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Apple Will Refund $32.5M To Settle In-App Purchase Complaints With FTC
coondoggie writes "Apple today agreed to refund at least $32.5 million to iTunes customers in order to settle FTC complaints about charges incurred by children in kids' mobile apps without their parents' consent. 'As alleged in the Commission's complaint, Apple violated this basic principle by failing to inform parents that, by entering a password, they were permitting a charge for virtual goods or currency to be used by their child in playing a children's app and at the same time triggering a 15-minute window during which their child could make unlimited additional purchases without further parental action."
When I buy an app and discover it is a steaming turd, I should be able to click to remove it and get a refund within 15 minutes. That way the parent should see the charges and then reverse them easily. Granted if the parent is too stupid to check why they are getting 30 email alerts in a row after little johnny jumped on the ipad... That's their own fault.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Apple was pure evil about this. I got my kid an iPod touch a few years ago. I set him up with his own AppleID, and loaded his iTunes account with a generous iTunes gift card. I told him that there were lots of free apps and he should save his money by playing the free apps.
A couple months later he complained that he could not download any more free apps. I checked his account and he had spent his entire iTunes gift card. You need money in your iTunes account to download a free app. He got very upset and pleaded with me that he had only downloaded free app and he had not gone crazy downloading high priced junk.
I was able to generate a detailed listing of his iTunes purchases. All the gift card money has been spent on in-game purchases. He had no idea that he was purchasing anything. He showed me. The game would ask if the player wanted something (more time, more bullets, more lives, etc.) and ask for the AppleID password. It was entirely unclear that he was spending real money. No sales receipt was ever generated. I complained to Apple and was told that they don't control in-game purchases and that since we didn't buy anything from "Apple", they could not refund anything. I'm sure that didn't stop Apple from collecting fees on the in-game app purchases.
Will my son get his gift card money back? I doubt it.
why need an password for free apps? needs more control like say no password for free / updates and or an pin / password for buying stuff.
I think cable vod systems now have the free stuff not need to use the same buy screen with a price of 0 that PPV VOD gets.
Yes, and the kid that bought the in-app purchase without realizing it cost real money would do what? Hand the game back to daddy? Or click "yes" to any question asked to be able to play the game. I know my kids clicked yes on everything. The 7 year old just finally got to the point of understanding.
Learn to love Alaska
- Legos
it's Lego, not Legos. My kids have thousands, and they know the plural form of Lego is Lego.
-A Book
Yes, they read it on an iPad, or kindle. And they have read hundreds of books.
- A musical instrument
It's hard to make someone practice in any way that won't make them hate it later. However; music instrament are available in my house hold. AS an example to them, I am learning how to play Bass. I use the iPad for sheet music, tabs, and recording.
- A "300 in 1" electronics set
well, we have Arduino's, and basic electronic is mandatory learning in my house. Just enough top see if they are intersted. Build something simple, soldier a little, and know the Basics of Ohm's law. They also use in iPad to get info and learn electronics.
"- Whatever the latest cool educational toy is"
that would be the iPad.
"- Better yet, send them out to the backyard to play so their BMI doesn't doom them before they're teenagers."
Going outside doesn't changes weather or not the kid will have high BMI. Their eating habits do. A child the plays simply eats more.
Also, they play game on the iPad.
The issue here is you. You seem oblivious that for a while there where a loit of apps that disguised in game purchase. I understand Apple may have recently made changes to stop that.
Apple claims to vet all apps, so when an app geared toward 7 year olds is on their store, and that app disguises in app purchase, I ave a hrd time blaming the parents.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Game purchase authorized. What Apple didn't in general tell people is that that authorization would last past the initial purpose, unless the user dug deep in Settings to turn that feature off.
I believe this was fixed long ago in an iOS update. The app authorization no longer works for in-app authorization. Once in the app a second authorization is always needed for an in-app purchase. This second authorization for the in-app purchase does seem to create a window of approval for subsequent in-app purchases, however the original app purchase no longer creates such a window. In any case the parent is aware that the app has in-app purchases.
Give me examples of good in app purchases!
I have a calculator app that offers scientific, statistics, business, hex and bill/tip functionality in a single app, Perpenso Calc. There are two versions. A fully paid version and an upgradable lite version.
The fully paid version includes everything, there are no in-app purchases and there are no ads. It is offered at a bundled price point so that it is less expensive to purchase the fully paid version than to buy all the in-app purchases separately.
The upgradable lite version only includes the scientific functionality. However this scientific mode does include fractions, complex numbers and other things not found in the built-in calculator. Statistics, business, hex and bill/tip functionality are each available through separate in-app purchases. You may tailor the app's functionality to your specific needs. Again, note that at some point it may be cheaper to purchase the fully paid app given its bundled pricing.
This lite version also displays ads. There is an upgrade to full mode via an in-app purchase that removes ads, enable RPN entry and some other features.
Personally I like this two app strategy. A fully paid app at a bundled price point and an upgradable lite app. The upgradable lite app's built-in scientific mode serving as a trial for those considering the fully paid app if they are unsure.
I plan on continuing to use the two app strategy in the future. I would be very eager to hear any criticisms of this approach or any alternatives?
My parents trusting me with far more expensive computers as a toddler played a key role in my love of technology and eventual career. A few hundred bucks today is going to be much cheaper than having to keep a lib-arts major in my basement till he's in his mid 30s.