Google announced a new section on its Play Store to help parents find suitable apps for kids. The 'Teacher Approved' programme will highlight high-quality apps for kids, based on a rating system developed with academic experts.
Specially trained teachers across the US will rate apps for kids based on this framework. The evaluation will look at things like design quality, appeal to children, enrichment potential, ads and in-app purchases and age appropriateness.
The apps will be eligible to appear in the new Kids section on Google Play and display the 'Teacher approved' badge. Additional information about what teachers found valuable will be available on the app details page.
The new section replaces the Family star badge and Family section on Google Play. All apps that were in the Family section will remain on the store and appear in search results.Apps need to meet the requirements of Google's 'Designed for Families' program before they’re eligible to be reviewed by teachers. All Designed for Families apps are automatically placed in the teacher review queue.
The initial launch will be limited to the US, to be followed by a global roll-out in the coming months. To help developers better understand what the teachers are looking for, Google published a new learning path on Google Play’s Academy for App Success, including findings from Google Play’s research into technology usage by parents and kids.
