In-app purchase in spotlight again as boy racks up ?1,000 iPad bill
Eight-year-old Theo Rowland-Fry's parents thought nothing of letting him play a "Simpsons" game on the family iPad ? until a recent bank statement showed charges of almost ?1,000, that is.
The Belfast Telegraph carried news on Wednesday that in-app purchasing power on Apple's iPad had led to yet another child racking up a sizable bill playing with the popular tablet, this time to the tune of ?980. Theo's parents say that he has no idea of the impact of his Simpsons shopping spree.
"Theo is only just eight," said Nick Rowland-Fry, Theo's father, "and has no real concept of the monetary value attached. As far as he was concerned he was just buying doughnuts."
The Rowland-Frys were refunded the ?980, but they expressed concern that the same could happen to other people.
Theo's digital doughnut splurge comes just weeks after a five-year-old in Britain charged ?1,700 to his parents, all in the course of playing the game Zombie. That boy's parents were also refunded.
Not all in-app shopping sprees have ended as happily. In 2011, a Phoenixville, PA, man filed suit against Apple on behalf of himself and others who had incurred unauthorized charges for game-related content. The suit alleged that Apple had been allowed to "pocket millions of dollars" on unauthorized transactions and that the company's password policy was insufficient to block such transactions. Apple moved to settle the case in late February, offering the claimants $5 iTunes credits and full refunds for claims over $30.
The Belfast Telegraph carried news on Wednesday that in-app purchasing power on Apple's iPad had led to yet another child racking up a sizable bill playing with the popular tablet, this time to the tune of ?980. Theo's parents say that he has no idea of the impact of his Simpsons shopping spree.
"Theo is only just eight," said Nick Rowland-Fry, Theo's father, "and has no real concept of the monetary value attached. As far as he was concerned he was just buying doughnuts."
The Rowland-Frys were refunded the ?980, but they expressed concern that the same could happen to other people.
Theo's digital doughnut splurge comes just weeks after a five-year-old in Britain charged ?1,700 to his parents, all in the course of playing the game Zombie. That boy's parents were also refunded.
Not all in-app shopping sprees have ended as happily. In 2011, a Phoenixville, PA, man filed suit against Apple on behalf of himself and others who had incurred unauthorized charges for game-related content. The suit alleged that Apple had been allowed to "pocket millions of dollars" on unauthorized transactions and that the company's password policy was insufficient to block such transactions. Apple moved to settle the case in late February, offering the claimants $5 iTunes credits and full refunds for claims over $30.
Comments
This is what happens when you think your iPad is the babysitter. What happened to parenting?! My son is 7 years old and in 1st grade. His iPad is locked with a password, which he knows, but he never use it without permission. Restrictions are on (again he knows the password) but when he wants to buy from the App Store or IAP he knows that I need to do these things not him. WTF wrong with these people!
Android has a "Kids Mode" App that locks the device so there are no in-app purchase possible. I think Apple should implement something similar: A kid mode that the user cannot change settings and a pre-set limit on how much the kid can spend a week or a month.
Apple, give us configurable, multiple user logins!!!
How about a AppleID for that unit without a CC on it. Plenty of free email host's out there. This will prevent "kid buy" syndrome by not even letting them buy anything.
You need a password for IAP currently. Even if you've entered your password already for a download, I believe you need it again--immediately, no delay--for IAP. Correct me if I have the current state of affairs wrong.
But there are hundreds if not thousands of iOS users, so stupid mistakes will be made. Guaranteed. Unless you ban ALL ADULTS from buying things on their phone, some adults will let kids do so too.
Obviously, I am referring to the bill being in pounds sterling.
Apple already has such stuff. But it is up to the owners to use it and not give their kid access o their credit card payment info through iTMS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NasserAE
This is what happens when you think your iPad is the babysitter. What happened to parenting?! My son is 7 years old and in 1st grade. His iPad is locked with a password, which he knows, but he never use it without permission. Restrictions are on (again he knows the password) but when he wants to buy from the App Store or IAP he knows that I need to do these things not him. WTF wrong with these people!
Agreed! Babysitter the iPad is not. Maybe the parents should not be coddled by Apple, that's what they have government, but rather have the parents pay the bill and the story would be... Parents, You Can Pay Attention or Pay Your BIll!
