MSE News: Warning: Are your kids playing these iPhone app games?

Former_MSE_Helen

"MoneySavingExpert.com has found a host of iPhone games which charge up to £70 a pop for virtual items..."

Read the full story:

Warning: Are your kids playing these iPhone app games?




Please report other costly apps in this forum thread and include:

A. The app name, or game name if it's an online game
B. What type of device you use it on eg, Apple/Android/Blackberry/ Windows or via the internet.
C. What items it asks you to buy when playing the game.
D. How expensive these in-app purchases are.


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antdon

I have an Android Nexus & tablet that my 8 year old son uses occasionally...
The same applys here.
Some of the free games charge for 'extras'.
Even worse... Some of the games actually make it hard for a child to distinguish between real money and virtual money....

Perhaps an Ipad and Anroid 'name and shame list@ would be helpful...

Takeaway_Addict

antdon wrote: »

I have an Android Nexus & tablet that my 8 year old son uses occasionally...
The same applys here.
Some of the free games charge for 'extras'.
Even worse... Some of the games actually make it hard for a child to distinguish between real money and virtual money....

Perhaps an Ipad and Anroid 'name and shame list@ would be helpful...

So have you put the correct blocks in place considering you are allowing an 8 year old to play with your tablet?

If not its hardly the companies fault and if you have at least you are being responsible.

lazyjack

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

So have you put the correct blocks in place considering you are allowing an 8 year old to play with your tablet?

If not its hardly the companies fault and if you have at least you are being responsible.

It is most definitely the software house's fault. Most parents wouldn't even know that 'in-app' purchases existed, never mind how much they could cost or how to block them.

This is a deliberate attempt by the app writers to entice people (mainly kids) with cheap (or free) apps, in the hope that at some point they click to make an in-app purchase (sometimes a very expensive purchase).

Not sure on Android but for Apple, my recommendation is to block in-app purchases through the Settings > General > Restrictions page.

Alternatively, login to the iTunes account and remove all payment methods from the payment screen. Then purchase £15 iTunes cards as and when you need them so the most you can lose is the amount of credit in the account.

Komododragon

Sorry had to sign up to MSE after seeing this article (even though I've been a long term user).

There have been a couple of other articles similar to this and any comments seem to degenerate into the same self righteous comments about how parents should turn off in-app purchases and should take responsibility.

While I agree that parents need to be very careful when it comes to letting their kids getting/seeing their passwords, the majority of these cases - which result in refunds - aren't about parents who don't take responsibility for what is and isn't downloaded.

It's about the 15 min password window and more specifically the automatic opt-in to in-app purchases. The bottom line is most parents, especially those looking after 1/2/3 young children and all that comes with that (lack of sleep, lack of energy, short term memory loss, premature ageing, running a household, full-time job, childcare issues) don't have the time to read every little bit of info about the operating system they just updated on their phone/tablet.

Now if I remember correctly the opt in/opt out in-app purchase feature didn't come onto the operating system until one of the later versions (on Apple which I use). And when it did I'm pretty sure Apple weren't shouting about how everyone is being opted into it.

And even if they were it's the sort of thing some people are just gonna miss if they have a busy schedule. Some people just want the device to work and really haven't the time to find out how - that's just life.

Bottom line is a lot of people won't know about it until an accident has happened.

I was one of those people.

Same old story - bought an app for my son, had a quick look at it, gave tablet to him and then went to empty the diarrhea filled nappy of the youngest all within 15 minutes. Next day got an email saying I'd made £25 worth of in-app purchases (no password required). The boy didn't even realise he'd done anything just touching buttons on the screen.

I've turned it off now that I know about the automatic opt-in. There is a simple solution to this and that's to let people CHOOSE to turn in-app purchasing on as you do with e-commerce sites and 1-click ordering. There's absolutely no reason to have in-app purchasing automatically on. Any user that wants to buy something within an app WILL always find out how to do it (I've watched enough user testing and seen enough user testing reports to know this)

hanlou007

Anyone that this has happened to is just being irresponsible.
If the adult doesn't know what the app is and how things can be purchased then they shouldn't be downloading it onto their phone..........
If a supermarket charged you for things that got dropped into your trolley and your 5 year old child lobbed anything and everything into it whilst on a shopping trip, most people would
A/ never shop their again or B/ not let their child go anywhere near it.

