Ranking
Safest Games for Kids and Teens 2026
Every mobile and online game we cover that Apple's App Store rates 13+ or younger, from pretend-play worlds such as Toca Boca World and Avatar World to Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, Supercell's games and the big battle royale shooters. Each score weighs what the game collects for advertising, account security, parental controls, contact with strangers and pressure to spend, and its record with regulators.
Updated · Scores update with each page
The ranking
Health, family and learning
Toca Boca World
Toca Boca World is a low-risk game for young children. There is no chat, no contact with strangers and no tracking on Apple's label, and the studio is in a COPPA safe-harbour programme. The real risks are spending on paid packs, fan videos outside the app and an awkward deletion process.
Score 73, grade BHealth, family and learning
Avatar World
Avatar World is a low-risk pretend-play game for young children, with no tracking, no third-party ads and no open chat. The weak spots are steady coin and pack sales, a parental gate that asks only for a birth date, and store forms that list more data use than the privacy policy.
Score 69, grade CStreaming, music and games
Minecraft
Minecraft is one of the safer popular games for children. It collects little for advertising, has no loot boxes, and child accounts need a parent to switch on multiplayer. The risk sits on public servers run by other people, where strangers can chat with your child.
Score 69, grade CStreaming, music and games
Among Us
Among Us is one of the safer online party games for a child, because Innersloth keeps under-age players on fixed-phrase Quick Chat until a parent agrees to more. The risks are open text chat with strangers for teenagers, cheaters in public lobbies, and optional ads that track device IDs.
Score 62, grade CStreaming, music and games
Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO is a reasonable choice for families. There is no open chat with strangers and children under 13 need a parent's consent. The trade-off is location, because the game knows where you walk, and since 2025 it belongs to Scopely, part of Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group.
Score 60, grade CStreaming, music and games
Clash of Clans
Clash of Clans is one of the calmer big online games for a teenager. Chat is text only and filtered, younger players are kept in family-friendly clans, and Apple does not flag loot boxes. The catches are ad tracking, constant offers for gems, and an EU consumer action opened in September 2026.
Score 59, grade CStreaming, music and games
Monster Hunter Now
Monster Hunter Now is a location game for teenagers and adults, not children, and its tracking label is shorter than Pokémon GO's. The trade-offs are the same as its sister game, precise location and spending, under Scopely, which Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group owns.
Score 59, grade CStreaming, music and games
Brawl Stars
Brawl Stars is a reasonable game for older children if purchases are locked on the phone. Chat is filtered text in clubs and the App Store label tracks only advertising data, but random reward drops have returned since paid loot boxes went in 2022, and the privacy policy allows wide ad sharing.
Score 58, grade CStreaming, music and games
Clash Royale
Clash Royale is a reasonable pick for older children if purchases are locked on the phone. Chat is filtered text inside clans and Apple's label tracks only usage data, but Supercell still sells random items for real money and its shared privacy policy allows wide ad sharing.
Score 58, grade CStreaming, music and games
Hay Day
Hay Day is a calm farming game with little contact with strangers beyond filtered text chat in neighbourhoods. The concerns are commercial. Supercell's privacy policy allows ad tracking across devices, the App Store listing flags loot boxes, and diamond packs reach $99.99 in a game rated 9+.
Score 58, grade CStreaming, music and games
Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)
BGMI is Krafton's own Indian version of PUBG Mobile, run on servers in India and Singapore, with daily play and spending caps for under-18s. India blocked it for ten months in 2022 and 2023, and the game still puts teenagers in voice chat with strangers.
Score 57, grade CStreaming, music and games
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush is a low-risk game for content and contact with strangers, and King, owned by Microsoft since 2023, has no fines. EU consumer authorities opened an action over its in-game currency in 2026. The weak point is advertising. Apple's label lists six data types used to track you, and King lists 188 ad partners.
Score 57, grade CStreaming, music and games
Fortnite
Fortnite is a reasonable choice for older children if a parent sets it up. Epic's controls for chat, spending and time are among the best in gaming, but they exist because the FTC found that open voice chat and trick purchases harmed children, and Epic paid $520 million in 2022.
Score 57, grade CStreaming, music and games
PK XD
PK XD keeps strangers at arm's length with a chat made of preset phrases, which is rare for an online world this size. The weak spots are ad tracking through seven ad networks, random items sold for gems, a store form that says data is not encrypted in transit, and age ratings that run from 4+ to 16.
Score 56, grade CStreaming, music and games
Tennis Clash
Tennis Clash keeps strangers at a distance in matches, where opponents can send only preset emojis and stickers, and free text is limited to club chat. The weaker side is commercial. Ads track players by device ID, bags hold random rewards, and a pick-a-card machine asks for gems to keep playing.
Score 56, grade CStreaming, music and games
Zooba
Zooba keeps contact with strangers narrow, with preset emotes in battle and typed chat only inside clans of up to 50 players. The weaker side is commercial. Ads track players across apps, crates hold random characters, and new characters are sold for money before anyone can win them.
Score 56, grade CStreaming, music and games
MONOPOLY GO!
Monopoly GO has no open chat inside the game and no fines, but it is built to sell dice rolls and random rewards to a 9+ audience, and Scopely shares identifiers and purchase data with ad partners. Spending, not strangers, is the main risk.
