Children and Child-Directed Apps
Guidance on children and child-directed apps for LevelPlay legal compliance.
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In this article, we explain how mobile apps can apply settings applicable to children and child-directed apps, as required by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), and Google Play’s "Designed For Families" program. When a publisher adds a new app to the ironSource platform, or at any time while using the ironSource platform, the publisher must inform ironSource if the app is directed to children, as required by applicable law, and as explained in this article. As a publisher, you are responsible for:
- Evaluating your apps, and determining if they are child-directed
- Correctly flagging your apps as child-directed on your LevelPlay dashboard, and setting the COPPA SDK Functionality, as further explained below
- Ensuring that your apps comply with applicable laws
How to flag apps as not directed to children
If your app is not directed to children, as defined by COPPA, you should choose the “not directed to children” flag in the dashboard. In this case, you can still use the COPPA SDK Functionality to flag specific devices for compliance with applicable laws. If the app is primarily directed to children (as defined by the COPPA), the publisher should flag the app in its dashboard as follows. This flag will apply to all end-users of the app. Also, the flag will apply only with respect to ironSource’s own ad network, and will not have an effect on any third-party ad network. Refer to the following information regarding ironSource Mediation. If you choose to use the auto-setup feature of ironSource Mediation across additional networks, such networks’ COPPA settings of the relevant app will be updated automatically. However, it is your responsibility to check that such additional networks were configured correctly. Note that for all apps that participate in the Designed for Families program of Google Play, the publisher must flag each of those apps as child-directed on the ironSource platform, and follow the ironSource Designed for Family SDK instructions as detailed here.How to flag an app as child-directed
If the app is primarily directed to children (as defined by COPPA), the publisher should flag the app in its dashboard with the “Primarily Directed to Children” flag. This flag will apply to all end-users of the app. Also, the flag will apply only with respect to ironSource’s own ad network, and will not have an effect on any third-party ad network. Refer to the following information regarding ironSource Mediation. If you choose to use the auto-setup feature of ironSource Mediation across additional networks, such networks’ COPPA settings of the relevant app will be updated automatically. However, it is your responsibility to check that such additional networks were configured correctly. Note that for all apps that participate in the Designed for Families program of Google Play, and/or appear in the “Family” section of Google Play or in the Apple App Store’s Kids Category, the publisher must flag each of those apps as child-directed on the ironSource platform and follow the ironSource Designed for Family SDK Functionality instructions as detailed here.How to flag a specific end-user as a child
If you would like to apply settings applicable to children with respect to a specific user, as may be required by applicable laws, or if the app is partially, but not primarily, directed to children under COPPA (sometimes called a mixed-audience app), and has implemented an age gate, then the publisher should flag the app as a “Mixed Audience” app in its dashboard (refer to the following screenshot). In this case, the publisher must use COPPA SDK Functionality to flag whether a specific end-user is a child below the age of 13, 16 or other ages depending on the applicable laws (or another age as applicable to the publisher and app), or not.
How to comply with Google Play’s Designed for Families program
Apps that participate in Google Play’s Designed for Families program, or appear in the “Family” section of Google Play, must be flagged as child-directed on the ironSource platform. In addition, make sure you configure these additional settings for child-directed apps:ironSource collection and use of data from a child-directed app
For an app that is flagged as a “Primarily Directed to Children” app on the ironSource dashboard or for a specific end-user flagged as a child via the COPPA SDK Functionality, ironSource will apply the following restrictions:- We use and share the data that we collect (including the advertising ID and IP address) from a child-directed app only to serve contextual ads, for frequency capping, for fraud prevention, and for other activities to support our internal operations or the internal operations of the app, as permitted by the COPPA and other applicable regulations. In addition, we support the Google Play’s “Designed For Families” program requirements for publishers who have followed the ironSource Designed for Family SDK Functionality instructions (as detailed above). To prevent the collection of Advertising ID on Android devices, follow the instructions set forth above under “How to comply with Google Play’s Designed for Families program”. For iOS devices, you can control the collection of the Advertising ID by the App Tracking Transparency mechanism.
- We will not share persistent identifiers with third party external bidders such as DSPs, SSPs, exchanges, and marketplaces, except if specifically directed by the publisher for support for internal operations as defined by the COPPA.
- We will not deliver survey ads or other campaigns that ask, prompt, encourage, or enable end-users to disclose personal information.
ironSource Mediation and child-directed apps
ironSource SDK offers a client-side API to allow publishers to “flag” specific end-users as children (referenced above as the ironSource COPPA SDK Functionality). Note that mediated apps that are “Primarily Directed to Children” must use the API if they would like to communicate to supported networks the status of the end-user. Such apps should use the API to flag all end users as children under 13, 16 or other ages depending on the applicable laws. Below is a list of SDK networks which currently support the API. For SDK networks that are not listed in the below table, you should contact them directly for information on how to properly flag end-users as children. Note that if you choose to use the auto-setup feature of ironSource Mediation across additional networks, such networks’ COPPA settings of the relevant app will be updated automatically. However, it is your responsibility to check that such additional networks were configured correctly.Network | Supported adapter version | Flag |
|---|---|---|
| ironSource | 7.1.0 (SDK) | is_child_directed |
| AdMob | 4.3.11 (SDK 6.14.0) / 4.3.9 / 4.3.12 | AdMob_TFCD / AdMob_TFUA |
| AppLovin | 4.3.15 (SDK 6.17.1) | AppLovin_AgeRestrictedUser |
| Chartboost | 4.3.19 (SDK 8.4.0) | Chartboost_COPPA |
| InMobi | 4.3.14 (SDK 7.2.1) | inMobi_AgeRestricted |
| Mintegral | 4.3.12 (SDK 7.2.4.1) | Mintegral_COPPA |
| Pangle | 4.1.5 (SDK 6.17.1) | Pangle_COPPA |
| Tapjoy | 4.1.19 (SDK 7.2.1) | Tapjoy_coppa |
| UnityAds | 4.3.15 (SDK 7.1.12) | UnityAds_coppa |
| Vungle | 4.3.15 (SDK 7.2.0) | Vungle_coppa |
| Yahoo | 4.3.0 (SDK 7.1.12.1) | Yahoo_coppa |
App developers under the age of 13
ironSource’s terms and conditions prohibit app developers who are under age 13 from using our services as our customers.For more information, see:
- ironSource US state privacy laws
- ironSource SDK implementations under the GDPR
- Apple’s app privacy questionnaire
- Google’s Data Safety Questionnaire