A shocking revelation has emerged from Pixalate's Q3 2025 report, exposing a staggering number of mobile apps on the Apple App and Google Play Stores that are potentially putting children's privacy at risk. Brace yourself for this eye-opener!
Pixalate's Report Unveils Alarming Privacy Breaches in APAC-Registered Mobile Apps
In a recent analysis, Pixalate uncovered a total of 1,248 APAC-registered mobile apps that are likely violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). These apps, available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, have collectively impacted an astonishing 117 million child-app users in the USA.
But here's where it gets controversial: Pixalate's data science and legal teams scrutinized a whopping 23,097 mobile apps, out of which 7,524 were identified as child-directed and registered in the APAC region.
Key Findings Highlight Privacy Concerns
- Privacy Policy Deficiencies: A staggering 962 apps (77%) failed to provide sufficient details about their handling of children's personal information, potentially violating COPPA.
- Missing Privacy Policies: 78 APAC-registered child-directed apps lacked a privacy policy altogether, with 72 of them (92%) transmitting users' IP addresses in the advertising bid stream, which is unlawful.
- Data Transmission Practices: Among the COPPA-violating APAC apps, 1,198 (96%) shared Device IDs of U.S.-based app users in the advertising bid stream.
- Platform Distribution: The 1,248 likely child-directed APAC apps violating COPPA across both stores have amassed over 117 million lifetime app users, most of whom are children.
- Advertising Network Integrations: Google Ad Exchange was found in the app-ads.txt files of 558 apps (45%) identified as likely non-compliant with COPPA.
Understanding COPPA and Children's Data
COPPA is a crucial regulation that safeguards children's online privacy. It governs the collection of personal information from children under 13 and includes data like location, addresses, contact details, IP addresses, device IDs, and multimedia containing a child's image or voice.
Top Non-Compliant APAC Apps on Google Play Store
- Brain Out®: Can you pass it? (India) - 12.5M users
- SAKURA School Simulator (Japan) - 7.5M users
- Megapolis: City Building Sim (Hong Kong) - 7M users
- Blockman Go (Singapore) - 6M users
- 3D Bowling (Singapore) - 3M users
Top Non-Compliant APAC Apps on Apple App Store
- Coloring Book -Color by Number (Hong Kong) - 564.8K users
- Paint.ly: Color by Number (Hong Kong) - 454K users
- Makeup ASMR: Makeover Story (India) - 374K users
- Car Driving Simulator Games (Australia) - 301K users
- Puzzrama Pixel (China) - 226K users
Methodology Behind the Findings
Pixalate's teams analyzed apps based on platform availability, classification, advertising integration, and policy analysis. They focused on apps downloadable during Q3 2025, classified as child-directed, with programmatic advertising targeted at the Asia Pacific region, and those with privacy policies crawled in Q3 2025.
About Pixalate
Pixalate is a trusted global platform specializing in privacy compliance, ad fraud prevention, and digital ad supply chain intelligence. Founded in 2012, they are accredited by the MRC for Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) detection and filtration.
Disclaimer and Transparency
Pixalate's report shares data and opinions to highlight potential trends and issues, not to discredit any entity, person, or app. The findings are based on their proprietary technology and analytics, which are continuously updated. Any references to outside sources are not endorsements, and their opinions are just that—opinions, not facts or guarantees.
It's important to remember that an app's appearance as child-directed doesn't necessarily mean it's non-compliant with COPPA. Pixalate's methodologies involve automated processing and human intervention, but they cannot guarantee the accuracy of their opinions.
This data is shared to shed light on potential privacy risks and trends, encouraging further discussion and action to protect children's online privacy. What are your thoughts on these findings? Are you surprised by the number of apps potentially violating COPPA? Share your insights in the comments below!
