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iOS 6 Beta Removes Requirement to Enter Password to Download Free Apps and Upgrades [Updated]
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yet i dont own/never owned a single android device
... fanboys, loving my iDevices does not mean i can't be objective instead of blindly approve of everything they do
There's a lot of difference between meaningful objection and continuous rhetoric and repetition. Only an insane person would believe you not having an iPhone given your post history on this forum. It itself speaks volumes.
I dunno about this guys... I wouldn't want some troll friends or otherwise using my iPhone to download all sorts of free apps. I mean, I can always do the Settings > Restrictions as someone pointed out, but I'm talking about the principle here. The principle being that there should be a password requirement for installing apps (and a time window for no password).
huh? i do have iPhones and never claimed otherwise
Sorry. I meant an android phone. :/
oh thank god. This is LONG LONG over due. At the very least for upgrades. How the hell did they even have it on day 1 for updates is confuses the hell out of me.
It is only 3-4 years over due Apple. TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH.
It is only 3-4 years over due Apple. TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH.
Wow, you've obviously never had a child. That's exactly what I'm doing, parenting my children. Most parents just give their kids iPods unrestricted and uncontrolled and let their kids do anything with them from browsing porn to playing violent games like Grand Theft Auto. I make sure to oversee every single app that goes on my kids iPods and nothing is installed without my approval.
As a parent who actually cares, I would like to be able to let my kids update their apps that I already approved without them having to come to me to update them. But I don't want them to have the ability to install any old free app that they want. Is that really much to ask for? There are micro controls over every aspect of notifications on an app by app basis. Expecting Apple to let me have more than 4 options in the parental controls panel is not unreasonable.
The argument that parental controls are a replacement for parenting is one of the stupidest ones out there. Seriously, have you been on the internet? It's not like the old days where the worst you had to worry about was your child finding nudie mags in their older brother's room. There's some seriously awful stuff on the net and it takes seconds to find, even by accident. Not having parental controls on a device for a child is like giving your child porn and inviting predators over to your house.
If you don't want your kids installing something, don't hand them your iGadget.
Not everyone has kids. Others have well-behaved kids or ones that don't run around with the latest iGadget as their birthright. Teach them responsibility.
Let's stop pandering to the lowest common denominator and inconveniencing everyone else.
At best, apple should make this a toggle option.
WOW! Dramatic much? Removing the password entry for free apps in the app store is one thing but really to compare it to giving your child porn and inviting predators over the house? Seriously? You can shut down installing apps if you really think that the removal of a password entry is going to get you're child sexually abused. It's really not that big of an issue. We are talking about the app store, not free reign of the internet. Maybe if your so worried about what is out there on the internet and that your child will stumble on it maybe your child isn't ready for the responsibility of an iDevice or total access to the internet. Remember we are talking about the AppStore, is there really anything that bad we really have to worry about our kids installing? Ok some violent games that might not really be age appropriate, but like my earlier post, my child understands this and if I find out he is doing something sneaky or shady and not what we agreed upon his iDevice goes in the trash. He will prove to me he isn't responsible enough to have free reign of the device and will only be able to borrow mine when I'm sitting right next to him. The "I'm a parent" argument is overly dramatic and really sad that such a big deal is being made about it and the safety of children. I don't care if they took the password off the app store totally, I hate entering it on my own device, it's mine, let me buy/install without bugging me every time I go in the store. Let me be able to shut to off totally and I would on mine and my sons iDevices. My son (being 10) understands this, his iTunes gift cards and how they work, once his money is gone he gets no more, some apps are not for kids and that he has to be responsible when using it. If I find out otherwise it's over. I often check his messages, texts, history, purchases, etc. It's called "ACTIVE parenting".
Sweet, I am glad they are doing this.
For those who want a password for their kids or something, use the parental controls and turn off app purchases from the app store if you are so worried.
For those who are lazy click here
For those who want a password for their kids or something, use the parental controls and turn off app purchases from the app store if you are so worried.
For those who are lazy click here
^^
Also lets not forget there is a purchase history on the device itself. So again, be an active parent and check your kids iDevice once in a while to see what is going on. Really not that hard to do to see if your child is installing evil free apps and destroying his life with all those free porn and child predator apps out there.
Also lets not forget there is a purchase history on the device itself. So again, be an active parent and check your kids iDevice once in a while to see what is going on. Really not that hard to do to see if your child is installing evil free apps and destroying his life with all those free porn and child predator apps out there.
I have no problems with them removing the password prompt for free apps, I was simply saying that I hope they put an option in the parental controls to turn it back on. Otherwise removing the password prompt for upgrades doesn't do me much good, I'll just have to still keep the app store off of my kids iPods. I just wish Apple would put some middle ground in their parental controls instead of the all or nothing approach.
