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 Google Play & Apple App Stores. 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.
Stupid Zombies 3 has a simple setup: each level is populated with zombies which need to be taken out. The player has a limited number of shots per level, and the bullets will ricochet off platforms, walls, and the ceiling. The player can hold down a finger on the screen to preview where the shot will go before letting it fly. The animation style is similar to that of Plants v Zombies, another mobile app that is popular across a mixed-age range. At the end of each level, a rating out of 3 stars is awarded, with the chance to replay to achieve a higher rating. The game is straightforward and the gameplay is easily understood and accessible by children as well as adults.
Stupid Zombies 3 has over 9000 ratings on the App Store. The written reviews appear to have been posted by both adults and children, judging by the style of writing and vocabulary used.
Privacy Policy:
The developer's Privacy Policy is fairly comprehensive and details the different categories of information which are gathered and how that information is dealt with. However, there is only a small paragraph dedicated to children’s privacy and they simply state that they do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Screenshots of Stupid Zombies 3:
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.
