7 year old daughter accidentally run up £250 bill for itunes app? *Now updated*

DCFC79

robt wrote: »

Not entirely sure how Apple are stealing money when the child was given the password to use.

mmm yes, apple didnt steal the money as it was given to them

eslick

jayme1 wrote: »

yeah this kind of situation has happened before.

this is how you turn off all in app purchases (will at least stop this from happening in future)
http://www.cultofmac.com/how-to-disable-in-app-purchases/72481

now I am more confused, see the comments at the bottom of the page, should it be on or off

answered my own question looks like it should be off.

The_Grandmaster

This was on watchdog as the OP said. I think refunds were being offered for this.

truthman007

DCFC79 wrote: »

mmm yes, apple didnt steal the money as it was given to them

Once you entered password for something else, it stays nearly 30 min. That time easy to make purchase by anyone.

poppy10_2

truthman007 wrote: »

It happened to me, it is called in-build app buy, i cannot believe Apple allow this kind of spam. It is like a SPAM apple help, app provider to steal all your money i think Apple get 50% of that sale.

As a parent you always have choices in life:

(A) don't install the crappy app without researching it first

(B) if you do install the crappy app without researching it first, don't let your kid play on it unsupervised

(C) if you do install the crappy app without researching it first and let your kid play on it unsupervised, disable in-app purchases on the iPhone settings

(D) if you do install the crappy app without researching it first, let your kid play on it unsupervised, and don't bother to turn off in-app purchases, then don't give your kid the password to an iTunes account which is linked directly to your bank account.

Apple do need to shoulder some of the blame here, but that shouldn't take away any personal responsibility.

[Deleted User]

And my daughter wonders why I won't give her any of the passwords for itunes!

Owain_Moneysaver

Humphrey10 wrote: »

When buying in app purchases like this the app says 'do you want to buy X for £Y?' or similar, when you click on the buy button. Making it very obvious that real money is being spent, there is no way it could be made clearer. Wouldn't a 7 year old knows what money is (I honestly have no idea about what age children start having an idea about money, so sorry if 7 is too young!)?

(My emphasis on your post) I think it's easy for a child to misunderstand that "pretend gold" is being bought with "pretend money", even if they understand that parcels from Amazon cost "real money".

Also although a 7-year old has probably got a fairly good grasp of how many comics = 1 instalment of pocket money, they probably don't understand that repeatedly spending 1 instalment of pocket money very quickly adds up to Mummy and Daddy having no money for food or petrol, etc.

amcluesent

Another reason only to use £10 or £15 vouchers for iTunes. There's far too many examples of iTunes being hacked/phished and peeps credit cards being used to purchase £££s of apps.

jayme1

I guess the point is apple could very easily stop these inadvertant in-app purchases dead by simply setting the default to 'off', it is painlessly easy for someone who would then want to use in-app function to turn back 'on'

or (along the lines of android with 'this app has access to' feature) when you are just about to buy an app simply give a quick very clear warning that the app contains in-app purchases

but since apple get a 30% cut of these sales even if 10% of all this has happened to dont ring up demanding a refund it will be worth it leaving it on for apple, (though I would think that far more than 10% will just pay it)

globetraveller

You can at least know that you have warned a lot of others. Its a sharp learning curve isn't it?