Score 55, grade CStreaming, music and games
Roblox
Roblox's privacy and security are about average for a big app. Its weakness is child safety. Adults have used the platform to reach children, which led to more than 170 federal lawsuits and several state cases, and face-based age checks for chat only arrived in January 2026.
Score 55, grade CStreaming, music and games
Soccer Clash
Soccer Clash is a short, one-on-one football game against strangers, launched in June 2026. Ads track players by device ID, paid packs hold random reward drops with no published odds, and clubs and a friends list have added social contact that the help centre does not yet explain.
Score 55, grade CStreaming, music and games
Stumble Guys
Stumble Guys keeps strangers at a distance, with no voice or text chat, which makes it calmer than most online party games. The trade-off is commercial. Scopely's label tracks purchases, location and identifiers, and the shop mixes random prize wheels, rewarded ads and an offer wall aimed at a young audience.
Score 55, grade CStreaming, music and games
PUBG Mobile
PUBG Mobile collects less for advertising than most free games, but it is a realistic shooter with open voice chat, random-reward crates and constant pressure to spend. India has blocked it since 2020 over data sent abroad, and Pakistan blocked it for a month over its effect on children.
Score 54, grade DStreaming, music and games
Free Fire
Free Fire is a battle royale shooter that many children play, but it is built for teenagers and adults. It tracks players for advertising, sells random-reward items, has chat with strangers and few parental tools, and has been blocked in India and Bangladesh.
Score 45, grade D
Which games are on this list
The rule is the age rating. A game is here when Apple's US App Store rates it 13+ or younger, which on Apple's scale means 4+, 9+ or 13+. BGMI, which is sold only in India, counts by its 13+ rating on Apple's Indian store. That covers pretend-play games for young children such as Toca Boca World, Avatar World and PK XD; building and online worlds such as Roblox and Minecraft; party and casual games such as Among Us, Stumble Guys, Hay Day and Candy Crush; Supercell's Brawl Stars, Clash Royale and Clash of Clans; location games such as Pokémon GO; and the 13+ shooters Fortnite, Free Fire, PUBG Mobile and BGMI, which many younger children play anyway.
Games Apple rates 16+ or 18+ are left out: Coin Master for simulated gambling, Sniper 3D, and the voice-chat party apps Hago and WePlay. So are learning apps such as ABCmouse, PBS KIDS and Khan Academy Kids, whose main job is teaching rather than play.
How the order is built
Each game is scored on five factors. Privacy and security count for 30% each: what the game collects and shares with advertisers, and how well it protects accounts and stored data. Transparency and control count for 15%, which includes parental controls. Scams and harmful content count for 15%, which covers contact with strangers, what children can see, and loot boxes and other pressure to spend. The regulatory record counts for 10%. Full rubrics are on how we score apps.
The list is those scores sorted from the highest down. When we update a page, its place here moves too, so this text does not quote scores.
What the games near the top have in common
Strangers cannot reach the child. Toca Boca World and Avatar World have no chat with other players and no tracking on Apple's label, and Toca Boca's studio is in a COPPA safe-harbour programme. Among Us keeps under-age players on fixed-phrase Quick Chat until a parent agrees to more, and Minecraft child accounts need a parent to switch on multiplayer.
Why some score lower
Open voice chat with strangers is the biggest reason, followed by ad tracking and random rewards sold for real money. Epic paid $520 million in 2022 after the FTC found that Fortnite's open voice chat and trick purchases harmed children; its controls are now among the best in gaming, which helps it. India has blocked PUBG Mobile since 2020 and has also blocked Free Fire. Roblox carries the weight of lawsuits over adults who used it to reach children.
What the score does not tell you
The score rates the company's data practices and safety tools, not whether a game suits your child. A shooter can be well run and still be too violent for a nine-year-old, and a calm farming game can still sell loot boxes. Read the page for the game your child wants, set up the parental controls before the first session, and keep consoles and tablets in shared rooms for younger children.
Questions
Is Roblox safe for kids?
It depends on who your child meets there. Roblox's data practices are ordinary for a big app, but adults have used it to reach children, which has led to more than 170 federal lawsuits, and face-based age checks for chat arrived only in January 2026. Turn chat off or limit it to friends in the parental controls, and link a parent account before your child plays alone.
What are loot boxes, and why do they matter?
A loot box is a paid item with a random reward inside, so the child does not know what they are buying. Many games on this list sell them under other names, such as crates, packs or bags. They teach the same habit as a slot machine, so turn on purchase approval on the phone and talk about what a random reward really costs.
Which games let strangers talk to my child?
Fortnite, PUBG Mobile and BGMI have voice chat with strangers, Free Fire has chat with few parental tools, and Roblox and Minecraft's public servers have open text chat. Supercell's games and Zooba limit typed chat to clans, while Stumble Guys has no chat at all and PK XD uses preset phrases. Toca Boca World and Avatar World have no chat with other players.
Does an App Store age rating mean a game is safe?
No. The rating reflects the content the developer reports, such as violence or loot boxes, and says little about chat, ads or spending. Monopoly GO is rated 9+ yet is built to sell dice rolls and random rewards, and Candy Crush has gentle puzzles but lists six data types used to track you on Apple's label.
How do I stop my child spending money in a game?
Control it on the phone rather than in each game. Use Ask to Buy and Screen Time on an iPhone, or require a password for every purchase in Google Play, and do not save a card to a child's account. Fortnite and Roblox also let parents set spending limits in their own settings.