Education version - version without age restriction

[NiTRoeSE]

Your use case

What would you like to do?

Hello, we use matrix + element in a education environment with own servers without federation. All channels we have are moderated.

Unfortunately, Element is age-restricted so 90%+ of all students can't even install the app.

On the one hand, this is a pity for us and on the other hand, it is not conducive to the spread and acceptance of matrix among users. In the end, this does not only affect our concern. Basically, it would be great if matrix were a really serious competitor to services such as WhatsApp, etc.

But for that to happen, it would be necessary to have mobile apps that younger users can install. Ultimately, it is precisely this user base that determines distribution and acceptance.

I think it would be a win to win situation for everyone involved.

As far as I know, the reason for the age classification is the possibility to enter guest rooms on home servers like matrix.org that are not moderated.

Maybe there is a way to create an education app version that doesn't have this feature and gets a better age rating in Playstore and Apple's Appstore.

Why would you like to do it?

That its possible that younger people can use the app. In this way, element can also become a concept among young people, which ideally already sets the direction for their later digital lives. In the best case, questionable services like WhatsApp or Telegram will shrink and Matrix + Element grow up.

How would you like to achieve it?

Creating a education version or a "Element Kids" version without the function to enter a public room without moderation as a guest user.

Have you considered any alternatives?

Element X is at the moment rated 0+ in Playstore because it lacks the feature which leads to higher rating. That's great at the moment, but i think its just a question of time..

Additional context

Unfortunately I don't know Android or IOS development and also I don't know Swift and Kolin languages. So i can't help in development.

Are you willing to provide a PR?

No

[du82]

Matrix nor Element are age restricted

[NiTRoeSE]

Matrix nor Element are age restricted

In german google play store and apple app store the element app is rated 18+ .

[NiTRoeSE]

[navy676aw]

Honestly didnt know the Play store had ratings but in Canada it's also 17+. I also don't see how element could lower this as it's rated that way because "Users Interact, Shares Location" whereas when I check WhatsApp it's rated E with the reason of "Users Interact, Digital Purchases"

On the Google Playstore Telegram is also rated 17+ including TelegramX which only has a reason of "Users interact" Discord has a rating of T. Slack, WeChat, Briar, FB Messenger, Signal, Threema, SimpleX, Session and Google Chat all have E ratings.

This leads me to believe this is probably an App store/Rating system issue. This support page seems to be useless https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/6209544

[spaetz]

Weird. Using AuroraStore in Germany looking at EXA, I see the minimum age (USK) of 0... Even the official play store, says age 0..

[spaetz]

After learning a bit more about this: Element Android is age-restricted apparently because of the possibility to search/explore and join (possibly 18+) rooms. Element Android X does not have this feature, and is thus rated for all ages. The room search feature is available only on the f-droid and the development builds, not the Google Play store build for exactly this reason (to avoid age restrictions). So the goal is to keep EXA open for adolescents too. As such this issue can be closed, as I don't know of any (public) plans to change that.