In-app purchases have made the headlines more than once over the past year. Having been sued in a class action lawsuit and needing to settle more than one case of “accidental” in-app purchasing by kids on their parents’ accounts, Apple’s decided to make things a little clearer with a new page within the App Store.
Recently, Apple added the “Offers in-App Purchases” within every app description of freemium apps, or apps which simply offered the ability to download extra content or upgrade within the program. The new page adds to this effort of being transparent about the games and apps which do offer extra downloadable content for sale.
The page covers what in-app purchases are, different types of them and how they work. It also offers guidance on how to switch them off. You should see the new section now if you head over to the App Store on your iPad.
While the naïve part of me thinks it’s nice that Apple is doing all this for the user out of the kindness of its heart. I can’t help but think that it’s all in an effort to ensure it’s not subject to anymore lawsuits where kids have downloaded tons of content “accidentally”.
