IPhone applications. There are now around 250,000 of them, offering everything from map reading to social networking, and updates on your favourite TV shows. Although you can pay between 59p and £599.99 to download an app onto your phone, others come free. Or, at least their owners thought they did! Now you've been telling us that when you download some of these apps, the expected fun and games can end in tears.
Dominic in Fife, whose 6 year old son Matthew is a huge fan of iPhone games, told us of his problems earlier this year, when Matthew asked his dad if he could download an app called Tap Resort Party ...a game where players can build their own holiday park.
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'iPhone apps' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Dominic told us: "It looked like a really suitable game for a child, the graphics were very cartoon like, it was very child friendly, lots of bright colours, you bought properties, not with cash but with shells, it seemed very child orientated".
Dominic agreed to download the free game, but just a few days later, he got a nasty surprise when his credit card company called to warn him of several hundred pounds of unexpected spending on his iTunes account.
He told us: "My son had been tapping purchase shells on this game, every time he'd pressed the button it had charged my credit card £59.99". Matthew told us: "You like buy stuff, and it takes away your money in shells. I bought 2400 and I clicked on it seven times". In fact Matthew had purchased £467.89 worth of shells! But how had this happened? Watchdog found that although a parents iTunes password is asked for when they download the app, even if it is free, it then stays logged in for 15 minutes, and won't be requested again to make subsequent in-app purchases in that time frame.
Graham Barlow, Editor of MacFormat Magazine explained why this function exists: "Well it's actually done for a sensible reason imagine you just got a new phone and you want to buy a whole load of apps having to type your password in every time would be a real pain so it's done as a convenience measure. The problem is once it's remembered your password just a little bit if you give your phone then to your child to play a game they can start making purchases before it'll ask for your password again."
Matthew may have been purchasing shells in the game, but when the bills appeared... they were in real pounds and pence. Apple reversed the charge for these accidental purchases.
As part of our investigation, our production team examined 7 free apps aimed at children and discovered that none of the ones we looked at, clearly warned the user about the potential to spend real money on in-app purchases at the point they are downloaded.
To block In-app purchasing on your iphone, go into Settings, then under 'General' you can access the 'Restrictions' menu, if you haven't used them before, you may be asked to set a pass code to enable them. Once this is done, under the 'Allowed Content' heading you will be able to toggle the 'In-App purchases' to OFF.
Apple iPhone response:
App purchase and In-App purchase can be restricted using Parental Controls. Parental Controls also can restrict apps based on app age ratings. In-app purchases and currencies cannot be used to acquire any physical goods, nor can they be used between applications, they can only be used for digital content or services provided by the application.
iPhone in-app downloads: free or not so free?
Dominic in Fife, whose 6 year old son Matthew is a huge fan of iPhone games, told us of his problems earlier this year, when Matthew asked his dad if he could download an app called Tap Resort Party ...a game where players can build their own holiday park.
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'iPhone apps' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Dominic told us: "It looked like a really suitable game for a child, the graphics were very cartoon like, it was very child friendly, lots of bright colours, you bought properties, not with cash but with shells, it seemed very child orientated".
Dominic agreed to download the free game, but just a few days later, he got a nasty surprise when his credit card company called to warn him of several hundred pounds of unexpected spending on his iTunes account.
He told us: "My son had been tapping purchase shells on this game, every time he'd pressed the button it had charged my credit card £59.99". Matthew told us: "You like buy stuff, and it takes away your money in shells. I bought 2400 and I clicked on it seven times". In fact Matthew had purchased £467.89 worth of shells! But how had this happened? Watchdog found that although a parents iTunes password is asked for when they download the app, even if it is free, it then stays logged in for 15 minutes, and won't be requested again to make subsequent in-app purchases in that time frame.
Graham Barlow, Editor of MacFormat Magazine explained why this function exists: "Well it's actually done for a sensible reason imagine you just got a new phone and you want to buy a whole load of apps having to type your password in every time would be a real pain so it's done as a convenience measure. The problem is once it's remembered your password just a little bit if you give your phone then to your child to play a game they can start making purchases before it'll ask for your password again."
Matthew may have been purchasing shells in the game, but when the bills appeared... they were in real pounds and pence. Apple reversed the charge for these accidental purchases.
As part of our investigation, our production team examined 7 free apps aimed at children and discovered that none of the ones we looked at, clearly warned the user about the potential to spend real money on in-app purchases at the point they are downloaded.
To block In-app purchasing on your iphone, go into Settings, then under 'General' you can access the 'Restrictions' menu, if you haven't used them before, you may be asked to set a pass code to enable them. Once this is done, under the 'Allowed Content' heading you will be able to toggle the 'In-App purchases' to OFF.
Apple iPhone response:
App purchase and In-App purchase can be restricted using Parental Controls. Parental Controls also can restrict apps based on app age ratings. In-app purchases and currencies cannot be used to acquire any physical goods, nor can they be used between applications, they can only be used for digital content or services provided by the application.
iPhone in-app downloads: free or not so free?