Apple Is Now Refunding People Whose Kids Bought iPhone Crap


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http://kotaku.com/apple-is-now-refunding-people-whose-kids-bought-iphone-565743971

Bullshit parenting skills, or lack thereof if you ask me.

It's a tale as old as the iPhone itself. Kid picks up parent's iPhone, kid plays game, kid accidentally buys a ton of in-app junk without their parent's knowledge. Parent goes bananas, complains to Apple.

Those complaints got too loud to ignore for Apple, so in February it agreed to a large settlement. That settlement is now live, via a special website Apple have launched, where parents making small claims can opt for either iTunes credit or, in cases where the amount claimed was over $30, cash.

Apple aren't handing out money for nothing; parents will need to prove their kids made the purchases without their knowledge, and only games listed as "qualified" apps will be covered (though that list appears to cover all the main culprits, like Smurf's Village and Angry Birds).
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http://kotaku.com/apple-is-now-refunding-people-whose-kids-bought-iphone-565743971

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Considering some in-game videos I've seen of games very clearly designed to make a not-critical customer (i.e. a kid) accidentally buy stuff for hundreds of dollars in a blink, I'd say that  Apple might very well let its quality control department carry some of that responsibility. If they are so anal about approving and licensing every app that is to be sold, they might well add the criterion "not be obviously fradulent" to their list , or carry the cost for not to.
 
I think it is also Apple who basically invented the concept of "in-game purchases", or at least made it extremely "user-friendly" to spend real money while playing a game. They also heavily market their stuff towards young kids, and their "walled garden" approach is supposed to allow parents to relax about letting kids play with their iDevice because Apple will make sure that there is no porn or otherwise inappropriate stuff in the AppStore.

What did they expect when they approved something like Smurf's Village to have in-app purchases? It's a game clearly targeted at very young children (age 4+), yet it allows you to buy stuff like a "Bucket of Smurfberries" for $4.99, "Exclusive Smurfberries" for $24.99, and a "Wagon of Smurfberries" for $99.99 with basically just one finger press (or an accidental drop of baby drool).

Bullshit parenting skills, sure, but even more so, bullshit business practices.
 
What _wb_ said. And yes, that kind of stories, but even more some other stuff. I'll see if I can find the link again, but there are stuff that are a lot more shoddily done than either Farmville or the Smurfs, that are really, obviously just child traps.
 
Well I can guess large chunk of their profits now come this way, so why would they want to limit this? Business is business.
 
I suspect it's because they getting a lot of bad coverage from it.

Was covered quite a bit in the main news here in UK recently, as a bit unethical, a bit sly.

A lot of opinions were that it shouldn't be so easy for kids to purchase on their parents linked credit cards, some of these apps don't even ask you to confirm any CC digits or anything, simply click the button and get billed.

Parents here kicked up a fuss, so did press, so I suspect this is off the back of that, so Apple don't look to bad.

Wouldn't be surprised if they also make game devs use some sort of verification for in app purchases, so kids can't just click a button to buy stuff
 
SONY said:
When letting their kids use their smartphones/tablets...shouldn't parents just deactivate the internet?
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1) That seems a bit excessive. There are plenty of valid uses of the internet for kids: looking up Wikipedia articles, watching YouTube, etc.

2) Most kids will know better than their parents how to re-activate it.
 
_wb_ said:
SONY said:
When letting their kids use their smartphones/tablets...shouldn't parents just deactivate the internet?
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1) That seems a bit excessive. There are plenty of valid uses of the internet for kids: looking up Wikipedia articles, watching YouTube, etc.

2) Most kids will know better than their parents how to re-activate it.
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There's value in it but it's true it's difficult to control what your kids could do with it.
 
I'm on the fence on one hand parents should actually spend time educating their kids to look out for this sort of thing and the value of money, and on the other these sly tactics are immoral and they've got away with it for too long.
 
I agree with that, Poke.

Some lessons from the parents is good but it should never be a simple one-click option to throw $99 on some virtual Smurf whateveritis.

My new phone has a Kids Mode;

https://support.htc.com/en-au/010-HTC_One/0E0/020/020

Which is a good thing for letting kids use it, so they can play their YT vids and not access the Browser for example ... but still you'd need to know which of these kid friendly apps contain the in-app purchases.

At a minimum they should force you to enter the CC security number or something, seems obvious, but I guess part of the sly tactic is to make it so simple for a child to top up the funds... without the need for the parent/CC owner to be there
 
Apple does include Parental Controls with every iOS Device however I don't think Parents even know about it because they've never thought to look..
 
Most of the freebie kiddy games on iOS are very specifically designed to sucker kids into buying stuff; and its not like its a big BUY button the kid understands.. its 'you get these 6 crayon colours, swipe right to buy more'; kids this age _can't read_, remember, so they just fiddle around and see whats up.

Most parents will toss their phone to the kid for a minute,s ince theres a lot of cute fun little games, and its a handy distraction; like tossing your kid a comic book or something. You have an expectation that anyone who uses your device can do certain amounts of damage (maybe move apps around, delete them, enter crap into your address book..), but instant dinging your CC for hundreds of dollars.. surprise! Fortunately, Apple got around to adding some basic constraints.

(Remember, phones for some reason are completely broken; when desktop OSes have had multi-user down pat for decades, its amusing that phones have thrown it all our and gone single user wide open no security..)

So kid swooshes or touches something, and your CC got dinged. Thats basicly a back hole into your CC .. anyone picking up your phone could raid it. And not just kids.. any old app could use some sneaky backdoors to hit your CC whenever it wanted..

