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MSE News: 'Immoral' My Little Pony game tempts kids to spend £70 on 'virtual gems'
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If you don't set a pin on the restrictions section its not really a restriction as little Jonny can disabling it because he wants to download something.
Well not really, because you still would need to enter the password to buy.
Plus a lot of the purchases being reported are very young children who are just clicking 'Buy 1000 coins' without understanding what they are doing. They are not going to be poking around in restrictions menus.0 -
Yes but why is it on in the first place?
I don't understand why you are encouraging people to make their devices less convenient by turning on the pass code (which I can understand the reasoning behind), but you are then saying that it's a major breach of your rights to have the re-enter password option OFF by default.
Customers buying an ipad are not told that there is a 15-minute window (well maybe in among 300 pages of small print). You buy an app, you enter your password, then the next day you buy another app, again you enter your password, you have no reason to believe that someone could borrow your iPad within the next 15 minutes and run up thousands of pounds in purchases without your consent.
It is far from obvious that this occurs, there's no option to change it on itunes setting page; restrictions should be a separate settings menu, but it isn't, and to turn it on, you have to set another password, which you might not want to do.
It's on because EVERYTHING in the Restrictions menu defaults to adult/ least restricted/ whatever your chosen phraseology is and it's for the user or responsible adult to set up parental controls/ passcode for when the gadget is idle/ block in app purchases/ change the 15 minute window. The defaults are completely consistent, you want one changed you should be campaigning for them ALL to change so Apple treats all users like four year olds.
I am encouraging everyone to adjust and use the settings to best protect themselves and any other authorised users of their gadgets. I set a passcode in case mine got stolen (it leaves the house in my handbag), blocked in app purchases (can't trust myself to pay attention), left the fifteen minutes thing, left all the parental controls to adult films/ TV/ lyrics (no children use my handset).
When you were setting up your iPhone or iPad's parental controls in the Restrictions menu in the Settings menu did you not wonder what the fifteen minutes was for? Or read the sentence which says "Require password for purchases"? Or is the iPad is set up completely differently to the iPhone?
What on earth would be the point in Apple OR the user setting up parental controls/ restrictions and then not password protecting that menu? Why is it awkward to have another password for a part of the gadget you only use infrequently? AGAIN if you set in app purchases to OFF the whole fifteen minute window argument is redundant.
What use is it having all the restrictions within your iTunes account when there is a minimum age of 13 to hold one anyway?? That would block everything on ALL your linked devices, including your work/ adult only MacBook (if you had one). It's the GADGET you set the parental controls and block in app purchases on, that is the mini computer people hand to their little soldier unsupervised or buy for their teenager.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Well not really, because you still would need to enter the password to buy.
Plus a lot of the purchases being reported are very young children who are just clicking 'Buy 1000 coins' without understanding what they are doing. They are not going to be poking around in restrictions menus.
And again, read the blurb on iTunes before you download the game, the cost of the in app purchases is CRYSTAL clear
Basically there are multiple levels of protection. You can say "but what if you didn't read the blurb, didn't adhere to the age recommendations, didn't explore the Restrictions menu, didn't set up parental controls, didn't read the instructions booklet, didn't supervise your very young child, didn't want to set up a password, don't want to buy an iTunes voucher ... ??"
And you'd be right. But that's lazy parenting, not Apple failing to protect your credit card from your child. More information on NOT using a credit card on the link I posted earlier
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4406667Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
And again, read the blurb on iTunes before you download the game, the cost of the in app purchases is CRYSTAL clear
Eh?
That's a screenshot from a PC.
My Little Pony does not run on a PC, it runs on an ipad and most people download from the App Store on the ipad/iphone.
In fact it isn't crystal clear at all:
If you scroll down, you can see this:
It is not what any reasonable person would call crystal-clear.Basically there are multiple levels of protection. You can say "but what if you didn't read the blurb, didn't adhere to the age recommendations, didn't explore the Restrictions menu, didn't set up parental controls, didn't read the instructions booklet, didn't supervise your very young child, didn't want to set up a password, don't want to buy an iTunes voucher ... ??"
And you'd be right. But that's lazy parenting, not Apple failing to protect your credit card from your child. More information on NOT using a credit card on the link I posted earlier
It is described as a free game, and the age recommendations are 4+.
The Restrictions menu is actually a submenu, and far from obvious or intuitive. The parental controls ARE the Restrictions menu, so that's the same point twice.
The ipad DOES NOT COME WITH AN INSTRUCTION BOOKLET.
As for 'supervising the very young child', this just brings me back to my point about childless troglodytes. It does not make you a bad parent because you don't feel the need to sit there staring at My Little F***ing Pony while your child plays with it, or constantly supervise them with everything they do for every second of the day. It's absurd to even suggest this to be honest.
