New app for marathon runners
Friday, November 1, 2019 by Richard Harris
New York Road Runners in collaboration with its title sponsor, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), launched the official race app for this year’s TCS New York City Marathon. With its extensive enhancements, the award-winning app creates a best-in-class experience for runners and spectators at the world’s most technologically advanced marathon, occurring on Nove...
FTC extends comment deadline on COPPA Rule
Tuesday, October 22, 2019 by Freeman Lightner
The Federal Trade Commission is extending the deadline to submit comments on the effectiveness of the amendments the agency made to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule) in 2013 and whether additional changes are needed. The deadline was originally October 23, 2019; it is now December 9, 2019.
The FTC announced that it would accep...
CARU refers Musical.ly to FTC
Monday, April 30, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
The Children’s Advertising Review Unit has referred The Musical.ly Inc., operator of the Musical.ly mobile application, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), after the company said it would not comply with CARU’s recommendations regarding children’s privacy.CARU is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. CARU monitors websites and...
72M data points collected on children in spite of COPPA
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 by Richard Harris
New research released shows that adult ad technology is collecting vast amounts of personal data on kids while they’re spending time online. Behind the scenes of many kids apps and games, advertising technology built for adults captures more than 72 million data points on a child before they reach the age of 13. The findings were provided by SuperAwesome.SuperAwesome’s ...
Four privacy questions every developer needs to answer
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 by Morgan Reed
Over the past twelve months, the internet-connected doll My Friend Cayla went from one of the hottest toys of the holiday season to an internationally-classified "espionage device." The doll was the subject of an FBI warning, banned from sale or ownership in Germany, and eventually dropped from every major retailer in the United States. Despite the nearly universally hi...
Creating Apps for Kids What It Means to be COPPA Compliant
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 by Gai Havkin
A cute little interface and amazing content is often thought to be the right recipe for a killer app for kids. No doubt these are the main ingredients, but in order to have an app that’ll truly make it in the long run, a developer must be very thoughtful regarding the app’s monetization strategy AND genuine kid-friendliness - not only in interface and content - but also...
Windows Dev Center Rolls Out New Age Rating Process and Other Updates
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 by Richard Harris
The Windows Dev Team is rolling out several updates for how developers work within the Windows Dev Center including a new age rating system, new app promotion and monetization opportunities and updates to the Windows developer agreementNew Simplified Age Rating ProcessIn December Microsoft will begin the rollout of a new process to simplify obtaining age ratings for app...
Microsoft Streamlines Windows Developer Ad Options
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
The Windows Dev Center team has announced that it finished integrating the functionality previously available in the Windows pubCenter in order to simplify the process that developers use to create, manage and track Microsoft advertising ad impressions and revenue across Windows phone, tablet and PC. In addition, Microsoft Advertising and Windows ad mediation have ...
Microsoft Provides Windows COPPA Support for App Advertising to Kids
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
Microsoft is releasing COPPA support in its Dev Center to help developers define how to manage ads in apps whose primary audience is children.Beginning in September, developers can indicate if their app targets children under 13 as defined in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If a developer selects this option, Microsoft will disable its behavioral a...
Playrific Introduces Playrific 2.0 B2B Mobile Publishing, Data and App Creation Platform
Monday, December 1, 2014 by Richard Harris
Playrific, publishers of popular kids' apps introduces Playrific 2.0, a new B2B mobile publishing, data and app creation platform today. The launch involves its patent-pending platform offering in which partner brands can access real-time COPPA-compliant intelligence to involve faster, fully targeted consumer communities. Playrific currently has been funded with $4...
New Regulations to Protect Kids Is Driving Change In the Mobile App Industry
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
The European Commission is reporting that Google has agreed to change the way it designates free apps. This is following what the Commission has said have been a large number of complaints in EU countries concerning in-app purchases in online games and in particular, inadvertent purchases by children.According to a recent EU commission announcement, “Google has dec...
AgeCheq COPPA Compliance Service SDK Now Available for Corona Labs 2D Game Engine
Wednesday, June 18, 2014 by Stuart Parkerson
AgeCheq has announced a new Corona software development kit which provides the ability to integrate AgeCheq’s COPPA compliance service to all apps that use the Corona Labs 2D game engine. With AgeCheq, game publishers who may have children under 13 in their audience can comply with COPPA privacy regulations by using the SDK to add a few lines of code to their game....
IoT meets VR: The Next Concern Over Mobile Privacy
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 by Adam Grant
In the beginning of this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it seemed as if every sponsor and vendor was introducing a product that demonstrated a deep commitment to mobile technology and its interaction with the “Internet of Things.” Clearly, 2014 appeared to be the year mobile technology would move from a consumer’s interaction only with th...
