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. 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.
Starfall is an engaging and fun learning app for kids to learn using interactive activities that encourage kids to read, learn math, and write to support their literacy progress. The app is broken down into sections, such as English, math, and language arts which features songs, videos, games, and sources for math and reading. The gameplay consists of whimsical characters, and engaging instructions, in which the activities build on each other from simple to more advanced. The app is kid-centric and easy to navigate which makes children the target audience. The age of the model characters in the app is from preschool to 10 years old. The subject matter and language in the, about this app section, says, “...kids learn about letter recognition, phonics, and reading…preschool to fifth grade.” which shows that it is directed to children. The visual content and animation are bright and colorful with cartoon-like graphic design. It can be played on or offline. The learning possibilities with this app assist children in improving their phonics skills, learning concepts, and improving their engagement in content-driven activities.
There is no age gate. The app is free with in-app purchases to unlock other categories. The app is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store and rated 4+ in the iOS store. A review posted in February of 2020 with no age specification on the Google Play store says, “My daughter learned to read using this program and she still loves it.” In February of 2024, a review posted said, “My kid learns a bunch. She learns a bunch of things as she gets bigger and bigger when she turns 7.” Another review posted in October 2019 in the iOS store says, “My 6-year-old daughter has this app and she loves to use it.”
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “Do not ask for children's personal information or track children’s progress.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Starfall
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.
