WEBVTT - How My Kid Racked Up $100 of In App Purchases Without Me Knowing

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<v Speaker 1>How to make sure your kids don't rack up charges

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<v Speaker 1>for in app purchases.

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<v Speaker 2>What's going on? I'm rich DeMuro.

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<v Speaker 1>This is rich on Tech. It is story time, and

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<v Speaker 1>it involves me and my son. Long story short, my

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<v Speaker 1>six year old racked up nearly one hundred dollars in

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<v Speaker 1>charges on his iPad for in app purchases. So let

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<v Speaker 1>me explain what went wrong and how you can avoid

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<v Speaker 1>the same fate.

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<v Speaker 2>So the story starts with Super Mario Run. You know

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<v Speaker 2>that game. It's really fun. It's from Nintendo.

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<v Speaker 1>My son wanted to play it, so I downloaded it

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<v Speaker 1>to his iPad.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, to do this, I have.

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<v Speaker 1>To unlock all the restrictions that I have placed on

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<v Speaker 1>his device. To do this, I have to go under

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<v Speaker 1>Settings General, then Restrictions, type in my passcode, and I

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<v Speaker 1>have most things disabled at all times, including the iTunes Store,

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<v Speaker 1>installing apps, deleting apps, and in app purchases.

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<v Speaker 2>So whenever I want to install.

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<v Speaker 1>A new app or update the apps on his device,

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<v Speaker 1>I have to go in here and disable the restrictions

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<v Speaker 1>by using a special passcode. Then, once you're finished installing

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<v Speaker 1>an app or downloading for purchasing.

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<v Speaker 2>An app, you have to go back in and re

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<v Speaker 2>enable them.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, apparently, after downloading Super Mario Run, I forgot to

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<v Speaker 1>re enable the restrictions.

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<v Speaker 2>But that's not all I forgot to do. But there was.

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<v Speaker 1>Another clue when my son wanted to unlock the entire game,

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<v Speaker 1>which by the way, costs ten dollars.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a lot for an in app purchase, but I

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<v Speaker 2>was willing to do it, but I thought it was

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<v Speaker 2>odd that.

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<v Speaker 1>All I needed was his fingerprint to complete the transaction.

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<v Speaker 2>Fast forward two days go by.

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<v Speaker 1>I come home the other day and my wife says, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>you might want to take a look at Parker's iPad

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<v Speaker 1>because he was going on what she described as a

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<v Speaker 1>buying spree. And I thought, in my head, well, that's

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<v Speaker 1>not really possible. He can't do that. I had a

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<v Speaker 1>feeling maybe I forgot to re enable the restrictions, so

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<v Speaker 1>that's what she was talking about. But certainly if he

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<v Speaker 1>was actually making any purchases, I'd have to approve them first.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, nope, not the case. I looked in his email

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<v Speaker 2>and I found.

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<v Speaker 1>Three charges, three real charges seventy nine to ninety nine

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<v Speaker 1>for an in app purchase of gems in a racing

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<v Speaker 1>game he likes. Then two more charges of seven to

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<v Speaker 1>ninety nine each for more gems, for a total of

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<v Speaker 1>ninety five ninety seven.

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<v Speaker 2>Of course, what I do.

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<v Speaker 1>I called up Apple immediately and I got a friendly

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<v Speaker 1>woman named Melissa on the phone, and I explained to

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<v Speaker 1>her what had happened.

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<v Speaker 2>Now.

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<v Speaker 1>Eventually Apple gave me the credit, and getting in touch

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<v Speaker 1>with them was very easy. We even got disconnected and

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<v Speaker 1>she called me back. And I really liked how they

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<v Speaker 1>verify your account. You actually log into your account on

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<v Speaker 1>your desktop and you look in this tiny corner for

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<v Speaker 1>a four digit code.

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<v Speaker 2>You tell that code to Apple, and that's how they

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<v Speaker 2>verify you.

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<v Speaker 1>I thought that was pretty smart. So I explained the

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<v Speaker 1>issue to Melissa, which I assumed she had heard a

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<v Speaker 1>thousand times that day so far, and she explained what

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<v Speaker 1>happened to me. She said, there was one setting turned

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<v Speaker 1>off on my son's account, and that's called ask to Buy.

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<v Speaker 2>Now.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure how that happened, because I'm aware of

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<v Speaker 1>this setting and it's enabled for my other son's account,

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<v Speaker 1>and I don't know how.

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<v Speaker 2>It got turned off.

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<v Speaker 1>But basically, they're supposed to send you a text when

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<v Speaker 1>your kid wants to purchase something, and when you see

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<v Speaker 1>that text or that notification.

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<v Speaker 2>Right on your phone.

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<v Speaker 1>You can approve or deny the purchase. Now you can

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<v Speaker 1>find this under setting. You tap your name at the top,

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<v Speaker 1>or says I Cloud, then family Sharing, Then you tap

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<v Speaker 1>the name of your kid and make sure that ask

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<v Speaker 1>to buy is turned on.

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<v Speaker 2>In my case, it was turned off.

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<v Speaker 1>That's how he was able to purchase the item without

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<v Speaker 1>my approval. Now that feature is turned back on. So

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<v Speaker 1>again two things here. The restrictions were off and the

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<v Speaker 1>ask to buy was off, So two failures.

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<v Speaker 2>That's how he was able to purchase.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, Melissa refunded me the in app purchases. I asked

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<v Speaker 1>her if this happened often. I was guessing she deals

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<v Speaker 1>with it all day long. She said, yes, she has

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<v Speaker 1>an eleven year old.

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<v Speaker 2>This is kind of a known thing.

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<v Speaker 1>But I assume she's not really allowed to elaborate because

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<v Speaker 1>I don't think Apple would like that.

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<v Speaker 2>But crisis averted.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not mad at my kid, but I do think

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<v Speaker 1>it's interesting how fast something like this can happen, even

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<v Speaker 1>when you think you're being pretty diligent with your restriction settings.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing I do think that Apple can improve is

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<v Speaker 1>that when a kid makes a purchase on a family account.

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<v Speaker 1>I think that the family organizer she get a copy

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<v Speaker 1>of the receipt.

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<v Speaker 2>No matter what I mean. My kid is six listed

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<v Speaker 2>as six in there. I'm the family organizer.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's only logical that I would get an

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<v Speaker 1>email when he makes a purchase. That way, myself and

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<v Speaker 1>all parents are alerted instantly, and they can take action

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<v Speaker 1>sooner than later. Lesson learned. But the story still gives

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<v Speaker 1>me a laugh. But that's only because it was all

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<v Speaker 1>worked out in the end. My kid asked if I

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<v Speaker 1>was mad at him.

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<v Speaker 2>I said no.

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<v Speaker 1>I actually thought it was pretty brilliant of him to

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<v Speaker 1>go on this instant buying spree, because you know, he's

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<v Speaker 1>tapped those buttons so many times before and they didn't

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<v Speaker 1>do anything, and now once they did something, he probably

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<v Speaker 1>found that pretty interesting. Thanks so much for listening to

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast. If you like the Rich on Tech podcast,

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<v Speaker 1>also now listen in Google Podcasts, So if you're on

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<v Speaker 1>not give it a try. I'm rich Dimiro. Thanks so

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<v Speaker 1>much for listening. You can find links to everything I

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<v Speaker 1>talk about here at richon tech dot TV.

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<v Speaker 2>I'll talk to you real soon.