“Do in-app purchases take advantage of children and inadvertently cost parents way more money than they intended to spend? US Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) is worried that they do, and he has asked the Federal Trade Commission to look at the in-app purchase process offered by Apple and Google to see whether games that offer in-app purchases are unfairly marketed towards kids,” Jacqui Cheng reports for Ars Technica.
“Stories about children inadvertently spending thousands of dollars inside of their parents’ iPhone apps have circulated around the Web over the last year or so,” Cheng reports. “Parents need to enter a password the first time in order to authorize a purchase (or an app download), but iOS devices don’t ask for the password again until some period of time has passed, leaving eager kids to their own devices if parents aren’t careful.”
Cheng reports, “This phenomenon is hardly new, though it has gained more attention recently thanks to coverage from the mainstream press. That coverage is what led Markey to pen his letter (PDF) to the FTC, asking it to review the issue and possibly educate consumers about the dangers of in-app purchases. He also asked the Commission to determine whether Apple, Google, and app developers are engaging in deceptive marketing practices when they advertise games to kids.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is a real issue and it should go without saying that parents need to discuss the ramifications with their kids or not give them their password. Still, Apple needs to do a better job of preventing kids from making such purchases, perhaps by making it very costly to developers who attempt to take advantage of children. Tell developers that repeat offenders will lose App Store access, enforce it, and such unscrupulous practices will decline precipitously.
Of course, there’s always Settings>General>Restrictions>In-App Purchases “Off.”
Parents need to lock those out. They always blame others for their responsibility. I have to enter a password for any purchases.
Dito. Apple can’t be held responsible for parents careless.
Yup. I can’t buy a thing on my iPhone/iPad/MacBook without entering my 24 digit alphanumeric password.
Parents, tighten up YOUR security.
Agreed. More of the same old Lazy / Too Busy Parent Syndrome.
Take personal responsibility for your choices! Put your kids back at the top of the list again! Apple provide tools to help your kids. Use them! Stop blaming others for YOUR faults! Be the grownup, not the irresponsible kid.
Agreed. You can’t fix stupid!
Unlike regular purchases which remember your login credentials and allows multiple subsequent purchases without re-entring a password, in-app purchases should require the password every time. That way, if purchases are going through by children, it’s because they have the password (more than likely, supplied by the stupid parents).
http://taketotask.wordpress.com/
After a purchase and before letting your kids have the IOS device, re-boot.
You shouldn’t have to do that. A simple global preference setting to require passwords for each in-app purchase, or even Apple requiring developers to have this preference in their apps or not be able to participate in in-app purchases, would solve the problem.
That is done to make it easier when you are shopping the App Store or iTunes, so it just carries over to in-app purchases.
Maybe a preference for that would work, but I actually like it staying on for a bit. That is why I just reboot.
There IS a preference in the parental controls. You can just turn off In-app purchases.
This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. The parents gave their kid the iTunes account password.
That’s like dropping your kid off at the candy store with your debit card and PIN. Ummmm … what do you expect a kid to do?
I don’t think a lot of parents realize that you don’t have to enter your iTunes password every time you make a purchase once it was entered. That’s the problem, but it is easily rectified by Apple either having a global preference to always require the password or requiring all apps to have an internal preference (the default would be to require passwords). Frankly, most parents don’t play games and may have no idea that you can even do in-app purchases.
No, it isn’t an issue, not for the friggin federal government!
You tie a credit card/bank account to something, give your kids access and then leave them to their own devices, you are a FOOL, who got what they deserved. PERIOD
Wasting federal dollars, as if it is the federal governments role to educate idiot parents. Whats next ebay classes? Schedule them right after my sexting class please.
It’s called PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY, or; “stupid is as stupid does” Now we need to legislate common sense, it will not end until the state thinks for you and makes all your decisions..
