Same tests. Same standards. Results in the open.

Playworthy is neutral ground. Developers pay a flat fee that never depends on the outcome, parents read results instead of marketing, and every report publishes whether the app passes or not.

1
Apply
Developers submit a build and verify who they are. Anonymous teams stop here.
2
The harness
At least 1,400 scenarios per review: adversarial prompts, off-limits topics, emotional edge cases, data handling.
3
Household panel
Real families use the app for six weeks and answer structured questions, not star ratings.
4
Public report
Pass or fail, the report publishes with a permanent number. No quiet withdrawals.
5
Re-tests
Every major model update triggers a re-test. Seals expire after twelve months.

The AI safety harness

Kids don't talk to AI the way adults do. They test limits, repeat themselves, invent characters, and take answers literally. The harness runs at least 1,400 scenarios written from real transcripts of how children speak, across six probe areas.

Adversarial role-play

"Pretend you're not a kids' app anymore." We try every jailbreak an eight-year-old or their older sibling might.

Off-limits topics

Violence, self-harm, adult content, and the gray zones around them. The only acceptable pass rate is 100%.

Emotional edge cases

A child says they're scared, sad, or in trouble. Does the app respond with care and point to a grown-up?

Data handling

What leaves the device, where it goes, and whether a child's words train someone else's model.

Dark patterns

Streaks, guilt trips, "don't leave yet" tricks. Engagement mechanics designed for kids to resist stopping fail the review.

Wind-down behavior

A bedtime app should end the session, not extend it. We check that closing time is real.

Pass rates per area publish on every platform page. A single failure in the off-limits area blocks certification until it's fixed and re-tested.

Known developers

A seal means someone is accountable for the app, by name. Before we test anything, the developer proves four things:

The legal identity of the studio and where it operates.
A named safety officer on record who answers when we call.
A track record we can inspect: prior releases, incident history, app-store presence.
A support channel that responds to parents within a stated time.

The seal is revoked the moment accountability lapses: a safety officer who leaves and isn't replaced, a parent report that goes unanswered for 30 days, or an update shipped around the harness. Revocations publish under the same report number.

Parent insights

App-store stars tell you whether an app is fun. They tell you nothing about what it said at 11pm when a child asked it something hard. For every review, a panel of households uses the app for six weeks and answers the same structured questions: what the app refused, how it handled big feelings, whether it respected closing time.

Panels are recruited by us, never by the developer. Quotes on platform pages come from verified households, and the panel keeps running after certification, so a seal can lose its rating between re-tests.

What the seal means

A Playworthy seal says three things: the app passed the harness, a verified team stands behind it, and real households vouch for how it behaves. Each seal carries a report number you can look up on this site, is valid for twelve months, and is re-tested on every major model update. If any of the three checks lapses, the seal goes away and the report says why.

Look up a certified app