Playful but Persuasive: Deceptive Designs and Advertising Strategies in Popular Mobile Apps for Children

TL;DR

This study analyzes 20 popular children's mobile apps in German-speaking regions, revealing widespread deceptive design patterns and intrusive advertising that undermine children's well-being despite existing policies.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence of pervasive manipulative interfaces and ads in children's apps, highlighting the need for stronger regulation and child-centered design standards.

Findings

All apps contained deceptive design patterns

Average of six manipulative patterns per app

High volume of non-skippable ads embedded in gameplay

Abstract

Mobile gaming apps are woven into children's daily lives. Given their ongoing cognitive and emotional development, children are especially vulnerable and depend on designs that safeguard their well-being. When apps feature manipulative interfaces or heavy advertising, they may exert undue influence on young users, contributing to prolonged screen time, disrupted self-regulation, and accidental in-app purchases. In this study, we examined 20 popular, free-to-download children's apps in German-speaking regions to assess the prevalence of deceptive design patterns and advertising. Despite platform policies and EU frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation and the Digital Services Act, every app contained interface manipulations intended to nudge, confuse, or pressure young users, averaging nearly six distinct deceptive patterns per app. Most also displayed high volumes of non-skippable ads, frequently embedded within core gameplay. These findings indicate a systemic failure of existing safeguards and call for stronger regulation, greater platform accountability, and child-centered design standards.