We are talking about 4 and 5-year-old children here, while older children/teenagers might be browsing the web, trying to access pornography and other things, and you should be supervising or restricting their access to the internet, children of this age just want to play with My Little Pony, and it should be perfectly safe to let them pla on these apps! This isn't a general 'parental controls' issue, it's a specific issue relating to in-app purchases, which Apple choose to ship as insecure.0 -
It's on because EVERYTHING in the Restrictions menu defaults to adult/ least restricted/ whatever your chosen phraseology is and it's for the user or responsible adult to set up parental controls/ passcode for when the gadget is idle/ block in app purchases/ change the 15 minute window. The defaults are completely consistent, you want one changed you should be campaigning for them ALL to change so Apple treats all users like four year olds.
No that doesn't follow.
When I log on to my bank account, I must enter a password.
I can view my accounts and so on, but after a few minutes of inactivity it will time out and you have to login again. However, if I want to make a payment, I must re-enter my password each time.
The 15 minute timeout on purchases is entirely arbitrary on Apple's part. So to claim that that arbitrary insecure setting is anyway analogous to say shipping with adult content being blocked is just wrong.
The restrictions sub-menu contains these options:
block Safari
block Camera
block Facetime
block itunes
block installing apps
block deleting apps
block siri
block explicit language
block explicit music
block movies, or block u/pg/12/15/18 movies
block tv shows, or block explicit shows
block apps, or block 4+/9+/12+/17+ apps
block in-app purchases
block adding friends
block multiplayer games
block changes to location services/contacts/calendars/reminders/photos/bluetooth/twitter/facebook/volume/mail accounts
require password: immediately or every 15 minutes
Now, one of these is not like all of the others.
Can you tell me which one it is?What on earth would be the point in Apple OR the user setting up parental controls/ restrictions and then not password protecting that menu? Why is it awkward to have another password for a part of the gadget you only use infrequently? AGAIN if you set in app purchases to OFF the whole fifteen minute window argument is redundant.
I personally do use in-app purchases so I haven't turned them off.
I do not however see any reason why the ipad should by default ship with the setting to leave a 15-minute window when access to your credit card is open.
The restrictions passcode is a red herring in that respect, because this setting could be set to 'immediately' by default.0 -
It is not what any reasonable person would call crystal-clear.
Thats not what I see on my iPad, the fact there are in app purchases is clearly on the left. Yes it only list the top 5 but thats not exactly hidden.
http://postimage.org/image/3l593c4dl/It is described as a free game, and the age recommendations are 4+.
Did you open the menu's? When you click MORE by the description (this is via my iphone hence the smaller screens) you get the following, which even tells you if you dont want to use cash then to disable in app purchases
http://postimage.org/image/z3lck08q1/
Which clears says it's free but you may wish to use money to advance, similarly clicking the TOP IN APP PURCHASES fold out the prices.
http://postimage.org/image/p4vsjs9wp/The ipad DOES NOT COME WITH AN INSTRUCTION BOOKLET.
Yes it does, every iDevice has a help file for it online and the simple getting started sheet you get with it refers you to Safari and the link, Do people read it is another matter.0 -
Thats not what I see on my iPad
That looks like an iphone?
In the recent news story the device was an ipad, which as I have shown doesn't show you this.Did you open the menu's? When you click MORE by the description (this is via my iphone hence the smaller screens) you get the following, which even tells you if you dont want to use cash then to disable in app purchases
There are two 'more' links as well as other collapsible sections.
The fact that the game costs money is, on the ipad at least, hidden.Yes it does, every iDevice has a help file for it online
That wasn't the point the previous poster was making. S/he was saying you just need to read the supplied manual to see about the restrictions.
This is false.0 -
That looks like an iphone?
In the recent news story the device was an ipad, which as I have shown doesn't show you this. .
First image is an iPad, 2 and 3 are my iPhone, image 1 says no SIM as it's a 3g/WiFI iPad.There are two 'more' links as well as other collapsible sections.
The fact that the game costs money is, on the ipad at least, hidden.
On yours not mine. I went in via search then the app.
It's not exaclty hidden, its clearly marked there is more info. Can you expant the DESCRIPTION and IN APP PURCHASES MORE tabs on yours and post those please.
Do people read details before they click buy is a differnet matter.That wasn't the point the previous poster was making. S/he was saying you just need to read the supplied manual to see about the restrictions.
This is false.
When was the last time you got a full printed manual with any device, every iDevice has an online one, most other devices come with a getting started sheet and a CD or web link.
Apple are no different to other vendors in that respect.
NO ONE reads a 300 page physical manual, at least an online one is seachable.
The information is not "hidden" it's there if the end user wants to look. If they don't look at a web link they won't look at a big book either.0 -
It's not exaclty hidden, its clearly marked there is more info. Can you expant the DESCRIPTION and IN APP PURCHASES MORE tabs on yours and post those please.
Here's mine with the "more" section expanded. It's pretty clear there are in app purchases and says if you don't want them they should be disabled.
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