Determining Your App's Age Group

Turbo Rush Entertainment is the creator of Brainless Behemoths, a zombie survival app available on the Meta Quest Store. Due to elements like minimal blood, crude humor, and suggestive themes… the app received a “T” content rating from the ESRB. That rating is similar to the 12 and up content rating assigned by the IARC.

Because Turbo Rush didn't intend for younger audiences to ever use their app, Brainless Behemoths does not have an age gate and does not collect user age.

But, after reviewing Meta's policies, they need to make sure the app isn't unintentionally child-directed. So even though Brainless Behemoths is designed for a more mature audience, the team reviews the FTC's criteria for determining if an app is considered child-directed under COPPA.

After reviewing the criteria and their app's subject matter, tone, and visual content, the team decides that their app's intended age group is a general audience, teens and adults ages 13 and up.

Finally, Turbo Rush reviews Meta's requirements and determines that since their app is for teens and adults ages 13 and up, they do not need to implement a User Age Group API.

DreamTech published their social VR app, NebulaVerse, on the Meta Quest Store.

NebulaVerse provides a tailored experience to users based on their age. To do this, and ensure their users are in age-appropriate experiences, NebulaVerse collects user age.

Because the content varies, it's not always suitable for everyone. NebulaVerse received a “T” content rating, which means the ESRB considers the content to be suitable for teens ages 13 and older. But, DreamTech built their app to deliver a variety of experiences... not just for users aged 13 and older.

So before DreamTech self-certifies the age group their app is intended for, their legal team reviews the FTC's guidelines to determine if the FTC would consider NebulaVerse to be directed to children under 13. They conclude that some app elements such as the tone, style, and characters would be considered child-directed, so COPPA does apply to NebulaVerse.

Then, DreamTech reviews Meta's requirements and determines that because their app is intended for users ages 10 to 12 and 13 and up, they need to self-certify as “mixed ages”.

That means DreamTech also needs to integrate one of Meta's User Age Group APIs. The team selects the Report Age Category API since their app already collects user age data. If NebulaVerse didn't already have an age gate, they would simply choose the Get Age Category API instead.

MysticWeave Studios just published their new single-player fantasy game, Sorcerer's Solitude, to App Lab.

Because the ESRB gives their app an “E” content rating, MysticWeave Studios decides they should self-certify that their app is intended for Mixed Ages, which they interpret to mean “everyone.” The app does not collect any user age data, so they don't have a definitive understanding of the actual age range of their users.

So, to confirm their decision before self-certifying, the team rereads the document Determining Your App's Age Group. Then, they take the course Completing Age Group Self-Certification.

After review, MysticWeave Studios realizes that they should not rely on the ESRB's rating alone to identify their app's intended age group.

Looking for more information on how to identify their app's age group, the team reviews the FTC's guidelines for COPPA, and when content is considered to be directed to children. They learn that based on factors like content, tone, style, and characters… Sorcerer's Solitude would likely not be considered “child-directed,” regardless of whether it's suitable for children.

After their evaluation, MysticWeave determines that they did not affirmatively design their app for children ages 10 to 12. So, they self-certify that their app is for a general audience, teens & adults ages 13 and up.

The developer team at WhimsicalGames is planning to build a learning-based app inspired by a popular children's cartoon, Whimsy the Willow Tree. They want to distribute their app on the Meta Quest Store.

The team knows they are building for a younger audience, so they must make sure their young users are accessing age-appropriate content and can enjoy the app safely.

So, WhimsicalGames prioritizes safety from the earliest stages of development. They take time to understand the necessary Platform and regulatory requirements… including the FTC's criteria for child-directed apps and their responsibilities under COPPA. Because their app is for children under 13, they'll review the age-based feature limitations of the Platform SDK in the documentation before filling out their Data Use Checkup.

Since the developer team is designing their app specifically for kids, the company will self-certify their app for children ages 10 to 12 during App Submission.