TibbloChildren's apps are covered by special rules in many places, such as COPPA in the United States, GDPR in Europe and KVKK in Turkey, and both Apple and Google have extra requirements for apps aimed at kids. Still, rules only help if they're followed. These checks take a few minutes and work on any app.
1. Read the privacy label
On the App Store, scroll to App Privacy. Apple groups data into three boxes:
- Data Used to Track You: shared with other companies for advertising or measurement. For a children's app, this box should be empty.
- Data Linked to You: tied to an account or identity.
- Data Not Linked to You: collected, but not tied to who you are.
The best answer is Data Not Collected. On Google Play, the same information is in the Data safety section: what is collected, what is shared, whether data is encrypted and whether you can ask for it to be deleted.
These labels are filled in by the developers themselves, so treat them as a strong hint rather than proof, and use the other checks too.
2. Does it need an account?
An account means a name, an email address or a login stored on someone's server. Many games for children don't need one at all. If an app asks a child to sign up, ask yourself what that account is for, and whether the game works without it.
3. Can your child talk to strangers?
Look for chat, friend lists, comments, user-made content or the ability to visit other players. Any of these means contact with people you don't know. For younger children, the simplest choice is a game with no social features at all.
4. Which permissions does it ask for?
Both iPhone and Android ask before an app can use the camera, microphone, location, contacts or photos. A good rule: the permission should match a feature you can see. A drawing app asking for photos makes sense. A puzzle game asking for your location doesn't. You can say no and change your mind later in Settings.
On iPhone, a pop-up asking to "allow tracking" comes from App Tracking Transparency. A children's app shouldn't need to ask it; tapping Ask App Not to Track is always safe.
5. Ads and analytics
Advertising and analytics tools are the most common reason a simple game collects device data. Check for a "Contains ads" label on Google Play, read the description, and see our guide to telling whether a game is ad-free.
6. Links out of the app
Buttons that open the web browser, social media or the store can take a child somewhere you didn't plan. Well-made kids' apps put a parent gate, a simple check a young child can't pass, in front of every link out and every purchase. Tap around the settings and "more" screens to see what happens.
7. Can you delete everything?
A trustworthy app explains how to delete its data, and it should be easy. Look in the app's settings and in the privacy policy for a section about deleting data or children. If it's hard to find, that tells you something too.
The checklist
- Privacy label: nothing under "Data Used to Track You", ideally "Data Not Collected".
- No account needed to play.
- No chat, friend lists or visits from other players.
- Permissions match visible features.
- No ads or third-party tracking.
- A parent gate before links out and purchases.
- A clear way to delete data.
For Tibblo we answered every point the simple way: no account, no ads, no analytics or tracking, no chat, and outside links only to support and privacy, behind a grown-up check. The pet's name is the only thing a child can type, and it stays on the device. The full details are in our privacy policy.