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Advice on Smurfberries - STAY AWAY

spool32spool32 Contrary LibraryRegistered User, Transition Team regular
edited February 2011 in Help / Advice Forum
BEWARE!

I have a close friend whose 5yr old daughter accidentally racked up over $250 in smurfberries, purchased through the smurf app on his iPad, no password required. Visa let him reject the charges, but the dispute has frozen his iTunes account for, literally, 3 weeks.

That's correct - the smurf app doesn't prompt you for a password when you're buying berries inside the game.

A word to the wise... smurfberries are crack. Put the Smurfpipe Down, Dude. Your iTunes account will be glad you did.

spool32 on

Posts

  • OnTheLastCastleOnTheLastCastle let's keep it haimish for the peripatetic Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    There was a Slate article about this a month or two ago. It's a big problem because parents hand the ipad off to kids to play with thinking it's just a fun little free game and the kids buy whole wheelbarrows full of smurfberries.

    They're implementing it requiring passwords, I think... though it takes like 15 mins since you last put in your PW, I think. I don't own an ipad or a child soooooo... not my area of expertise.

    OnTheLastCastle on
  • tardcoretardcore Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I thought this was a joke thread until I realized that this shit is real. Can they legally do that? That's insane. Any young kid can just tap away and end up blowing hundreds of their parents dollars.

    tardcore on
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  • OnTheLastCastleOnTheLastCastle let's keep it haimish for the peripatetic Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Prices come on the screen but kids don't care/can't read. They don't have to input your password again because the iPad stores it for 15+ minutes. Also your CC information that you gave them to buy apps.

    It's not illegal. Should they be more explicit? Okay. Should parents pay more attention to what they hand their children? Yes.

    OnTheLastCastle on
  • ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator Mod Emeritus
    edited February 2011
    tardcore wrote: »
    I thought this was a joke thread until I realized that this shit is real. Can they legally do that? That's insane. Any young kid can just tap away and end up blowing hundreds of their parents dollars.

    Same. I had the lock button all ready to go. Then I thought "wait a minute" and looked it up and it turns out it's an actual thing.

    This is why when I have children they can use the internet when they have an allowance big enough for me to take this sort of thing out of.

    ceres on
    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
  • vonPoonBurGervonPoonBurGer Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I think you can make this a non-issue by restricting in-app purchases. Settings > General > Restrictions, tap Enable Restrictions, give it a 4-digit passcode, make sure In-App Purchases is set to OFF. There's a lot of other restriction options in there that a concerned parent should be aware of, such as the ability to restrict apps, movies or TV shows by age classification, and another setting for music & podcasts with explicit content.

    I just risked $0.99 to see if it works, and it does. When I tried to buy a bag of gold in Infinity Blade, it said "You do not have permission to purchase from the App Store". There isn't even an option to put in a password or passcode, you'd have to go back into Settings and turn in-app purchases back on, and you have the enter your passcode every single time you access the Restrictions settings.

    Edit: I'm actually going to keep in-app purchases restricted. I can easily imagine tapping one of those bags of gold (they show up on every goddamn section of the in-game store) while trying to buy something using not-real-money in Infinity Blade, and then accidentally tapping Yes instead of No.

    vonPoonBurGer on
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  • DeebaserDeebaser on my way to work in a suit and a tie Ahhhh...come on fucking guyRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Sadly, There are now a lot of apps like this. My fiancee was deep into Tap Zoo. Thank God she never bought anything, but that crapp hogged a fuckton of bandwith all the same.

    Deebaser on
  • spool32spool32 Contrary Library Registered User, Transition Team regular
    edited February 2011
    Yaknow, I'm not sure I'd count "playing the Smurf game" as "using the Internet". The edges around this thing we've created are getting fuzzier all the time...

    spool32 on
  • ChillyWillyChillyWilly Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Here's more on the story if anyone is interested. Sounds like the GUV'MENT is getting involved.

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108024-U-S-Congressman-Wants-to-Prevent-Kids-from-Buying-Smurfberries

    ChillyWilly on
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  • VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    OnTheLastCastle wrote: »
    Prices come on the screen but kids don't care/can't read. They don't have to input your password again because the iPad stores it for 15+ minutes. Also your CC information that you gave them to buy apps.

    It's not illegal. Should they be more explicit? Okay. Should parents pay more attention to what they hand their children? Yes.

    This sums up my thoughts.

    VisionOfClarity on
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