Kevin Bostic
As part of an ongoing response to the challenges enabled by in-app purchases, Apple has added a new section to the App Store explaining the ins and outs of app purchases.
The new section — titled "Learn More About In-App Purchases" — gives brief explanations on four topics: What Are In-App Purchases; Types of In-App Purchases; How In-App Purchases Work; and Parental Controls. The last section has links to Apple's Understanding Restrictions page and Parents' Guide.
The move is a part of Apple's ongoing efforts to deflect criticism over what some call a faulty in-app purchase system. Apple has come under fire lately after a number of children were able to run up sizable bills on their parents' charge accounts thanks to in-app purchases in so-called "freemium" games.
Apple has since kicked off a campaign to increase awareness of the potential pitfalls of in-app purchases. The company first rolled out warnings on in-app purchases in the OS X version of iTunes last month. An update to the iOS App Store followed shortly thereafter. Those updates place warnings beneath the app ratings that the app "Offers In-App Purchases."
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5 Comments
Parents failing to properly monitor their kids' App Store and in-app purchasing habits concerns me less than the high-profile lawsuits being filed against developers for implementing said in-app purchasing.
What's going on in that arena?
[quote name="SpamSandwich" url="/t/157202/apple-schools-ios-users-on-in-app-purchases-with-new-app-store-feature#post_2317743"]Parents failing to properly monitor their kids' App Store and in-app purchasing habits concerns me less than the high-profile lawsuits being filed against developers for implementing said in-app purchasing. What's going on in that arena? [/quote] Aren't the lawsuits against Apple?
There is an easy solution to this whole in-app purchasing thing. The problem: Kids click 'buy for 99c, buy for 99 c, buy for 99c', goes to ask dad for the password, screen only says 'enter password' and dad types it in. Ok. Until one day he clicks buy for 50$, buy for 99$. The enter password screen always looks the same for the dad. Why not show the item and price on the same screen where you enter a password? (like any other online checkout) Buy _____ for 50$? Enter Password ________ cancel / confirm. Apple needs to step up and start actively improving iOS. Every day, look for anything that can be improved, and get it done.
Settings should have an option to set seperare password for in app purchases. Of course it will still be Apple's fault if kid's use their parents' accounts without prior consent /s, but at least the ones with the wherewithal have a way to control their wayward charges.
"Learn More About In-App Purchases" Yeh, so as to 'leave us kids alone'. But one does wonder if kids really do want to spend $99 a time on those purchases. Suckering adults is obviously well accepted, but using their kids to do it has villainous undertones.