Just be thankful it was only money being racked up and that Apple initiates a app submission that must meet Apple standards. Your kid, instead of racking up a bill, could be redirected to adult sites, or talking to sexual predators, or someone trying to find out personal information... who knows what a kid could spill out?!
At least stay with the kid and watch him play a couple of levels of the game to see if this in-app purchasing draw is in there and poses a situation. If you are going to forfeit your responsibilities as a parent, then maybe you should forfeit your child as well!
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I think developers need to take a bit of responsibility here. Who decided that it would be a good idea to put a $99.99 IAP into a kids game? It's only going to cause trouble.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HawkBlade
How about a AppleID for that unit without a CC on it. Plenty of free email host's out there. This will prevent "kid buy" syndrome by not even letting them buy anything.
An iPad only with default apps is no fun for your kids and you need valid Apple ID's for services like iMessage, Game Center, iCloud backup… You will need to switch Apple ID's to install apps, Apple prevent iOS devices from changing Apple ID's multiple times (at least for automatic downloads), you get locked to that account for 90 days after one ID change.
You will also need to keep the free email accounts active otherwise any purchases will become invalid on your next device. Overall it's a crappy situation.
It would be easier if Apple gave iOS multiple logins, that way all the browser cookies, app settings & logins can be hidden from the kids whilst still allowing adults to use the device capabilities unhindered.
iOS just isn't designed for sharing. It seems like Apple want you to just buy a device to dedicate it to the kids, either they can't figure out how to make iOS multiuser, or they have other reasons for not doing so. Hopefully the competition will push them to making it work soon.
That's not completely accurate. You can have separate Apple ID for services (icloud, facetime, .. etc) and another for App Store purchases on the same device. I have an Apple ID for purchases only and I use it for all my ios devices (used by me, my wife, and my son) and each device use its users Apple ID for services like FaceTime, iMessages, iCloud, etc.
That's not true, I think. By default, the "IAP" is on and "require password" is 15 minutes.
I know this because I thought it was just like you said, but one day i had some guests over, and they recommended a (free) app. I downloaded it immediately and put the iPad back on the table. Now one of their kids grabbed the iPad and started playing a (different) game. Later that day I received an email from apple with a receipt for 10 euros in app purchases.
So I also contacted Apple Support, and they refunded the in app purchases. However I remember that I was quite pissed when I saw the initial receipt and I think it would be better to set Require Password to "Direct" by default. (Maybe put a hint in the password screen that you can easily remember the password for 15 minutes if you want that, by setting it in the "Restrictions" menu )
[BTW it didn't happen in the UK But in the Netherlands]
I agree with your general sentiment but most people simply aren't that tech savvy and I can see how someone who has to put in their password every time buy an app might not realize that it says in there for a certain time frame. They might not even know there is something called in-app purchases that would need to be considered.
That said, I do think so of the blame falls on them for not knowing what they are giving their children access to when they hand them their devices but I do think Apple needs to alter the way in-app purchases work. Make it so each time a password is required, regardless of when it was last put in, but offer a toggle in Settings with a warning of what this will allow. This not only saves these kinds of stories from happening with ignorant parents but also allows Apple to protect themselves and their brand by making it happen less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nagromme
You can already disable IAP, among other parental controls, but you probably don't even need to.... just don't give your kid a password that can take money from your credit card account!
You need a password for IAP currently. Even if you've entered your password already for a download, I believe you need it again--immediately, no delay--for IAP. Correct me if I have the current state of affairs wrong.
But there are hundreds if not thousands of iOS users, so stupid mistakes will be made. Guaranteed. Unless you ban ALL ADULTS from buying things on their phone, some adults will let kids do so too.
iOS is on millions of devices, so these kinds of PR debacles will come up. If Apple wanted to lessen the rate of occurrence, they could have the in app purchase feature disabled by default or allow allow some kind of purchasing limit to be set at an account level. Otherwise you're likely to continue reading similar stories. The use of "freemium" business models didn't seem that widespread a couple years ago.
I'd love to see a guest account in iOS where you can designate which apps can be used but I have a feeling Apple would rather just have you buy additional devices.