As for the porn comment, I was responding to another post that said that using parental controls was letting Apple be your parent. Parental controls in today's day and age are essential tools for parenting. Any device that has unfiltered access to the internet can easily and accidentally be used to access all sorts of horrible stuff on the internet. Nothing beats properly educating your kids about the dangers of the internet, but any parent can tell you that kids don't always do what you tell them and will often do things that they are not supposed to just because they can. Having parental controls allows parents to let their children do the things they enjoy like playing video games without being worried that they will stumble across or seek out something inappropriate. They are not a substitue for parenting.
Sorry but I couldn't disagree more that "Parental controls in today's day and age are essential tools for parenting". Being an active parent is the most essential tool out there. There was no parental controls on my dads VCR and when he caught me and a friend sneaking a porn tape we found in his closet he grounded me for a week and took away my TV privlages for a month. Needless to say I didn't try it again. My 10 year old has one of my MBP laptops as his own. He is not allowed to use it alone in his bedroom, he isn't allowed to use it alone anywhere. Same goes do any device that has an Internet connection. If he wants to play a game or use it alone we shut everything else down. We often check history, router logs, install history, iTunes account, etc. I have no parental controls on anything. I will agree it's a good tool but it's totally not essential and just a tool for overly hyper sensititive lazy parents who will blame the Internet for what their kids do/see and not themselves or their children. I was too old (being almost 40 now) but my two brothers (20 and 25) were born with total free reign access of the Internet with NO parental controls either and my mon and stepfather actively parented them and it was NEVER a problem. They didnt have one "safeguard" on anything. The safeguard was them and their education of my brothers.
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I have six kids. So, voice of a bit of experience here. Or at least a voice of commiseration.
If you want to lock things down, lock them down. It appears there is an option to do exactly that, just off by default. I personally welcome the ability (which per the update might have been accidental) to allow non-financial-impact actions which don't involve me as the gatekeeper.
In our household we are all on the same iTunes account (no need to buy the same music and apps on every device), which has a credit card on it. I generally don't care about the free apps the kids want to buy, but I'm a bit nervous giving them carte blanche access to my credit card by giving them my iTunes account info. So, every time they want to download some new app, it has to go through me and I need to enter the password, etc. It's a bit of a pain.
An alternate tact would be to just give in and give them my password. I trust my kids, and know they wouldn't do anything too bad with it. Still, this strikes me as a Bad Idea. Given another six months of me having to type the password, though, and I think I'll likely switch positions
IMHO, if I can flip a switch to say "let them install free apps" and "let them do any app updates", I've taken a huge annoyance out of their lives, and out of mine.
Finally, password theory. The more often you need to type a password on a non-ergodynamic keyboard, the more likely a low-quality password will be chosen instead of one which freely uses the "non-default" keyboard characters. Free apps and update comprise about 75-90% of the instances where I type a password into my phone; remove that annoyance and I'm more likely to choose a more complex password, which increases the security of my account.
For downloading free apps, I can see why you would want a password. Someone grabs your phone and downloads something weird and now it is stuck on your account forever. And automatically downloaded to your iPad at home.
But for updates, you already own the software so they should not require a password.
But for updates, you already own the software so they should not require a password.
Crazy surprising revelation: not all kids are the same, nor are all parenting styles, nor would two kids with the same parents necessarily have the same behavioural characertistics. This, I'm sure, is shocking to you.
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Okay, well if you're going to be condescending about other peoples' parenting, I'll be condescending about your parenting choices: I don't think it's particularly desirable to forbid your child to ever use a computer unless you're actively hovering over their shoulder at all times.
Wow you really shocked me with that first part. Thanks for showing me the light.
Condescending? Really? A little thinned skinned aren't we? When someone is using examples of porn and child predators in the same thread for passwords being removed from the app store I think it's getting a little overreaction. Honestly most of the arguments for why it's not a good idea are also borderline moronic. "what if my friends starting installing stuff" "what will I ever do once these things are installed" "how will we ever protect our children". Yet I haven't even brushed against condescension yet. What 100 posts over something as silly as this. How many locks does one person need on a phone? How many more parental control switches do you really need before you're happy that you can send your little one on their way with their little iBabysitter?
When people can't police their own children no matter the "style" of parenting it makes me so annoyed because these out of control, get away with everything, blame everyone else children are in school with my child. It's all about personal responsibility and being a parent not just about having children. I couldn't really care less if you think my 10 year old should have free reign at his every waking moment to be online unsupervised. As you said we all have different styles. My style is that I raise my child actively and don't expect everyone else to do my job for me and I don't expect/use the TV or a gadget to babysit my child. I also take responsibility for him and/or myself for our actions, NOT anyone/anything else. That's essential, not a password no matter how you or any other parent would like to spin the facts.
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why give your kids a $300 device to play with at all? isn't that what toys are for? I realize I'm 30 and things were different back in the 80s with tech, but still. I was just fine not having an iPhone or anything near it. Just because it's easy doesn't mean they should get to play with such an expensive and possibly "dangerous" device.