Andrea Smith2013-03-30 00:14:39 UTC
Apps have become an important part of many kids' lives. There are educational apps that lend a hand in teaching math and history skills, apps for staying in touch with parents, and apps that just read you a story when no one else is around. But when no one else is around is when some kids get into trouble — racking up huge charges from in-app purchases from free apps and games.
There have been numerous stories in the past few weeks of kids making in-app purchases while playing a free game on their parent's iPad. Some adults call the added costs deceptive, others say it's too difficult to monitor. One parent went so far as to report his son for fraud so he could try to recoup the charge from his credit card company.
Apple, in February, agreed to pay around $100 million in compensation in a class action lawsuit to parents whose children ran up bills using the app store. In response to that lawsuit, Apple now puts an "Offers In-App Purchases" disclaimer on freemium apps in the iTunes App Store.
Many comments on the stories about these "accidental purchases" (many of which Apple refunded) put the blame squarely on app developers and app stores. One parent asks, "Why does the tech giant (Apple) make it so easy for kids to buy add-ons?"
The fact is, if you have a password and a credit card stored on your device, you're pretty much responsible for what happens on that device. What's important is that parents understand how the app store works, and what controls they have over their kid's purchases.
The good news is, restrictions and controls are available for most of the platforms — and they should be implemented. Here's how:
Apple makes it possible to restrict in-app purchases for both iTunes and iOS devices. Go to the Settings menu of your device, click General and then Restrictions. Click the tab on the top that reads Enable Restrictions. You'll be prompted to choose a PIN for this and you should NOT share it with your kids. Once that's confirmed, scroll down to the Allowed Content list. You'll see iTunes, Installing Apps, and various other settings you can change, such as restricting your child from listening to explicit music.
Scroll down and, mid-way down, you'll find an option for In-App Purchases. Simply toggle this on or off. You can choose whether you want the protection to take effect immediately or let you keep purchasing for 15 minutes. If you're handing your device off to your kids, click immediately.
To make changes or disable controls, go back in using your selected PIN.
If you're using iTunes on the web, Apple offers instructions for setting parental controls in iTunes here.
In the Google Play store, you can set a pin or password that must be entered before you can make a purchase. If it's just you using the device, you can check a box to turn that off. If you're sharing with your kids, keep that feature turned on and don't share your password.
Every Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD has the Kindle FreeTime app loaded on it. Parents can create accounts for their kids showing exactly which content they can access.
Kids are locked into FreeTime mode and can only access content their parent has pre-approved. Using this feature, parents can also limit the amount of time each child spends with each type of content. For instance, you can set a half hour of games each day, or perhaps an hour for reading. To go back to the regular Kindle Fire UI, a parent must enter the password to get out of FreeTime mode.
Kindle also offers FreeTime Unlimited, a paid subscription service that offers content based on a child's age. There are thousands of popular books, games, apps, and videos for kids to choose from. It's a paid feature, with a discount for Amazon Prime members.
Barnes & Noble recently announced in-app purchases are "coming soon" to its line of e-reader and tablet devices. In a statement, Nook Media's vice president, Claudia Romanini, said, "We look forward to adding thousands of more apps that feature in-app purchasing over the coming weeks and months to expand Nook's already wide array of digital content offerings."
Barnes & Noble declined to give Mashable details of any parental controls they might be implementing. However, you can set up a user profile for each child on your Nook that sets specific content they can and can't access. You can also limit their ability to access the Nook store and the web browser. You need to do this for each child.
If you use a Windows Phone 8 device, you can set up a child profile that restricts where your kids can go and what they can do on your phone. In fact, for apps like Pandora, Kids Corner lets you automatically filter out the explicit content you don't want your kids to hear. There's a how-to here. We just wish you had the ability to set up a profile for each child in Kids Corner. As of now, there's only one profile available.
Thumbnail photo via iStockPhoto, cglade
Topics:
Gadgets,
google play store,
in-app purchases,
iTunes Store,
Lifestyle,
parental controls,
Travel & Leisure,
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