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 Apple 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.
Infant Zoo is a collection of interactive, virtual eggs for babies and toddlers to interact with. The app is designed to draw the attention of, soothe, and stimulate infants. Eggs are ‘hatched’ into a variety of different animals (including animals that do not hatch from eggs).
The app can be played in two modes to appeal to different abilities and growth stages. The ‘play’ mode is interactive, tapping from the user causes the egg to hatch and reveal the animal inside. The ‘watch’ mode is for younger infants where the egg automatically hatches without them needing to interact with the screen.
The contrasting colors help to attract the baby’s attention and provide stimulation. The ‘bubbles’ that float in the background further help stimulate and soothe a baby. The animations are very simple, with the animals doing simple movements, like bouncing. The ‘hatching’ of the egg is not an animation but rather animal features appearing on the egg, instantly transforming it into the body or face of the animal depicted.
There is music on the home screen that can be toggled on and off. However, the music does not continue once the game is started to allow focus on the sound effects rather than the music. Sound effects such as knocking from inside the egg and animal sounds after the egg has transformed, help stimulate the infant and encourage interaction when in ‘play’ mode.
There are no formal incentives within the game, reflecting the younger audience that the app is targeting. The ability to transform the eggs into animals is incentivizing for infants who can interact with the app.
There is no advertising within the app. The free version has a limited number of times that it can be played and then the user will need to purchase a subscription. Subscriptions can be purchased specifically for this app or a bundle subscription that gives access to this and other apps by the developer.
Infant Zoo is only available for iOS devices and is rated 4+ in the Apple App Store. The app description specifically states, “Infant Zoo is designed specifically for newborns and young babies.” This expected audience is also reflected in the app reviews, with most reviews being from parents expressing that they are using the app with their babies.
Privacy
According to the privacy policy, which was last updated on October 3, 2023, the app does not collect any information that tracks individual users. They acknowledge that children are the primary audience of their app and that there is no information required to use the app. They indicate that they only collect “anonymous aggregate data about visitors” to “know how people are using the app so we can add features and continue to make it better.”
Find Pixalate's full catalogue of reviews in our CTV and Mobile App Review Page
Screenshots of Infant Zoo: Games for Baby
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.
