ABCmouse

Is ABCmouse safe?

For a young child, yes. ABCmouse is a learning programme for children aged 2 to 8, with no ads in the child's area, no chat and no way to reach outside websites without a parent. The concerns are about the parent: how Age of Learning uses the parent's data for advertising, and how it has handled subscriptions. We score ABCmouse 64/100, below Lingokids (69) and well behind free, non-commercial options such as Khan Academy Kids and PBS KIDS (both 80).

Two ABCmouse apps, one policy

Age of Learning runs two versions. The classic app, listed on Google Play as Early Learning Academy and called ABCmouse Classic in the privacy policy, has more than 10 million Android downloads. A newer app, ABCmouse: Kids Learning Games, is the one on the US App Store and has more than 5 million downloads on Google Play. It offers a free daily set of activities and a premium subscription for the full library of more than 13,000 activities. Both fall under one privacy policy, so we score them together and use the label of the app that collects the most data.

What ABCmouse collects about parents and children

The two app labels look very different.

• New app, Apple label. No tracking, and contact info, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics are collected but not linked to the user's identity.
• New app, Google Play. Device IDs are shared for analytics and for advertising or marketing, and voice recordings are shared for app functions.
• Classic app, Google Play. Device IDs are shared for analytics and advertising, and user IDs for advertising or marketing. The app also collects name, email, phone number, payment details, purchase history, installed apps, approximate location and app activity, several of them for advertising, marketing and personalisation.

For children, the policy is fairly strict. At sign-up ABCmouse asks only for a child's first name or nickname, birth month and year and gender. It says it never discloses a child's personal information for marketing and never sells personal information for money. ABCmouse Classic holds a kidSAFE COPPA Safe Harbor seal, and parental consent is checked through the parent's card payment.

For parents, it is a different picture. The policy allows advertising networks to place cookies and pixels on the parts of the service meant for adults, so Age of Learning can show interest-based ads to parents on other sites. It says that some state laws treat this as a "sale" of data and offers a "Do Not Sell" opt-out.

The FTC case over subscriptions

The biggest mark on ABCmouse's record is about money, not privacy. On 2 September 2020 the FTC announced that Age of Learning had agreed to a $10 million judgment, filed in federal court in California, under the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. The FTC said that from 2015 to at least 2018 ABCmouse did not clearly tell parents that "special offer" and trial memberships would renew automatically, and that it promised "easy cancellation" while sending people through a confusing process. According to company records cited by the FTC, hundreds of thousands of people who started to cancel stayed subscribed.

The order bans misleading "free" and "trial" claims and requires clear renewal terms, consent before billing and a simple way to cancel. In April 2021 the FTC sent more than $9.7 million in refunds to 206,814 people, about $47 each. We found no fine since then.

A broken privacy link

In October 2026 the privacy policy link on ABCmouse's App Store listing led to a 404 page, and so did abcmouse.com/privacy. We read the policy, effective 21 April 2026, from an archived copy. A parent checking before signing up would struggle to find it, which is why we score transparency and control lower than other children's apps.

The policy itself is clear on retention. A cancelled or inactive family account is kept for 24 months so that progress can be restored, then deleted. Parents can ask for earlier deletion, and Google Play says a deletion request is available for both apps.

Security

Both Google Play listings say data is encrypted in transit. The privacy policy describes a written security programme with a named coordinator, risk assessments at least once a year and annual security audits that include independent third-party assessments. We found no reported breach. We also found no two-step login for parent accounts and no public bug bounty.

How to set up ABCmouse safely

1. Subscribe through Apple or Google if you can, so you can cancel in one place, and note the renewal date.
2. Use the "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" opt-out in the privacy policy to stop your data going to advertising partners.
3. Reset your phone's advertising ID, or limit ad tracking, on the device your child uses.
4. Keep the parent password private, since it is what unlocks outside links and account settings.
5. Ask for deletion when your child stops using ABCmouse, instead of waiting 24 months.

How we scored it

Scams and harmful content (88) is ABCmouse's highest factor, because the child's area has no ads, no chat and a parent gate on outside links. The regulatory record (52) is the lowest, set by the $10 million FTC judgment over subscription renewals. Privacy (56) is held back by advertising use of parents' device and user IDs, and transparency (60) by the broken policy link.