Nowadays at least it pops up the dialog modal box '<gamename> wants to buy <fucking thing> for <dollars> ... Yes/No', and optionally brings up the password box if you've set your phone up that way (and god help you if you didn't :)

So not a case of bad parenting (you obviously don't have kids? :) .. the rule is 'you can't watch them all the time' (and shouldn't), but you have a certain amount of expectations. Like .. kid walking down the sidewalk, sure, you can expect it may have some cracks or broken parts, fine. But if its covered in lava, thats something you shouldn't have to worry about :)

ie: This is an old problem; devices in the last 2 years haven't had much problem; but older iOS versions.. totally wide open to all sorts of shit.

FWIW  before people jump on .. yes, parents shoudl make their kids streetwise and techwise; my kid knew how to recognize 'free' and costware fast, and recognize bullshit buttons and such; but when virtual smurfberries could ding you $99 a pop for an easy click..

jeff
 
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skeezix said:
So not a case of bad parenting (you obviously don't have kids? :) .. the rule is 'you can't watch them all the time' (and shouldn't), but you have a certain amount of expectations. Like .. kid walking down the sidewalk, sure, you can expect it may have some cracks or broken parts, fine. But if its covered in lava, thats something you shouldn't have to worry about :)

ie: This is an old problem; devices in the last 2 years haven't had much problem; but older iOS versions.. totally wide open to all sorts of shit.

FWIW  before people jump on .. yes, parents shoudl make their kids streetwise and techwise; my kid knew how to recognize 'free' and costware fast, and recognize bullshit buttons and such; but when virtual smurfberries could ding you $99 a pop for an easy click..

jeff
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I have a 2 Year old son... and I will make damn sure he knows the ins and outs of these things and rather than toss the phone as a handy distraction, I'd pass him some actual gaming goodness like... I don't know maybe a GBA? >_>

EDIT: Eye rolling due to the fact that touchscreen gaming is becoming the norm... yuck.
 
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Bullshit parenting skills.

It's about time parents took responsibility for their kids.  I've lost count of the number of times we've been in a restaurant and kids have been running round as if it were McDonalds.

Or we've gone to the cinema to see a 15 rated movie and kids have been let in with their parents and played up.

We went to see Lord of the Rings and there were 2 kids not even 10 years old and they were both petrified of the orcs but the parent wouldn't leave, both kids had their faces buried in the seats, shocking.

If I had kids I would change my life to accommodate them, not expect to live the same lifestyle and carry on regardless.

I say tough shite, stop expecting everyone else to take care of your mistakes.
 
I'm weirdly proud that my 9-year old is completely engrossed in the GBC and GBA Zeldas (and the GBC Harry Potter games). When the other kids bring an iThing to a school trip, he takes a beat-up GBA with an old grey GBC cart in it :)
 
Ian J said:
Bullshit parenting skills.

It's about time parents took responsibility for their kids.  I've lost count of the number of times we've been in a restaurant and kids have been running round as if it were McDonalds.

Or we've gone to the cinema to see a 15 rated movie and kids have been let in with their parents and played up.

We went to see Lord of the Rings and there were 2 kids not even 10 years old and they were both petrified of the orcs but the parent wouldn't leave, both kids had their faces buried in the seats, shocking.

If I had kids I would change my life to accommodate them, not expect to live the same lifestyle and carry on regardless.

I say tough shite, stop expecting everyone else to take care of your mistakes.
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Fully agreed on those things; if people let their kids go out and be little monsters, thats bad parenting.

But theres a line between 'deceptive application preying on 3 year olds' and 'little monsters', so you're arguing a different battle :)

One thing I learnt when I became a parent is -- I used to judge people like crazy .. 'When I have kids, I'd never let them do that!' - but when you have them, you learn a fwe things quick.

i) If you're in a mall and kid has a melt down .. _leaving lets the kid win_, and is bad parenting; also, keeping them tormenting everyone else.. is bad juju. So you have to find a middle ground, where the bad behaviour does not get the kid what it wants (going home), no reward.. but minimizes the outburts; a couple times, and it never happens again. But you will see the once it happens and judge .. but that is bad of _you_. (Now if the people let it go on for half an hour, or in a theatre ,or a restaurant, then they suck.) So its a slippery slope, context sensitive. Have some compasion :)

ii) If the kids are _small_ and nouisey .. just picture this: You've got a collicy kid say (like my first) who screamed _15 hours a day or more_; no one knows why collic occurs, and there are as many theories as there are kids. Kid could have some issue, or is jsut scared, or who knows what. Anyway, my kid woudl only be quiet while in motion, which was hell at nights I tell you. Anyway consider .. these poor parents have to _survive_, until that switch goes off and the child becomes a human. So if those poor peopel take the kid out for a stroll, and its screamning away.. you'll judge, its nature to do so; but on eht other hand, you shoudl have compassion and look into the eyes of those people and see.. maybe they've not slept in nearly a year, living on an hour or two a day, nearly dead (for real), and just taking care of this little child hoping it'll get better soon.

This is not a rare occurance even :) Some kids are just little terrors for their first year.. its freaky. If those poor peopel go to the mall so the kid will hopefulyl quiet down, or so they can see the sun, or other adults for a brief instant, to know the world is still out there.. cut them some slack :)

But if they are little shits in a quiet adult steakhouse, tell them to shut their kids up or gtfo :)

jeff
 
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