Getting set up for apps - beginners guide?

zagmund

Apologies if this is covered already, but I can't see it as a sticky and searching didn't throw back anything. I'm sure I'm not the only person facing this sort of issue as we head towards Christmas.

Scenario - the mini-zags are getting a present of a 7" tab this Christmas. I want to set as much up as possible in advance so that we don't have the 2012 equivalent of "Dad forgot the batteries" or "Dad broke the new trainset because he didn't follow the instructions".

Step 1 (or so I thought) - get some credit for Google Play. No can do - you can only buy cards in $.

Step 1 (next iteration) - set up a Google Play account and load on some money from my credit card. No can do - or at least I can't see a button that says "add credit". I can only see "redeem" and as per the first Step 1 - you can only buy vouchers for the US and so you can only redeem vouchers in the US.

Step 1 (part 3) - do some searching and find out that I can use google wallet. No can do - according to their site "Also, keep in mind that the payment card used must be under your name" - which is fine for me, but not fine for the kids.

So, can someone point me in the direction of a *simple* set of instructions that work for Ireland which will result in me being able to configure the device with an account which has (say) €10 credit loaded onto it, such that on Christmas Day when the kids power up the device and immediately want to download some 89c app we don't revert back to the "Dad broke the trainset" of old? Ideally this solution will also limit them to the €10 credit on the account and not allow them to buy €100 worth of games, all backed up by my credit card.

Thanks

z (apparently turning into an old fogie).

Patsy fyre

Most of the good apps are free. Just setup an account and set it to automatically log in when turned on.

zagmund

The problem is that at least some of the good apps aren't free and I know the kids will want to download some of them. I'm just trying to make it go as smoothly as possible.

z

Atomic Pineapple

zagmund wrote: »

The problem is that at least some of the good apps aren't free and I know the kids will want to download some of them. I'm just trying to make it go as smoothly as possible.

z

Best bet would be to get a "Top up" type credit/debit card and create a Google and Google wallet account with that and go from there.

Patsy fyre

The only thing I can think of is to store your cc details on the device.
Trust your kids not to buy lots of games and apps.
Have your emails synced to your phone. Every time an app is downloaded you get an email.
An app can be refunded once its uninstalled within 15 minutes.

polaris68

draffodx wrote: »

Best bet would be to get a "Top up" type credit/debit card and create a Google and Google wallet account with that and go from there.

Almost certain Google do not accept those prepay credit cards.

You'll have to connect your google wallet to your kids' google play account and rely on threats of confiscation, groundings etc if any apps are purchased without your permission!

zagmund

polaris68 wrote: »

Almost certain Google do not accept those prepay credit cards.

You'll have to connect your google wallet to your kids' google play account and rely on threats of confiscation, groundings etc if any apps are purchased without your permission!

Thanks - this sounds workable. I don't think there's a huge risk they will go off and buy apps to beat the band so this should suffice.

z

Ste-

You can set up a pin to be entered before buying any apps, just don't tell them the pin, but it is easy enough to get around if they're clever or really want to get around it.

yellowbear

Google do accept prepay credit cards.
I've got an o2 money card set up in my google wallet and use it to buy apps for my phone.

polaris68

yellowbear wrote: »

Google do accept prepay credit cards.
I've got an o2 money card set up in my google wallet and use it to buy apps for my phone.

Sorry, I was thinking of 3V prepaid vouchers which didn't work for me.