Common sense again has to be taken out of everything for the few who have none

BlueCow1975

To be honest.......it is all too easy to blame parents for being irresponsible. While I agree that it is pertinent to exercise some degree of common sense with these things which obviously is parental responsibility I do have to agree with kimododragon.

Firstly, companies charging £69.99 etc for a "virtual bag of jewels" etc for an app designed for children quite frankly should be ashamed of themselves. Personally, I think app's designed for children need to be regulated and should not be allowed to charge for in app purchases / or at the very least be restricted in what they do charge . This should be very clearly explained at the point of download.

In some cases, my son has started to play on a novelty app and it is only later into the game that I realised that additional purchase options existed. I now only have a couple on my phone that my kids can access and I know they are OK for them.

Bottom line is the companies are out to rip people off. Let's think about targeting them rather than just having a pop at the parents.

Jimbo96

lazyjack wrote: »

Most parents wouldn't even know that 'in-app' purchases existed, never mind how much they could cost or how to block them.

Then that is a highly irresponsible parent. Why would any parent NOT read the user guide for an expensive gadget with internet access to find out what it is capable of before either buying it, or giving it to a child to use?

It's not like these features are hidden away, or the functions to block them...

Who would the parents blame if the child accessed pornography via the web browser?

Who would the parents blame if the child dialled easily accessible premium rate telephone numbers?

Parents need to take responsibility for their actions, especially as the functions to prevent such mishaps are easily activated.

Tablets and smartphones are not sold as surrogate babysitters!

Komododragon

hanlou007 wrote: »

Anyone that this has happened to is just being irresponsible.
If the adult doesn't know what the app is and how things can be purchased then they shouldn't be downloading it onto their phone..........
If a supermarket charged you for things that got dropped into your trolley and your 5 year old child lobbed anything and everything into it whilst on a shopping trip, most people would
A/ never shop their again or B/ not let their child go anywhere near it.

Common sense again has to be taken out of everything for the few who have none

Sorry but think that's very unfair

Like I said it's happened to me. A pity you have to label everyone it has happened to as irresponsible when you have no idea about their circumstances. It's not the app that's the problem (even though developers are exploiting a loophole), it's the phones operating system which at no point after an update warns you or lets you know about a feature that has led to so much trouble (I disabled it once I knew about it as others have done).

I'll say again, either let people know about it when they upgrade their software or let them CHOOSE to turn it on.

Not sure I understand supermarket example - if child threw stuff in trolley I'd be able to take items out of my shop at checkout before paying. Automatic IAP doesn't let you do that - a problem if you don't know about it.

catmonkey85

Thanks Martin for educating those of us who didn't know that this could happen and didn't know that you could turn off in app purchases.

I'm sure it's in the instructions, but then there's probably 500 pages of instructions to read online and I have better things to do with my time. I don't have kids, but know that there are some great apps out there to develop children's minds. Clearly you need to be selective!

Again, thanks for bringing this to the attention of the masses, even if it has annoyed those geniuses who no it all and would never let children play with such things.

Jimbo96

Komododragon wrote: »

It's about the 15 min password window

...which can very easily be turned off in the Settings.

Komododragon wrote: »

and more specifically the automatic opt-in to in-app purchases.

To download ANYTHING from the AppStore (even free apps) you need an AppleID, which requires verification details such as credit card details, name, address, security questions, password etc. so a child should not be setting up such an account anyway.

If you've gone through the whole 5-10 minute process of creating an AppleID and giving Apple your payment details, (in your oh-so-busy schedule) then the extra 20 seconds required to turn off the In-App Purchase options should not impact you too much.

And since these devices cost several hundred pounds, or require a contract, they are not often bought by children, they are sold to adults who should have the sense to check the suitability of the product for use by minors, and utilise any of the included precautions as they see fit BEFORE giving it to the child.

Why should the vast majority of adults who purchase these devices have to go through extra steps just to turn back on features that you want turned off by default just because of the lazy minority who buy them to babysit their kids for them?

YOU are the child's parent, not Apple, so YOU decide what rules and restrictions should be in place before passing the device to YOUR child.

Your internet connection is not provided with all child unsuitable content blocked. If you want to block such content from your child, YOU setup the restrictions to do so.

Your TV service is not provided with unsuitable channels and programmes blocked. If you want to block certain channels, you use the features of the TV or set top box to do so.

Your telephone service is not provided with premium rate numbers blocked. If you want to stop your child from dialling them, you use the features provided by your telecoms company to do so.

Its not all done by default, so why do you expect a tablet or smartphone to be locked down when you buy it?