend to or collect personal data from children.
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Royal Match
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.
