In app payments used by children, parents never seem to learn the dangerous mix. Five year old Danny Kitchen ran up a £1,700 ($2,500) bill in less than 15 minutes by tapping game credits linked to in app payments. Apple recently announced its to offer compensation to US parents.
It’s worth knowing just how to stop this from happening to you, after all you might not be that lucky to have your money refunded by Apple or another company. The process of refunding is a tedious, so take precautions and follow the easy steps to disable in-app purchases on your device. So go ahead make the changes and keep the little ones entertained without you worrying they might cost you the price of two iPads.
Apple iPhone/iPad
The steps are simple, on your device navigate to Settings>General>Restrictions, tap “Enable Restrictions” if it isn’t already enabled. You will be asked to enter a restriction code, you will obviously need to remember this. Scroll down to the ”Allowed Content” section where you will see “In-App Purchases”, turn this to off and that’s it, done. You can also have an extra piece of mind by also setting the length of time the password is required to immediately. This can be found in the same section where you disable in-app purchases just below it. This process is the same for iPhone or iPad.
Google Android
Open the Google Play Store app and choose ‘Menu’ and then ‘Settings’. Under ‘User Controls’ you’ll find an option to ‘Set or Change PIN’. Tap this and Android will ask you for a PIN. Type your chosen PIN, tap OK and then re-enter the PIN to confirm. Then tick the box next to ‘Use PIN for purchases’. Once you’ve done that, anyone who wants to make an in-app purchase on your device will need to know the PIN. That should keep your bills secure from little fingers.
Amazon Kindle Fire
The Kindle Fire is an Android-powered tablet but the operating system has been modified by Amazon so the process for restricting in-app purchases is a little different. Start by opening the Amazon Appstore app. Choose ‘Menu’ and then ‘Settings’. Then tap ‘Parental Controls’, choose ‘Enable Parental Controls’ and enter your Amazon password. If you’d prefer to choose a PIN, then tick the ‘Use PIN’ box.
