How to Check a Kids' App for Ads and Tracking Before You Install It
Two minutes on the store page and ten minutes watching with your kid tell you most of what a "free" kids' app is really doing. Here's what to look for.
By Justin Plute · · 2 min read
The story, when it finally turns up, is the thin part between the things that make money.
Hand a tablet to a four-year-old with a “free” story app on it and watch the first two minutes. I’ve done this more times than I’d like, usually at a family dinner, usually because someone needed ten quiet minutes. (The exception in our family: one Christmas I bought my brother’s kids Switch Lites, and they’ve played Mario Kart ever since. No ads, no padlocks, a game that’s just a game. That’s the bar.)
A video starts that isn’t the story. A button bounces and wants to be tapped. A castle appears with a padlock on it. Somewhere a timer counts down to a deal. The story, when it finally turns up, is the thin part between the things that make money.
I don’t think the people who make those apps are villains. That’s just how most free apps pay for themselves. The problem is that a four-year-old can’t tell the story from the sales, and the app is counting on that.
I’m writing this before our own app exists, on purpose, so it’s on the record.
What to check on the store page
Most of what you need is on the store page.
“Contains ads,” in small print near the price. If it says it, believe it.
“In-app purchases.” Fine in some apps. In an app for a three-year-old it means something is designed to be tapped by someone who can’t read “Buy.”
The privacy label. On the App Store it’s “App Privacy”; on Google Play, “Data safety.” If a story app for toddlers collects location, contacts, or advertising identifiers, ask what for.
Reviews that mention “my kid bought.” Search the reviews for “charged.” Parents warn each other.
What to watch in the first ten minutes
Sit with them for the first ten minutes, not to supervise the kid, to supervise the app. Does anything appear that isn’t the story? Can it be paused without a pop-up? Does it ask for a photo, a microphone, a name? When the story ends, what does it want next, another story or a purchase?
If it passes ten minutes with you watching, it’ll probably pass an afternoon without you.
Where we stand
We’re building one of these apps, so you should know what we’re holding ourselves to: no ads, ever; no tracking on anything a child uses; nothing built to be tapped by accident; the story is the whole app. An app with no ads gets paid for somehow, and we’ll say plainly how when the time comes. What we won’t do is make a child the product.
Justin Plute is the founder of StoryToons. He has no kids of his own and twenty-four nieces and nephews.
