How to Monetize mobile apps for children in the Apple App Store (and how to forget the new ban)

Leaving the phone to the kids is, in addition to a very bad option for your health, a risk with all the letters. There are hundreds or even thousands of applications for this audience that contain games, puzzles and other gossips to entertain them. Most, except those that are paid, have publicity.

The worst of all is that (it has happened on more than one occasion), there is always the possibility that cybercriminals take advantage of these apps to filter malware or inappropriate content. Well, now Apple has gone to work to end any interference that may be considered harmful to children.

We talk about prohibiting advertising in specific apps for children, but also eliminating integrated purchases. A hook that by the neglect of the kids, still unaware of the nature of this wicked commercial world, can give parents an upset in the form of charges to the card. But what decision has Apple taken exactly and what affects users?

Improvements for user privacy

What Apple proposes are new conditions that developers will have to comply with and that are especially focused on the protection of users. And more specifically, to the protection of users who are children and who deserve to be treated with respect, instead of being bombarded with insidious ads and tempted with unnecessary purchases.

The new standard of the Cupertino firm is especially rigid, in the sense that it will be strictly forbidden to add advertising to applications that are aimed at children. So far, developers have had the opportunity to include ads, as appropriate for minors, in the apps. Today they are forbidden without cracks of any kind.

The new Apple campaign on privacy also fits with these new postulates. So developers will have to be especially careful, if they do not want the apple company to eliminate their application from the App Store. So clear.

What exactly does the new standard say?

From the guide that Apple has elaborated and modified for the occasion, the following measures and/or express prohibitions are released:

The apps cannot include external links, nor proposals of purchase nor distractions. If included, they must be reserved for the sections that exist within the app exclusively for parents, usually reserved for configuration or parental control.

If included, they must be reserved for the sections that exist within the app exclusively for parents, usually reserved for configuration or parental control. Applications aimed at children, or framed within this category, cannot carry integrated advertising, nor third-party systems that analyze user behaviour, which requires the express transfer of data to other companies.

Those applications for children who had planned to make their operation profitable through advertisements or through the transfer of data will have to devise ways to find alternatives. Although for now, the only formula we can think of is to offer a subscription payment system or the direct purchase of the application, which completely rules out the integration of advertising in the tool.

If you want to take a look at the new regulations proposed by Apple you can do it here. If you are a developer, you will have to look for an alternative advertising platform like MediaFem. We’ll see if Android takes note because their apps for children good lack makes them.

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash