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Kid spends $2,500 in 15 minute in-app purchase spree

By Phil Dzikiy | 03.01.13

Apple has offered a refund to the family of Danny Kitchen, a British boy who spent £1,700 (about $2,550) of his parents’ money on in-app purchases in an iPad game within 15 minutes. The family believed the boy was downloading “a free game,” and entered a password for the download, which was followed by a collection of huge in-app purchases. Apple recently settled a class action lawsuit regarding freemium apps aimed at children, offering refunds for claims that minors made in-app purchases without parental knowledge or permission. [via BBC]

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Comments

While I believe Apple should issue refunds in these cases, parents should have the sense to look into the device settings. Initially, I just kept the IAP disabled on my 5 y.o.‘s device, but then we realized that was only half a measure since with the cached password, he knew he could download stuff from the app store. The punchline was he purchased a GPS app thinking it was a driving game, so I found and enabled the “request password EVERY TIME” setting. A bit of a hassle when downloading more than one app, but not getting surprise apps on my purchase history makes up for

By Code Monkey on 03.01.13 at 12:15 PM

The “kid” is five years old….

I suspect he is now back watching Tellytubbies on the TV!

By Bob Levens on 03.02.13 at 06:01 AM

I have no problem believing the story or the age. My son was able to navigate and attempt to purchase things from the app store before he was 3. At this point, the only thing stopping him from losing all access to his touch until he is older is that his reading is very limited and his inability to comprehend or remember our password. I have certainly caught him on many occasions *attempting* to buy IAP in his games and is only stopped by the lack of knowledge of the password.

By Code Monkey on 03.02.13 at 10:00 AM

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