In this week’s App Store refresh Apple included a new featured page that helps App Store users “learn more about in-app purchases.” With the number of reports of children accidently spending a small fortune on in-app purchases, Apple has kindly provided a guide for users, and parents, to learn more about what in-app purchases are, how they work, and how to prevent your kids from spending all your money on them without permission.
This featured guide can be found just underneath the What’s Hot section on the App Store. In-app purchases have become a major thorn in a few parents’ side lately. They can be especially problematic when you don’t really know what they are or how they work.
In January, a five-year-old boy unknowingly spent $2,550 on iTunes in just ten minutes after buying content within a game on the iPad. Apple chose to give this family a full refund. Not long after, a British policeman reported his thirteen-year-old son to try and reclaim the $5,620 iTunes bill he received after his son spent it on more than 300 in-app purchases in an iOS game.
Apple is looking to prevent more situations like this from happening by education users and parents about in-app purchases. The final section of the guide looks at parental controls and how parents can restrict their child’s ability to make in-app purchases on an iOS device.
Just last-month, Apple also added new “Offers In-App Purchases” badges to label apps and make users more aware.