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Report claims Apple's App Store age rating system doesn't provide enough child protection after Research conducted during the day has shown that a significant proportion of apps considered appropriate for children actually pose a risk.
Apple has various systems and mechanisms in place to make using an iPhone, iPad or Mac relatively safe for children. Parental controls can limit the age ranges of apps that can be used on a child’s device, among other features.
However, for these restrictions to be truly useful, the apps themselves need to be rated correctly. A joint report from the Heat Initiative and ParentsTogether Action suggests that ratings don’t do enough.
The report tasked the researcher with reviewing as many apps as possible over a 24-hour period. It also paid particular attention to apps in categories that had a history of apparent safety risks presented to children, including beauty, chat, diet and weight loss, internet sharing, and gaming apps.
About 800 apps were reviewed during this period, but more than 200 were deemed to have “concerning content or features” and were still aimed at children. For example, while chat apps were typically rated 17+, with only a few rated as being aimed at children, other categories such as weight loss were often rated as being aimed at ages 4+.
“This indicates that Apple's rating system is missing not only individual apps in risky, adult-oriented categories, but entire categories of potential harm,” the report said.
The risky apps included 25 chat apps with a combined download count of 37 million, including apps that connected with strangers, anonymous chat apps, and chat apps powered by artificial intelligence. The report also found that one of the kids’ chat apps was “nothing short of pedophile,” according to users.
There were 40 unfiltered internet access apps in the group with a combined download count of 291 million. Among those apps were some that advertised the ability to bypass school filters by providing access to restricted sites.
Beauty and body-related apps made up 75 of the risky apps, including those encouraging 20-hour fasts and calorie goals at the fasting level.
52 gaming apps were found to have risky elements, with some offering “XXXSpicy” features including challenges such as running. Others were deemed to be violent video games, with players pretending to be murderers and drug dealers.
A Questionable Process
Part of the problem, according to the report, is how Apple actually handles its age rating process. Instead of relying on a third-party rating system like the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), Apple instead relies on developers to fill out a questionnaire about the content of an app, which is then used as the basis for the rating.
The report says it is “unclear” whether Apple takes any other steps on the issue, whether different criteria are used, or whether Apple confirms the age rating after an app is published.
Additionally, the report accuses Apple of shirking responsibility when it “promises families to create a safe App Store environment.” Apple is accused of shifting legal responsibility to the developer and hiding from liability.
“If your app is rated incorrectly, customers may be surprised by what they get, or it may trigger an investigation by government regulators,” the report cites paragraph 2.3.6 of Apple’s app review guidelines.
Call for a Solution
Both organizations believe there are a number of areas where Apple should improve its processes to “keep its most vulnerable users safe.”
First, they insist that Apple should “establish independent third-party review and verification of apps’ age ratings before they are made available to children on the Apple App Store. This would entail the use of experts on a panel, similar to the ESRB’s process for game sales.
The proposal makes sense to a certain extent, as it introduces outside expert opinions into the process. However, it could add additional costs to the publishing process, which would almost certainly be passed on to the developer rather than Apple.
It also suggests that Apple make the age rating process more transparent than it is now.
There should also be a process for reviewing the appropriateness of age ratings after publication, the report adds. “Apple must act quickly to correct inappropriate ratings and take action against developers who attempt to circumvent the ratings system,” it says.
Finally, there is a call for “effective parental controls,” and for Apple to enforce age ratings by allowing child users to download only age-appropriate apps. This is something Apple already does with its parental controls, but clearly not enough is being done for organizations.
Apple's Response
In a statement shared with AppleInsider, Apple insists that it already does a lot to protect children with its existing tools. The full statement is as follows:
“At Apple, we work hard to protect user privacy and safety and provide kids with a safe experience. We do this by providing parents with a wide range of controls they can enable on their children's devices to limit purchases, web searches, and app access; prevent explicit content; flag problematic content with Report a Problem; and more.
Developers are required to provide clear age ratings under the App Store policies, and apps designed for kids are singled out in a separate category and subject to a more rigorous app review process.
In cases where an app's age rating does not match its content, we take immediate action to correct the issue.”
Pushing for Accountability
Apple's calls for accountability are nothing new, but they are something the company has fought against before.
In September, a report detailed how states seeking to regulate teen smartphone use were under pressure from Apple. In one case, Louisiana legislator Kim Carver was contacted by four Apple-hired lobbyists about a bill that would require Apple to add and enforce age ratings to the App Store instead of relying on a questionnaire from app developers.
While the App Store requirement was removed from the bill, Carver still wants it back. “I quickly learned that Apple's parental controls are not the panacea they promised,” Carver said.
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