to faint at my bank statement showing £200 gone on in app purchases?

[NickiFury]

DD age 7, don't know how, has managed to get my password and turn on in app purchases and has been purchasing with abandon tokens and jewels in Nemo's Reef and Minion Rush games.

She has only been doing it for three days, thank goodness or who knows how much she would have spent.

Fortunately I have been on to Apple who are refunding all the charges (thank goodness, am lone parent and every penny counts).

Just to warn you all to be aware, I did everything right, set up all security settings, thought my password was secret etc, restricted I Pad use and she was still able to do it.

Thing is she has ASD and I know she wouldn't have done it in an underhand way, just would have thought she was really clever to manage to do it.

Be Careful!!!!!

Clever girl! Glad they refunded you though

as soon as my son starts a new game, we work out which is the real money/gems/tokens that he has to guard as he will get no more and which is the game money that he will earn by playing the game.

This will be a usefull thing to do from now on.

Me too, I was nearly in tears on the phone, couldn't report it on line so had to phone and ended up speaking to a very sympathetic American guy who shared all the ridiculous things HE did as a child with me too, which was quite fun .

Take your credit card off the IPad and instead load money on with an ITunes card. You can buy them anywhere, so its not like you would be caught short!

There is absolutely no need to have it linked to a credit card, and just too risky if anyone else has access to your IPad.

Don't give your kids your stuff to fiddle with. There is no reason that a 7 year old should require an Ipad.
Mine are only young but have started as I mean to go on, my stuff is mine and they are not to touch. There are consequences if they do.

My friends DS ran up a £740 bill doing this whilst they were on holiday so you aren't alone OP.

She also got the money credited back, but they did tell her that if it happened again she would not be refunded.

maninawomansworld - well bully for you. Others, including me, see the value of a lot of the apps that are aimed at children, for education and enjoyment. They may not require it, but then chances are YOU don't REQUIRE one either, you just WANT one.

We had this problem. Ds wasn't putting the password in though. When you put your password in it doesn't require it for fifteen minutes. So in that fifteen minutes you can purchase whatever with no password needed. Ds had spent £80 without me realising this one! Again got refunded though

bore off man

Yes Hampton they told me its a one time only deal.

I have changed my password to an un-guessable string of nonsense and will never let her see me input it.

I didn't know that about the 15 minutes something to remember. I don't think she will do it again to be honest, she was quite shocked and upset when I told her. Adamant that she wouldn't be refunding me though

If you put the password in for something then the default is that there is a 15 minute window where the password doesn't need to be reentered to make purchases.

If you go into settings you can turn off in app purchases and I think you can make sure you need to enter the password every time.

I have done it for my family's devices. There's been enough stories like yours on the news.

X post with tinga about the 15 minutes

HayDayQueen :o My 5 year old uses my iPad even after running up a £47 bill for in app purchases. Baaaaad mother. It was refunded and I learned about guided access. Switch this on and it stays on the app you want it to and disables purchases. You put a pass number in to use it. Very useful.

I'm glad they refunded you.

Iv had it done to a tune off 100 but was done buba friendly ds1 which was refunded by Google.

I took my card of it right then

You can set it so it forgets the password instantly (I've got an iPhone but I assume the iPad is the same).
In Restrictions set to Require Password Immediately.

I only use iTunes vouchers on my phone rather than a credit card just in case the DC do ever work out my password.

In app purchases must be turned off completely so even if she guesses the password she can't use them. Also in settings you can turn off the 15 minute timer thing.

Glad they refunded it. I always find it strange when other preach about things they know nothing about.

Yes, but if they work out your password, how much longer will it take them to work out how to turn ON the in app purchases?! Safer to just remove the credit card entirely!!!

My nephew did that. Unless you have the restrictions set you don't need passcOde for in app purchases. It's crazy. He spend £100 in 20minjtes. Thankfully got a refund.

In his defence, I don't think he knew what he was doing.

Useful youtube video on child proofing your iphone/ipad:

"There's absolutely no reason for a 7 year old to have an iPad"

Well the hearts and minds charity that helps families of children with autism get iPads to help them with their communication would disagree with you there.

What a nasty thing to say.

Maninawomansworld educational studies would disagree with you. The evidence is that the younger children learn how to use this technology the better. I think you will be gob smacked at how present they are in the classroom. Some schools actually issue individual iPads from the age of 6.

Change Settings > General > Restrictions > Require Password to 'Immediately'

She has just brought me her purse with about £15 in that she has saved up for months to pay me back .

I can't take it, it would break my heart to do it. However I still want to make sure she knows how bad this could have been, luckily I am being refunded.

What would you do?

hayday there is a PIN number required to turn in app purchases on again. Make sure child never sees you enter the number (and don't use something obvious like their date of birth).

I don't think I'd take any money off her, after all you're being refunded. I'd maybe have extra restrictions on the ipad use until she can earn your trust again. So perhaps only have it for 10 minutes, with you sitting right next to her watching, at a time that's convenient for you. And gradually increase time and privileges from there.