Mobile App Manual Review under COPPA Rule: ‘Smash Diy Slime - Fidget Slimy’

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 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play 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).

Manually reviewed in this post

• Smash Diy Slime - Fidget Slimy (Google) Smash DIY SLIME - Fidget Slimy (Apple)

Reviewed by: Amanda Moody

The 10 COPPA Rule factors

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.

Manual Review: Smash Diy Slime - Fidget Slimy

Likely audience after manual review

• Developer: Brothers Apps and Games
• Bundle ID: ru.brothersappsandgames.smashdiyslimefidgetslimy
• Privacy Policy
• Emma’s take: An interactive sensory app with customizable colors, sounds, and selections, but filled with a number of overwhelming pop-up advertisements.
  
  

COPPA factors used to determine audience

and . and

Several of the reviews indicate that it is being used by children under 13 years of age. One reviewer said, “I highly recommend it, it's so so so fun that I have had it for over 3 years and now I am 10 years old. So if you haven't downloaded this app, do so now.” One parent does not recommend this game saying, “The game in my opinion is pretty dumb. But my 7 and 3 year old like to play it and it seemed like a kid game so I didn't think much of it. However! IF YOU HAVE LITTLES DON'T LET THEM PLAY THIS GAME!” Both of these reviews indicate that children are using this app. There were more reviews like these from parents indicating that their children under 13 were using the app.

 

 

During gameplay there were many pop-up ads. While I did not encounter any ads that would appeal to children, I found several ads to be based on my location and one advertisement to be more adult in nature that featured a TikTok video.

Privacy 

Screenshots of Smash Diy Slime:

About Pixalate’s Trust & Safety Advisory Board

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.