Kid Mode: Free Games + Lock - Zoodles

This review of Kid Mode: Free Games + Lock was completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 17 July 2015.

About the app

This section contains details about the app provided by an ACCM Reviewer.

ACCM review

This review of Kid Mode: Free Games + Lock contains the following information:

• The level to which the game was reviewed
• App description
• Reviewers comments
• In App purchasing
• Online information
• Gambling
• Advertising and product placement
• Gender stereotypes and sexual references
• Coarse language
• Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents
• Other

The level to which the game was reviewed

This app was reviewed for approximately 1.5 hours.

App description

Kid Mode is a parental control app that enables parents to choose age-appropriate content for their children to engage with. There is no central objective within the app – rather, parents can set up a profile for their children, after which a child will only have access to age-appropriate material in the form of games, ebooks, etc. The skills required involve motor skills to use the app.

Reviewers comments

When the app is opened, users are met with an introductory screen stating ‘Welcome to Kid Mode! Millions of families use Kid Mode to help their children have more fun learning’. The welcome message details that ‘Kid Lock keeps children safe’, ‘children can play their favourite apps’, the app ‘gives children the right games for their age’ (recommended and reviewed by an educational team), and children merely have to ‘tap on their picture to play’. It also states that there is an art studio to allow for ‘finger painting without the mess!’, a storybook section where families can record stories for their children, as well as an option to record and exchange video mail.

The app has an option to ‘Get started!’. Users must then enter their birth year in order to visit the Parent Dashboard. From here, users can add a Child Profile – including a nickname, birthday (so that age appropriate activities can be selected), plus a photo. After this, users are shown which apps children under a certain age can access inside Kid Mode. Players are asked if they would like to upgrade to the Premium edition of Kid Mode for $4.95, and are also encouraged to install Flash components in order to ‘take advantage of the thousands of Zoodles Flash learning games available for free!’.

After this, users can select their personal child profile and enter the central components of the app. From here, players can choose age-appropriate games to play – this includes things such as ‘Electric Company Party Game, Lost on Prankster Planet’.

The app also contains a painting game. Here, users can choose a coloured or plain background, choose specific colours of paint, and use their finger to design images. Upgrading to the premium package will offer players the ability to choose any colour (instead of preselected ones), as well as the feature of placing stickers/stencils on their canvas.

The book feature of the app contains visual images of books such as the Three Little Pigs, as well as video footage of parents and their children reading actual content from these books. There is a range of age appropriate stories within the app, although some are locked to the Premium version.

Parents also have the option of turning on Video Mail for their child. This is a Premium feature that lets children exchange video messages with family members across the country.

In App purchasing

The app frequently contains a pop-up which encourages players to upgrade ‘for more fun!’ to the Premium version of the app. This allows parents to ‘boost their child’s fun by giving them more games, and give their child unlimited access to all the app’s books’. This costs users $4.95 a month.

Online information

N/A.

Gambling

No gambling content was found during this review.

Advertising and product placement

N/A.

Gender stereotypes and sexual references

N/A.

Coarse language

N/A.

Game playing behaviour which may be of concern to some parents

No game playing behaviour which may be of concern to parents was found during this review.

Other

N/A.

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