The Threat from In-App Purchases and How They Can Cost You

Some of our readers are full time operators and contractors that fight for us and our way of life. Some of our readers are also parents and Imminent Threats come in all shapes in sizes; from physical to electronic.

What I want to touch on today and bring awareness to, are Imminent Threats to your family’s finances. Threats so underhanded they make my blood boil.

Let me explain…

In-App Purchases

I have two boys, ages 9 and 6. Both have an iTouch and they are well used, trust me. Since we’ve had several snow days here in Texas they’ve been getting more use than normal. My youngest son brought me his iTouch because there was a “FREE” game he wanted me to download for him.

Because the downloads are password protected, they have to ask for permission for anything that needs to be downloaded. This allows for two things. First, my wife and I can censor the content that our boys download. Meaning no big boob apps or explicit songs from iTunes. Second, it doesn’t give them free range to buy the “I am Rich” app for $1,000 from the app store.

So being the great Dad I am, I downloaded the free app for my son and he was on his way. A little while later I noticed he left the iTouch out on the kitchen table, being naturally curious, I picked it up and noticed there was a pop-up for an in-app purchase. “Buy a bucket of stars!” $99.99.  What!?

That’s right, the in-app purchases on your kids iTouch can rack up some big bills. I saw a report today in the news that a 6-year-old little girl spent $1400 in 10 minutes.

What you Can Do

Here’s how you fix it.  The process is extremely simple. Got to Settings => General => Restrictions => Enter Pin => Enable Restrictions => Turn In-App Purchase OFF!

You’ll also notice that you can tighten the reins of censorship from your child such as YouTube, installing Apps, locations services and explicit content from music or podcasts.

Hopefully this article will help our parents out there to avoid future headaches and sore throats from yelling.