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.
Unicorn Diary (lock - PIN) assists in recording your feelings over time. In the diary, you can compose your day-to-day thoughts and recollections. All of the data can be stored with a secret password and safeguarded with a lock. The subject matter in the “About this app,” says, “This journal with a lock is suitable for kids and teenagers...this daily journal app for girls is very customizable.” There is gameplay within the diary app such as puzzles, memory, and block games. It is available online and offline. The visual content and animation have a vibrant design with aesthetically pleasing wallpaper, charming stickers to match your day, cool avatars, and a fun unicorn comic. Overall, the app is geared towards children and offers a space for expression and creativity.
Once the app is downloaded advertisements show up such as “TEMU.” Once you enter a note in the diary, advertisements such as “American Express Business,” pop up. In the banner below while the diary app is open, ads like “Etsy and Lightbox,” are displayed. If someone wants to play a game within the app, there are advertisements that one has to watch such as, “Robokiller,” a phone spam app. These advertisements are directed to a general audience.
The app is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play store. There is no age gate but there are in-app purchases. A review posted in April of 2021 on the Google Play store says, “So far I like everything…I’m going to suggest this to my daughter.” The review does not specify age.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy states”does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age…does not direct any interest-based advertising to children under the age of 13 years of age.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Unicorn Diary (lock - PIN)
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.
