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September 22, 2013 07:59 pm GMT

Introducing Apple's New Kids App Store

apple-kids-categoryApple has finally take steps to better cater to the children who have adopted its devices, and especially family favorite the iPad, with the launch of a Kids App Store. Arriving this week alongside the launch of iOS 7, the Kids App Store store is not a separate mobile application, to be clear, but is rather a new section within the Apple App Store itself, which now features an added “Kids” category where apps are broken down by age range. This section of the store separates the apps into three age ranges,spanning those 5 and under, those between 6 and 8, and finally, those for kids between 9 and 11. The company first revealed this “Kids” section at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this summer when the revamped iOS 7 mobile operating system was first revealed. The updated mobile App Store app also saw a number of other changes, including the removal of “Genius” from the bottom menu in favor of apps “Near Me” for example, support for automatic app updates, and more. In addition to better organizing the mobile apps targeting children for ease-of-use, the Kids App Store also comes at a time when Apple has begun to allow children under 13 to sign up for and hold iTunes user accounts, as long as they’re funneled through an “approved educational institution.” As TechCrunch previously noted, Apple will face a lot more scrutiny now that it’s making mobile apps available directly to younger children. A SAFER HOME FOR KIDS APPS Apps aimed at the under-13 set, for example, will need to follow theChildrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requirements. These state that developers can’t ask for personal info from kids, expect for “the purpose of complying with applicable childrens privacy statues” – that is, not in order to gather information for targeting ads. The apps can’t transmit or share personal information without parental consent, either. And in addition to now being required to have clear privacy policies, apps in this section can’t use ads that ask kids to complete some sort of in-app activity and have to ask for parents’ permissions before they link outside the app to the web or other software, for the purpose of commerce. That’s right: no more spammy pop-ups, or tricks and nags to get kids to buy…at least not in this section. For many reputable kids’ app developers, compliance with the new policies was

Original Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ywedE3xJATg/

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