You’ve read the stories, kid racks up $$$$ of In-App purchases on their iTunes account using parents credit card, parent then tries to get the money back from Apple…
This game review from Justin and Brian from IGN Entertainment (video shown below) of this iPhone game shows parents exactly why you need to disable In-App purchases on your mobile devices. This video also illustrates why you need to switch over from allowing your child free access to your iPhone or iPad (password protect them). And stop them using your credit card but use iTunes Gift cards instead!
The game being reviewed in this video below, as you will see, is charging over $50.00 to swap characters in the game. One In-App purchase is $100.00!!!
I would hazard a guess, and say this game has been specifically designed to trip parents up that don’t have parental controls enabled on their child’s iPod, or a password lock on their own phone or iPad. This is really an awful game…you might as well stick your child in front of a poker machine with a credit card and no limit…And this is only one of many like it available on the iTunes and Google Play store.
Edit: It looks like after the bad publicity, this game has been removed from the store. However there are plenty more like it…Check out “My Little Pony”
Edit: After one of my parent Cyber Safety talks, a father told me quietly that his son only 11 years old 2 years ago racked up $40.000.00 Aus on iTunes after he foolishly gave him his iTunes password! I nearly fell over hearing that one. He only got the money back after a lot of wrangling with Apple. Lesson learned!
After the video, I show you how to turn off the In-App purchases on your Apple device.
How To Disable In App Purchases on an Apple Mobile Device: iPhone, iPod, iPad.
1. First go to settings on your device.
2. Then click on General
3. Then Scroll down to Restrictions and click
4. Click Enable Restrictions
5. Create a 4 digit password
Scroll Down To In-App Purchases and Slide to OFF and Exit
If the In-App Purchases is to be turned on again it will require your 4 digit password to access the Restriction settings. While your in Restrictions have a good look around, you might find you may want to restrict a few other things….
What are your thoughts on such a game? Do you think there ought to be restrictions on them, or do parents just need to be more aware?
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