In app purchases on sgs3 (Jelly Bean)

sham69

Hi,
Still relatively new to the android platform after years of apple...
Finding the phone fantastic and glad I switched (can't see myself ever going back)

One thing that I came across yesterday was in app purchases.
I was playing Iron Man 3 on my S3 and gave my 5 yr old a quick game of it.
I normally turn off wifi and mobile data in case he presses anything but forgot on this occassion.

He handed the phone back to me in a panic after clicking on some extra weapons thing for €44.99 :O

I panicked, didnt know what to do, closed out of the game, went back in and tried to purchase a small addon for .49c just to see if it prompted me for anything or if it just went through.
I got a message saying the previous transaction was still pending (44.99)

I emailed the company that made the game and told them what happened (no reply as yet)

Is there any way of turning off in app purchases?
I know I can do it on my ipad/iphone but can't figure out how to do it on the S3.

I googled it and it mentioned going to play store, menu, settings, controls and then clicking something, I can't get menu on the playstore, just settings and the option I saw on google doesnt seem to be in my settings?

Any help greatly appreciated.
Sham.

Alpha Dog 1

In the play store go to settings and it allows you to create a password to protect purchases.
YYou may need to tick the box.

ED E

If you're quick the playstore can often refund within 24hrs, well at least for actual app purchases. So get onto google customer support.


Play store - Settings - Password- Check box. That stops buying paid apps without your google password, assume it covers in apps too.

sham69

Alpha Dog 1 wrote: »

In the play store go to settings and it allows you to create a password to protect purchases.
YYou may need to tick the box.

thats the strange thing, it was ticked?
I unticked and ticked again and set up a password and now i think it is working.
Its not really what i was looking for though, is there no way of turning off in app purchases completely?

I will test an in app purchase and see if it prompts for a password, if it does I suppose that will suffice.
Thanks all for the replies.

Alpha Dog 1

Download a paid app and try it out.
If you cancel it within 15 minutes you will get a full refund.

sham69

yeah but its the in app purchases that are causing the bother....
I previously got a refund on something so I know it works.
I now know that paid apps are prompted for a password for authorisation but I don't know how in app purchases behave...

sham69

As far as i know it didnt prompt for a password for in app ones yesterday so I am confused on how to protect against this.

Ste-

sham69 wrote: »

As far as i know it didnt prompt for a password for in app ones yesterday so I am confused on how to protect against this.

If you had tasker you could set it to auto turn off 3g and wifi when certain apps/games are launched. and turn back on when exited.
Only problem that could arise is certain games phone home and when they can't connect the game won't launch. E.g. most EA games.

Worth a shot. Albeit Tasker is a paid app but there are some free alternatives out there but not sure if they have the same power.

danniemcq

Ste- wrote: »

If you had tasker you could set it to auto turn off 3g and wifi when certain apps/games are launched. and turn back on when exited.
Only problem that could arise is certain games phone home and when they can't connect the game won't launch. E.g. most EA games.

Worth a shot. Albeit Tasker is a paid app but there are some free alternatives out there but not sure if they have the same power.

or just turn off 3g/wifi when a 5 year old has your phone?

sham69

Thanks for the replies.
As I said I usually knock off wifi and 3g when he has it.
I just have to make sure I do from now on.
You'd think they would come up with some quick solution/button for apps and in app purchases etc.
Thanks again.