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, Samsung Smart TV App 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 Roku Channel Store, Samsung Smart TV App Store and Amazon Fire TV 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.
Super Maze is a one-player gameplay where a player has to move a ball through a puzzle block maze making every part of the maze change the color of each square into one color until the whole maze has changed. The mazes are different each level and can be harder than others. Even though the game has no time limit there is a timer to show how long it takes to complete. The visual content has bright colorful puzzle graphics. In the category section on the Roku app, the language states, “Kids & Family,” which shows that the intended audience is child-directed in a mixed audience.
When using Samsung, advertisements, such as political ads, directed to a general audience are played. The ads are played before the start of the game and when you lose or skip.
There is no age gate. Once searched on the Samsung, Roku, and Fire TV app, it is available to download and use without a subscription. Samsung and Fire TV are located in the Games category. The Roku store, is located under Kids & Family.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states, “We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13...no personal information should be submitted or posted through the Services by users under the age of 13…we use different methods to collect personal information from and about you…direct interactions…automated technologies…and share aggregated data.” Their policy for kids states, “Protecting children’s privacy is especially important to us…we use Ikeepsafe’s COPPA…collects the minimal amount of information from children necessary to use our services.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Super Maze
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.
