How to Turn Off In-App Purchases in Smartphones and Tablets

We’ve all heard the horror stories of people getting huge bills while playing so-called “free” games. European regulators have taken note of complaints such as the case of an 8-year-old girl who spent $6,700 (Rs 4.15 lakh) playing games such as Smurf Village and My Horse. The issue has been in the spotlight again recently as it may be the reason why Apple relabeled the “Free” button on its App Store as “Get.”

Apps and games with in-app purchases are the most successful apps on Android and iOS. When developers hinder gameplay for the sake of monetization, this model often results in a frustrating experience, as we noted in our writing about Godus and our review of Gameloft’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. But we’ve also written about games that manage in-app purchases well so your experience isn’t hampered. These models need to evolve, but right now, if your kids are playing games on their phones or tablets, the current dominance of IAP games may be a real concern.

The jury is still out on how to fix games that abuse their in-app purchase systems, but a simple way to fix the problem is to disable in-app purchases entirely. Here’s how to do it on all popular platforms.

iOS system

1. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions

2. tap Enable restrictions.

3. Set a restriction password.

4. Re-enter your password.

5. scroll down to In-app purchases and flick the switch to leave.

Android

1. Open Play store and click burger icon (three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner. Note that the icon may be located in the upper left corner, depending on the version of the app you are using.

2. tap set up.

3. tap Identity verification required for purchase.

4. choose For all apps purchased through Google Play on this device.

5. Enter your Google Account password and click OK.

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You can’t individually disable in-app purchases on Android, but this will ensure that you have to enter your Google Account password before purchasing anything – this includes paid apps and in-app purchases.

Amazon App Store

1. Open Amazon App Store on your Android device.

2. Click burger icon In the upper left corner, next to the Amazon logo.

3. tap set up.

4. tap In-app purchases.

5. Uncheck Allow in-app purchases.

6. Enter your Amazon account password and click continue.

Windows Phone

1. Open shop app.

2. Click the three dots icon in the lower right corner, then click set up.

3. tap pin.

4. Click the button next to Wallet password turn it exist.

5. Enter your 4-digit PIN twice and click complete.

6. Check Protect music, apps, and in-app purchases with Wallet PIN. Now, in-app purchases will not be completed unless you enter your wallet PIN.

blackberry 10

1. Go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Parental Controls.

2. Flick the switch next to Parental controls arrive exist.

3. If you haven’t created a parental control password yet, you will be asked to create one. Enter password and press OK.

4. scroll down to Purchase content and switch it to leave.

For more tutorials, head to our how-to section.