Google will stop calling games 'free' when they offer in-app purchases

[Dietrichw]

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Google has agreed to add protections around games' in-app purchases to ensure that children won't rack up unwanted charges on their parents' credit cards. The changes come at the request of the European Commission, which has been investigating the ongoing issue of unwanted in-app purchases and is today laying out a series of guidelines that it would like developers and app stores to comply with. Google has said that by the end of September, it will cease to advertise games as "free" when they include in-app purchases and that it will also require payment verification before each purchase. It's unclear if these changes will be exclusive to Europe, however.

 

[RelentlessAF]

Toddler mode is a good solution. The ability to disable all in-app purchases with the touch of a button. Or you know don't put your credit card on your phone.

[Askew]

I think that if you give your child a phone and password to your credit card linked Google Play/iTunes account you are a moron anyway I wouldn't waste my time legislating to nanny your behaviour.

 

 

Apple's 'Ask to Buy' is a good idea that helps implement a solution for parents giving their child a seperate phone without catering to stupidity.

 

This same commission seem completely blind to the existence of this and are still asking Apple to ramp up protection for their customers from in app purchases, which I think is really dumb given what Apple have implemented that customers can use.

 

[flibberdipper]

Finally. iOS has this (I think it's been there since iOS 6 at least).

[Horrorfull]

Finally. iOS has this (I think it's been there since iOS 6 at least).

Yeah it says "This app offers in-app purchases" or something. 

[AnnoyedShelf]

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-snip-

Now this, this is a good idea.  I hate downloading a F2P game, only to find out it has microtransactions (I usually don't, I get most mobile games from the Humble Bundle)

[Imaginaerum]

Toddler mode is a good solution. The ability to disable all in-app purchases with the touch of a button. Or you know don't put your credit card on your phone.

Sometimes it just charges the phone bill. If it's an Apple product with iTunes then a lot of people have credit cards attached to buy music, and of course... apps.

[Misanthrope]

I don't think it will make much of a dent on the amount of crappy games but hopefully it will motivate some devs to just do advertisement instead which I can a higher tolerance for.

[RelentlessAF]

Sometimes it just charges the phone bill. If it's an Apple product with iTunes then a lot of people have credit cards attached to buy music, and of course... apps.

Than don't allow them to play on devices you have a phone bill attached to, for instance an iPod. Make all purchases only able to be done from the phone. That would take some more planning but it's another option.

[Imaginaerum]

Than don't allow them to play on devices you have a phone bill attached to, for instance an iPod. Make all purchases only able to be done from the phone. That would take some more planning but it's another option.

Yes but when you have 3 kids and the easiest thing to do is hand them your phone and let them play with it, it's easy for parents to get sidetracked and not notice that their bill is getting charged up or that they don't realize they need to take extra steps to prevent the microtransactions.

[RelentlessAF]

Yes but when you have 3 kids and the easiest thing to do is hand them your phone and let them play with it, it's easy for parents to get sidetracked and not notice that their bill is getting charged up or that they don't realize they need to take extra steps to prevent the microtransactions.

They shouldn't blame the dev in those situations than... it's up to them to not make mistakes like that.

[minimalist]

GGG

[Bsmith]

Finally. iOS has this (I think it's been there since iOS 6 at least).

yh, IOS requires password for that stuff, but still not good enough for EU rules, google will make a big mvoe with this, sounds good for me.

[Imaginaerum]

They shouldn't blame the dev in those situations than... it's up to them to not make mistakes like that.

If the world worked on common sense it'd be a much better place

[Nomelas]

Yeah it says "This app offers in-app purchases" or something. 

Google play store also has this, it's below the "FREE" second of the store page.

 

EDIT: also people are morons. There's an option to disable saving password for purchases which make it so you are required to put in a password each time you purchase anything, in the store AND in-app purchases. I know because I do this all the time. People are just stupid and this will just end up being really annoying when I want to try out a "free" game and have to put my password in even though I'm not buying anything.... Stupid people... ruin it for everyone else.

[ajlouni]

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its about time