Pixalate's COPPA Manual Reviews: ‘Thief Puzzle: to pass a level’

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 and 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).

Manually reviewed in this post

Thief Puzzle: to pass a level (Google) Thief Puzzle: to pass a level (Apple)

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.

Reviewed by: Crystal Pearson

Manual Review: Thief Puzzle: to pass a level

Likely audience after manual review

Developer: Peak (Google), Peak Games (Apple)
Google Bundle ID: net.peakgames.toonblast
Apple Bundle ID: 1176027022
Privacy Policy
Data Protection
Crystal’s Take: A fun and exhilarating game that uses stick figure visuals and revolves around pinching items from others such as briefcases, jewelry, money keys, etc.

COPPA factors used to determine audience

and and and

The gameplay screenshots for Thief Puzzle: to pass a level show that the content is visually directed to a mixed audience that is child-directed based on the animated characters, such as the cute stick figure characters and images. The animated characters and images are simple but appealing and look like kids have drawn them. The app is geared towards keeping the player engaged in the humorous gameplay which helps the player think on their feet and challenge the player's mind. The music has upbeat and brisk background music and sound effects. The description in the “about this game" section of the Play Store states, “fun for all ages…. With simple control and humorous gameplay, thief puzzle is perfect for all ages. For players who love puzzle games and escape games.” The subject matter would suggest that this game appeals to children and adults.

The incentive of the game is to become a master thief and steal the item you want but don’t get caught. Hitting an object or person will end the game. It is a pleasurable game with easy to difficult levels of puzzles to solve to get your hand on the items or treasures.

There are continuous amounts of advertisements at each level including, 2248 Puzzle, toilet rush race, and TikTok to name a few. Advertisements are shown continuously at the bottom of the game such as paramount tv+. The ads are geared more toward a general audience.

The game is rated E for Everyone in the Google play store and 12+ in the Apple Store. There is no age gate but you can avoid the ad by playing offline. Even though it is entertaining, this game may not be suitable due to its nature of behavior and objective of the game. Parents may or may not want to expose their children to pilfering. There is evidence that children use the app. A review posted in September of 2022 in the Google Play store says, “Great game to play and my grandkids like it as well.” The grandparent did not specify the age in the review.

A review in the iOS store posted in December of 2022 says, “I really love this game and I’m only eight.”

Privacy:

The developer’s privacy policy states, “Your personal data may be stored for the duration of 3 years… You have a right or access and erasure concerning the processing of your personal data. " The app does not have a COPPA policy or any form of children’s policy in the legal notice or data protection policy.

Screenshots of Thief Puzzle: to pass a level:

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.