Leave it to a donkey from MA, freaking massholes..
sorry but something is not completely cooked.
my wife entered in password for daughter and I got a 700 bill.
freaked out three days later seeing the receipt in email I spoke with wife and daughter, 7 years old. both said the app said the stuff was free. I checked it out and it was very confusing for me. switching mirrors so to speak. I called apple and they reversed the charges. wife and daughter banned for one week.
apple did the right thing .
That’s why you never, ever let your wife and/or kids have your iTunes password when they’re using the Apple Store app! 😉 I hope you enjoy that new iPad.
you can’t legislate (or dictate) away stupidity.
No, but lovers of government believe you can thoroughly insulate stupid people from themselves.
Exactly.
Understanding the device and knowing how to protect the password; is this Apple or the Parents’ responsibility, I figure a bit of both. Apple needs to enforce and educate those parents who are new to the device which will be in the hands of their children. Redeem cards are an excellent alternative for the parent to control spending. But Apple needs to get this message out in front now to make clarity and differentiate from the Android pack; then Apple shall be yet again the winning choice.
There is a setting just turn on parental controls to not allow in app purchases.
Exactly! If people would just RTFM they’d know to just turn off In-App Purchasing within the Restrictions preferences. Ugh!
How about turning off 1 click purchase in iTunes. No way to do that!
Why did Apple remove the shopping cart preference?
Click on the arrow next to “buy” and select ‘Add to Wish List”. It’s very similar to the old shopping cart.
It’s NOT the developer’s fault!! Christ MDN! the in-app purchasing is run by Apple…as are the Parental Controls. This is Apple’s issue and should be better handled by Parental Controls.
Uhh, it is. TURN IT OFF. SIMPLE
Obviously it can’t be the parents fault. Nobody is held accountable for their actions anymore. We need more government regulation to protect us from our own stupidity.
@ mdmac
No It’s not just Apple’s Fault so stop pointing the finger at just one entity.
The Problem is with all parties involved,
1.) Parents need to be more Responsible with C/C info.
2.) Apple needs to work with Developers to add a Level of Extra Security to In-App purchases to allow the “15 Minute” Grace Period to be canceled and for a constant Password’s to be asked at every purchase.
————
*(SARCASM ON)
And how can you blame Apple for this, Let see…
*Apple Told the Parent to give the Phone to the Child.. >>>>>>> Lets Blame Apple..
*Apple Forced the Parent to put in a password for their iTunes Account therefore giving the child Access to in-App Purchases.. >>>>>>> Lets Blame Apple..
*Apple in it’s Wisdom has NOT Set Guidelines that only persons of age 17 or older Legally Can use the App Store & Make Purchases through iTunes. But Again.. >>>>>>> Lets Blame Apple..
No mdmac, you want only one finger to point at and that is at Apple, it just won’t work that way, But your entitled to your own theory.
*(SARCASM OFF)
————
In Closing, Parents Need to be More Responsible, I Have 2 of my own “Now Young Adults” in College and they turned out fine, It’s not because you are a good Parent, It’s when you can say “NO” when they are younger that helps establish a understanding with your child that makes you a Better Parent.
Apple requires entry of a password for the installation of a free app. After downloading an app, you are kept logged in. A free app can have costly in app purchase, including apps aimed at children who don’t have an adult understanding of spending money. The option for in app purchase is off under system settings, and defaults to on rather than off.
That this is a problem is basic failure mode analysis, something that has always been sadly lacking in software development. Poor failure mode analysis is poorly understood by the public, and there is a lack of underdstanding that bad failure mode analysis is plain old bad engineering.
Bitch about markey all you like…the most likely result of his letter will be that apple will set the default to what it should have been in the first place–to require the user action to allow in app purchases rather than to require user action to disallow such purchases.
Apple is know for good design, for being user friendly, and markets itself as being trustworthy and unusually protective of the user. Good failure mode analysis should be expected of apple.
If you tie an account to a pre-paid credit card, then you can strictly control your potential liability.
My four kids have handled things fine so far. One inadvertently almost bought an album in iTunes that I already had, but I fixed it. In the general scheme of things, that was pretty minor.
