It is now common practice to see developers requesting parental consent before processing certain personal information from kids. In some regions, it’s even required by law. This has prompted some of the largest companies in the world to implement their own parental consent management flows in apps and games that are used by kids. It’s important to remember that the age of a child now goes up to 16 in certain markets. 

What is parental consent?

‘Parental consent’ refers to a process in which a developer requests permission from a parent before allowing a child to access a digital service or feature which processes certain personal information from the child. A commonly used parental consent flow looks something like this:

What is parent verification (PV)?

In many cases, developers also require parents to complete a verification step, which seeks to ensure that the person providing parental consent is in fact the child’s parent/guardian. In some countries, the law requires developers to take verification steps when processing certain children’s personal information, such as under the United States’ Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the EU’s and UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Adding this step makes the flow look like this: 

How can you integrate parent verification into your app?

It’s now easier than ever for developers of all sizes to implement PV. SuperAwesome provides a free, self-serve service as part of its Kids Web Services (KWS) platform that achieves exactly that. This service can be plugged into any internet-connected app or device via a simple set of API’s.

At a high level, an integration of KWS looks like this:

Essentially, the KWS Parent Verification service (KWS PV) can be sandwiched within your application such that:

  1. The kid is asked to provide their parent’s email address.
  2. Your app then passes that parent email address to KWS via an API.
  3. The KWS PV service contacts the parent via email and asks them to complete the verification steps.
  4. Once those steps are completed, the KWS PV service redirects the verified parent back to your app.
  5. At this point your app can allow the parent to provide consent for use of the child’s personal information with the additional comfort that it is indeed an adult providing that consent. 

Below is an example of the same flow implemented in a hypothetical ‘Very Excellent Games’ app. Highlighted in the pink background is the KWS PV service:

Note that the prebuilt user interface that is provided as part of the KWS PV service can be branded to fit your own look and feel.

Why use KWS’ prebuilt PV Service?

Beyond the development time that your team will save by choosing an out-of-the-box solution, you benefit from the fact that KWS is fine-tuned to optimize conversion rates of parents going through the verification process:

  • Choice of verification methods: Parents can choose from a variety of verification methods to confirm they’re an adult. In some countries, we offer more region-specific verification methods such as SSN verification in the US.
  • Our unique ParentGraph: As shown in the diagram, parents that have previously been verified in any app or website that is powered by KWS do not have to complete the verification steps again. Today, KWS has the world’s largest network of pre-verified parents.

Start using KWS today

You can sign up for a free developer account here. You can sign up for a free developer account here. For more information about KWS’ PV service, read the documentation here. If you have any questions do reach out to the support team via the developer community.