Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Offers Refund After British Boy Spends $2500 on In-App Purchases in 15 Minutes
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I think I found the problem...
"...in just 15 minutes after asking his father to type in the password..."
If you don't want your child to make purchases, maybe don't give them access? Just a thought.
"...in just 15 minutes after asking his father to type in the password..."
If you don't want your child to make purchases, maybe don't give them access? Just a thought.
Come on man, at the end of the day kids aren't purchasing iPads, the parents are, henceforth it's the parents responsibility 100%. Those people are lucky that Apple gave them their money back. When are people going to stop placing the responsibility on others rather than own up to their own mistakes? This entitlement stuff has got to stop. Parents put the responsibility on rappers saying they should tone down the bad language.
Parents complain it's too much violence on TV and video games and then you're saying that kid's games with In-App purchases should be restricted to protect the kid from spending too much. Get real. Parents need to be responsible for their kids, not outsiders that provide the entertainment. Passwords options and parental controls are builtin to the system, but customers still want to put the responsibility on the maker when the customer makes mistakes.
Since the iPhone comes with no instruction manual on where/how to change parental controls - isn't the onus on both parents AND Apple?
Why is it bad? I got hit when I grew up and I have a solid respect for authority. The greatest generation from the 40's got hit when they grew up and my grandparents are/were wonderful people.
I think most of the disrespectful thugs running around in the streets are products of hands off parenting.
Question
If Apple refunds money to a customer in such a case, is the amount paid from Apple's pocket or is it taken back from a developer?
If Apple refunds money to a customer in such a case, is the amount paid from Apple's pocket or is it taken back from a developer?
Why? iPad can be used for educational purposes. There are some good apps for kids.
Sure, you they shouldn't be over using the iDevice and a substitute for other things.
This happen to me a few months back. I updated my apps and let my six year old son play games. There's a 15 minute period were when you put in your password you can buy other apps without having to put your password back in. Well my son was playing Angry Birds and had two in app purchases of $49.99 and $39.99. I contacted Apple and let the know what had happen and they also refunded me my money.
I now have it set up were I can't do in app purchases and I always have to put in my password if I do buy an app.
I now have it set up were I can't do in app purchases and I always have to put in my password if I do buy an app.
The OP was talking about the practice of caning. Caning isn't spanking, it is a violent act that leaves horrible scars.
There are always 2 sides to a story but In-app purchases have become a necessity in today's gaming, nobody wants to pay a lot for a game nowadays because everybody is now expecting free or $0.99, you think these developers want to make games for free, no, development costs money.
You can look at this way the game is free to play and try if you like it you carry on playing and if you want to play deep into the game then you buy the IAP's which rewards the developer for creating a game that you want and enjoy playing, if you don't then don't buy the IAP's, simple as that.
Do some of the developers go overboard with IAP's, sure, but YOU have the choice, you can't expect the developer to make great games without getting paid.
Last edited:
Thank you. You responded before I could come back - but that's exactly why it's offensive.
And if violence towards a child for something like this is even warranted. It's not just kids who are seemingly "numbed" by all the violence in movies and TV....
The younger parents tend to be a bit more careless. Especially those who don't like typing passwords over and over again, often have switched off all kinds restrictions. You can warn them as often as you like, they only learn until the (financial) disaster already has happened.
And I'm just waiting for the first article that the same thing happened with the AppStore on someone's Mac. I mean, quite a lot of Mac users just have one account complete with administrator rights switched on and all passwords auto-filled everywhere.
When i buy i buy carefully and i rateher have full game from the start than some ass raped template asking to buy this and that every 5 minutes. And most importantly this way you end up paying much more than "the old way".
I've found exactly the same thing exactly the same hard way, and I suspect Apple left the 15-minute window ON by default to get in on some of these accidentaly made "profits". Fortunately, they've also provided a way to turn the window off entirely. Well, seems this is now backfiring on Apple?
Suggesting (like this article does) that
"It is not entirely clear how Danny Kitchen was able to purchase in-app content if his father had only entered the account password to download an app, as Apple separated app and in-app purchases with iOS 4.3 two years ago. The Kitchen's password should have been required a second time before in-app purchase could be downloaded."
is a bit ignorant, by the way. The HOW of this is entirely clear in light of the above.
Last edited:
Not if it is used the way it was intended to be, like adding features and turning a lite version into full. However, the always-greedy developers have taken advantage over this feature in every possible way, like by exploiting our patience (having to wait or pay to get something done).
That's a good question, but I would say that it's only fair to make the developer pay back the portion he/she was paid especially since the developer gets 70% of the 2500.
So all of us using this and know what we are doing have to enable it just because some people are to lazy to know the product they get before handing it over to a 5 year-old kid?
The iPhone and iPad is not meant for 5 years old, sure there is apps for them but i will say that a 5 year-old kid using an iPad should be under supervision of an adult.
Dont make it harder for the people there have a iphone or ipad for personal use, just because a family dad do not know better