App Law and Which Way I Ought To Go From Here
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 by Adam Grant
On March 21, the FTC issued a press release that caused me
to reflect on a certain piece of famous literature I read as a child. As I read
the press release, I thought about Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic, Alice in Wonderland, and how it could
provide guidance to mobile app developer’s when considering how the law
regulates a child’s use of an app. Lewis
wrote t...
Get and Stay Fit for 2014! Top 3 New Year’s Resolutions for Mobile App Developers
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 by Dale Carr
It’s that time of year when we look back at our accomplishments as well
as some lessons learned, and recommit to doing our best in the New Year. Mobile app developers faced industry-wide
challenges in 2013 (from stricter COPPA regulation to Google's Ban of Push Notifications ), sparking many to re-think their marketing
and monetization strategie...
From Lemonade and Lucy to COPPA and Cookies
Sunday, December 8, 2013 by Adam Grant
On July 1, 2013, the Child Online Privacy Protection Policy
(“COPPA”) dramatically altered how we think about cookies
Growing up as children in the US, our first taste of
commerce involved selling lemonade in front of our house on a sweltering summer
day, or wondering what justified the hefty price of 5 cents Lucy charged
Charlie Brown for psychiatr...
App Developer Magazine Developer Spotlight Wasabi Productions
Sunday, November 3, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
As part of our series of in-depth interviews with app developers, we recently sat down with Wasabi Productions, a children’s digital publisher.
ADM - Who are your key members?Wasabi - Graham Nunn, Creative Director and Co-Founder; Amy Friedlander , VP Marketing & Strategy, Co-Founder; and Chaz Heitner, Financial Director, Co Founder.
ADM - How lo...
What Is The Apps Act of 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013 by Adam Grant
In January 2013, the California
Attorney General issued a report
entitled, Privacy on the Go;
Recommendations for the Mobile
Ecosystem. In the very next month,
the Federal Trade Commission
issued its own report, Mobile
Privacy Disclosures; Building Trust
Through Transparency.
Finally, Congress is talking about
the country’s concerns over privacy
and is consid...
Microsoft Changes App Developer App Age Rating Process
Tuesday, September 24, 2013 by Richard Harris
App Developers whose apps target children or may be used by children have faced a whirlwind year full of COPPA compliance, Apple revisions and more. Today, Microsoft has changed/updated its age rating process for kids.
The main changes include how developers provide age rating information and how incorporating rating board information will be handled in the future. The...
iOS App Rejected = App Developer Dejected: App Store Guidelines Updated
Saturday, August 17, 2013 by Stuart Parkerson
The word is out, Apple has updated its App Store Guidelines. We counted and the word “rejected” appears 88 times, whew!
Actually, its not as bad as it seems, most of the information seems pretty straightforward, however one item did catch my eye: “Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, b...
App Developer News Weekly Roundup for The Week of August 9th, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013 by Richard Harris
From the Editors DeskHello everyone! It's been a great week in mobile and we've got lots to share with you! The August issue is here officially so be sure and check it out if you haven't already. We have been getting alot of great feedback from the developer community and it's much appreciated! Top Stories for the week of 8/10/2013Easier to Do: Find Bigfo...
App Developers and COPPA: A Review of the FTC’s Six Step Compliance Plan
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 by Richard Harris
On July 1, 2013, the FTC’s Child Online Privacy Protection Policy (COPPA) went into affect, changing forever the landscape for app developers whose apps have users 13 and under.The FTC stance seems to be that they will rigorously enforce the act, which means that app developers with users in the US need to ensure they are in compliance, if COPPA applies to their app.&nb...
August 2013 Issue 3 is Here!
Saturday, August 3, 2013 by Richard Harris
We are proud to announce the latest issue of App Developer Magazine is now available here on our website, and publishing tomorrow on mobile. This issue contains so much content my head is still hurting from editing and proofing, but it's worth the read! Everything from cheap marketing tactics to Coppa, to the future of Phonegap and using game offers for app moneti...
FTC released amendments to COPPA
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 by Richard Harris
The Federal Trade Commission adopted final amendments to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule that strengthen kids’ privacy protections and give parents greater control over the personal information that websites and online services may collect from children under 13. The FTC initiated a review in 2010 to ensure that the COPPA Rule keeps up with evolving t...
FTC comes down hard on developers and markets
Monday, December 10, 2012 by Richard Harris
I can't say that I blame em - but they sure gave just about anyone in the mobile developer world a rattle today with harsh words over kids privacy when it comes to mobile apps.In a new 2012 survey that compares to last years it shows little has been done to protect the privacy of children while using apps found on mobile devices.The site inside social activity from gami...
