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 game (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).
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.
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The gameplay screenshots for Word Wow - Brain Training Fun include images of childlike animals and models that would appeal to children when creating your player. The app store description says, “Fun for everyone if you like fun puzzle games. ” The language would also appeal to children and adults.
During gameplay, there are numerous advertisements that are displayed at the top and bottom of the page while completing puzzles and word games. The ads are, "Instant Ink, Redecor and Audible”. This advertising would appeal to a general adult audience.
This game is rated E for Everyone in the Google Play Store and 4+ in the Apple store. There is no age gate. The app shows evidence that children use the app. In August 2022, a reviewer said, “Fun alone or with grandkids, Great tool to help/encourage spelling.” The review was by a grandparent but no age was specified for the grandkids.
Privacy:
The developer’s privacy policy was last updated in May 2022. The policy states, “ We do not knowingly contact or do business with children under 13 years of age. Please advise us if you become aware so that we may rectify the situation.”
Screenshots of Word Wow:
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.
