Kid Safety On Apple's App Store Is Too Lax, Study Says

Stacy Ann Sipes thought she had her daughter's phone locked down.

- AARON TILLEY

For her daughter's first iPhone, at age 14, Sipes used Apple parental-control settings to block Instagram and Snapchat.

After a terrifying ordeal in which her daughter developed an eating disorder, Sipes discovered a gaming app on her daughter's phone in which the main character was focused on losing weight. Players could send the character to the gym or purchase a waist-training corset using digital coins. It was rated in the App Store for ages 12 and above.

"I turned to Apple's safety features, but these weren't keeping her safe," Sipes said. "The way Apple rates these apps doesn't protect kids."

New research provided to The Wall Street Journal shows that her experience isn't unusual. Over a period of 24 hours, researchers found about 200 apps with inappropriate content that were rated for children. Those included apps for dieting, circumventing banned sites, beauty filters, violent or sexual games, and anonymous chat, according to a report by the child safety advocacy nonprofits Heat Initiative and ParentsTogether Action.

Those apps amounted to about one-quarter of the total reviewed by the groups in the 24-hour period. The findings suggest that many apps including objectionable content for children are rated as safe.

While Apple leaves it to app developers to determine the appropriate age rating for their apps, the company said it reviews and regularly rejects apps for including content and features that don't align with the rating. Apple guidelines for different age categories-including 4 and above, 9 and above, and 12 and above-restrict apps from featuring violence, language and other suggestive content.