Inappropriate apps rated as safe for young children are common in the App Store, the report warns

A new publication by child safety groups Heat Initiative and ParentsTogether Action describes the alarming presence of inappropriate apps rated as suitable for four-year-olds in Apple’s App Store. The teams worked with a researcher to review as many apps as possible within 24 hours, and eventually identified more than 200 apps that contained “relevant content or features” given their age rating — including chat with strangers and an AI girlfriend. apps, gaming apps with sexual or violent content and images, and AI-powered appearance rating apps. Engadget has reached out to Apple for comment and will update this story when asked.

The study focused on apps with age ratings of 4+, 9+ and 12+ in categories considered “dangerous”: chat (including AI and stranger chat apps), beauty, food and weight loss, unfiltered internet access (apps for access to restricted areas (schools) and games. Among the findings, the report says at least 24 sex games and 9 unknown chat apps were marked as suitable for children in these age groups. The study also identified 40 apps for unfiltered internet access and 75 apps related to beauty, body image and weight loss that held these age ratings, as well as 28 shooting and crime games. Collectively, the nearly 200 offending apps identified during the 24-hour investigation were downloaded more than 550 million times, according to the Heat Initiative.

About 800 apps were reviewed in total, and the study found that some categories are stronger than others to handle apps with unreasonably low age ratings. Of the chat apps and games for strangers, “few were rated as suitable for children,” the report said. In most cases, they were 17+. But in the categories of weight loss and unfiltered Internet access, “almost all apps reviewed were approved for children ages 4+.” The report calls on Apple to do better when it comes to child safety measures in the App Store, urging the company to use third-party reviewers to verify the age ratings of apps before they are available for download, and to make its age rating process more transparent. to consumers. You can read the full report, Rotten ratings: 24 hours on Apple’s App Store, here.