A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#1

Post by pascal07 » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:01 PM UTC

A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children
uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#2

Post by loftwyr » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:23 PM UTC

My only addition is to ask for a band on scroll bars in a kids app, especially on the bottom of the page.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#3

Post by ja27 » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:28 PM UTC

Generally good advice. Play-testing with young kids is a big help.

I also don't like an app that has the kid shake the iPad (or iPhone) a lot.

I'm torn on the "Don't trick my kids into buying stuff" one. I've seen a lot of crappy apps (and even well-built Smurfy-Smurf ones) that are just funnels to in-app purchases. But I've also seen parents leave outraged reviews because a developer dares to have in-app purchases for additional content in his free app. Or they turn their nose up at paying $1.99 for an iPad app. The world doesn't owe you free high-quality kids' apps. Go ahead and funnel your kid's allowance into iTunes credit now and use it to get them to clean their room.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#4

Post by justinchen » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:28 PM UTC

Also, don't pop up iOS notifications. 2 year olds can't read them and they're hard to dismiss.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#5

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:29 PM UTC

Make it easy for a kid to do what s/he wants, and hard to do what s/he doesn't. Anything which disrupts the play is bad, and the worst is transitions to the App Store (kid has no idea what is going on, just that something wonderful went away for no apparent reason).

I'll pay for toddler versions which go all out to avoid anything but core simple fun play. If anything short of pressing Home means the kid has to hand me the tablet to "fix it", I want my money back.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#6

Post by terrapinbear » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:31 PM UTC

I think this applies to any tablet app. Smart phone apps need to avoid having buttons near my thumb that I can accidentally push.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#7

Post by vibrunazo » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:32 PM UTC

I find interesting his insistence that we should avoid buttons and menus on the bottom of the screen. This is extremely important, not only for kids apps. But I find that problem specially disturbing on the Android OS.

Pretty much everyone I hand my Android Tablet to, when they're not used it. Will instantly hit the home or back button by accident after 5 seconds of holding. Then hand it back to me with a negative impression "I think I hit something bad". After I explain where the menus are, and how to avoid them. They'll often still repeat the mistake a few more times before either getting used to it, or just getting bored.

So for our apps. I'd advise to avoid any page switching buttons in the bottom like it was the plague. Even if it's not a kids app.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#8

Post by huggyface » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:32 PM UTC

ja27 wrote: post #3

Generally good advice. Play-testing with young kids is a big help. I also don't like an app that has the kid shake the iPad (or iPhone) a lot. I'm torn on the "Don't trick my kids into buying stuff" one. I've seen a lot of crappy apps (and even well-built Smurfy-Smurf ones) that are just funnels to in-app purchases. But I've also seen parents leave outraged reviews because a developer dares to have in-app purchases f…

Or they turn their nose up at paying $1.99 for an iPad app

I think that's out of context to even bring up. The complaint is scummy in-app purchases and they are a scourge mostly meant to exploit the easy clicking of kids with the default "no barrier" purchase mechanism. I've uninstalled and forever purged several apps for exactly this monetizing strategy. I have zero problem or hesitation paying up upfront, honest price for an app.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#9

Post by terrapinbear » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:33 PM UTC

ja27 wrote: post #3

Generally good advice. Play-testing with young kids is a big help. I also don't like an app that has the kid shake the iPad (or iPhone) a lot. I'm torn on the "Don't trick my kids into buying stuff" one. I've seen a lot of crappy apps (and even well-built Smurfy-Smurf ones) that are just funnels to in-app purchases. But I've also seen parents leave outraged reviews because a developer dares to have in-app purchases f…

I think any and all ads for kids apps should be in the Apple App Store or in the Android Market where they belong. I have no problem with selling apps for kids, but don't make it easy or even possible for them to buy one in your free app.

Re: A Dad’s Plea To Developers Of iPad Apps For Children

#10

Post by marcusf » Mon, Mar 12, 2012, 2:35 PM UTC

One company that does this exceedingly well, me thinks, is Toca Boca. In a sense, they don't make iPad games, they make iPad toys. But kids respond to the toys, and enjoy them.

Slightly unrelated, their CEO has a good talk on the way to figuring out that they should make kids toys: http://vimeo.com/30743193