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 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.
Sneaky Sasquatch is only available on the Apple App Store as part of their Arcade offering. Arcade is a premium subscription for an additional fee. These games are advert-free. Sneaky Sasquatch is a huge storyline game that follows a friendly Sasquatch around a campsite in a National Park. The user needs to find food and drinks by foraging in bins and stealing from the coolboxes of campers. However, he must stay out of the sight of humans or park rangers, or else he will be removed back to his cabin. The storyline progresses to finding pieces of an old map, which once found will lead to treasure to save the Park. Over time the game expands so Sasquatch can dress in different outfits, allowing them to work in an office building or as a police officer. He can also extend his cabin, buy cars go skiing, or play golf. Since its launch in 2019, Sneaky Sasquatch has received several large expansions, bringing in new locations and storylines. The game is huge and has plenty to do for both adults and children.
There are many incentives in place that keep the game interesting and with targets to work towards. The player can earn cash which Sasquatch can use to expand his cabin, buy a car or clothes, or go to the supermarket for food. There are several outfits which are available to dress Sasquatch in. This means he can pass as a human or park ranger and move around without raising suspicion. The storyline keeps developing from one big story to the next, from saving the Park from the clutches of a bad businessman to working as an honorary detective to find who polluted the lake. The storylines are all engaging and wholesome, with nothing that might frighten young children. The constant development and expansion provide strong motivation to keep playing.
The animation is colorful and fun. Sasquatch is a friendly character with humorous eating habits. He has several animal friends including ducks and a pet dog. The game has no voice actors and instead uses speech bubbles and subtitles to get the message across. This is the only aspect that makes the gameplay tricky for younger children who cannot read yet. My son got around this issue by having me read all the words for him! Other than this, the game is accessible and fun for all ages to play.
Privacy:
The Developer’s website has a fairly brief Privacy Policy which contains a short paragraph discussing their approach to children’s privacy. The provisions state that they comply with “all applicable privacy laws and regulations concerning children” but don’t go into detail about how they do this. They go on to say that they will endeavor to delete any information that has been inadvertently collected from children under 13.
Screenshots of Sneaky Sasquatch
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.