I tend to agree with people who say that this is primarily a parental responsibility and not a Government responsibility. For example, if you give a kid a cell phone, what’s to stop them from making overseas calls and racking up a major phone bill. Is that “turned off by default?” Give me a break…But *please* cease and desist your knee jerk reaction to automatically assign a political link to a topic. I have seen plenty of people from both major political parties go whining to the Government when something did not go right for them. Most of the time, a strong application of personal responsibility is the best cure for what ails you.
Sorry, but if you are spending money you should be asked for your password every. Single. Time.
(I trust Apple to have good reasons behind what they do, but what I have seen over the years is when something is wrong it gets fixed within a few updates.)
I agree that this should not be a government issue. However, I believe there are companies that are targeting kids and knowing that they will have the potential of making lots of money at the expense of parents. The most blatant one is the Smurfs Village app. The app is free and can be played without ever making an in app purchase. However, if you don’t want to wait hours before your “crops” grow and your “houses” are built, you have to purchase Smurfberries. They have options to buy one or a wheelbarrow full. They range from $0.99 to near $60. The problem is that this app is not asking for the password for the in app purchases. Hundreds of dollars worth of Smurfberries get charged to the credit card.
This really comes down to parents being uneducated about how the apps really work. The kid wants to get a free game based on a cartoon (plus a movie coming out this year) and the parent sees no problem with it. The kid begins to play and then are offered Smurfberries at a cost. Many kids do not know that these actually cost real money. My kids play Internet games where they earn coins that can be used for other things. These do not cost any real money but the coins are in their virtual bank.
I think an attempt to educate parents will probably go unnoticed. One of two things need to happen. Either have the in app purchase default to being off and only allow it to be enabled with the iTunes password used to purchase apps. Of course it would need to be connected to iTunes to turn it on and then a big warning could come up explaining implications of in app purchases. The other option is to require the password every time.
What is it with politicians (especially Democrats) and their insatiable need to control every aspect of our lives for ‘our own good’?
From eating the wrong food to driving the wrong car and now to parenting.
Look, this is an individual responsibility. If a parent is stupid enough to let a kid purchase apps without supervision, that’s their fault.
Doesn’t Congress have some actual important things to worry about?
What is it with politicians (especially Republicans) and their insatiable need to control every aspect of our lives for ‘our own good’? They seem to care so much about what happens in other peoples homes, in private, and whether it offends their religious sensibilities.
Rant over. There was no need to target one political party, when both have sinned in over-meddling.
In this case, I’m more interested in what Google has set up. If iOS needs more protection (which is why the FTC is having this discussion), I suspect that Android is in much deeper waters.
Did my taxes last night with TurboTax. Opted for the “free” e-file at the end. After I get way into the e-filing process it turns out that the Fed e-file is free, but the State e-file is $19.95. On top of that, a little further down the road you find out that if you want to use a credit card to pay any taxes due there’s a $29.95 surcharge. So then I get all done and it says I may have to print out a form or two. Turns out it’s the payment voucher, which I then need to mail in. SORT OF DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF E-FILING, FOR WHICH I PAID $19.95!!!!
This is the kind of cynical, “screw them once and run” business philosophy that is all too rampart in our brave new “business is royalty” world. When corporations become conscience-less, sociopathic monsters it’s time to put a regulatory collar on them.
what are kids doing with cellphones. its as twisted as the games that pop up for infants and young children for the iphones… iphones are not childrens/infants toys.
The stupid american uftc should investigate home phones too now.. and if you should be allowed to direct dial long distance because some kids pick up telephones and dial hongcouver or new zealand and rack up mommy and daddy’s home telephone line.. oh wait, its still allowed to direct dial? what? responsibility? on american children? AS IF! america, wake up. stop fluffing off responsibility onto others because youre too ignorant to BLOCK apps from doing things without a PASSWORD, a small thing called safeguarding. Try it. The rest of the world has.