PARENTAL CONTROLS

Have you ever gotten an email receipt from the iTunes Store and don’t remember making a purchase?  Do you have apps on your iPhone that you don’t remember buying?  If you’re seeing receipts for $1.29 (songs) or from $.99 - $14.99 and up (apps, tv shows or movies), it could have been your son or daughter on a shopping spree!

If your iTunes account is set up on their iPhone (iPad or iPod Touch), they can freely make purchases if they know your password.  Or, once you’ve made a purchase, the account is still logged in for 15 minutes, allowing additional purchases without having to re-enter the password.

If you’d like to better manage what they buy and how much they spend, here are a few options.

Option 1:  Set up an iTunes gift on your account and give them a monthly ‘allowance’.  Once you’re logged into iTunes on your computer, you’ll find the “Buy iTunes Gift” link under “Quick Links”.  This will allow you to set a monthly spending amount.  Allowances begin at $10, with increments of $10 up to $50.  Any unused monthly balance carries over to the following month which allows them to ‘save’ for larger purchases.

Option 2:  Change your password.  Creating a strong password that they can’t guess will prevent them from logging into your account.

Option 3:  Enable restrictions on the device.  This option is found by navigating to Settings --> General --> Restrictions.  You’ll need to enter a 4-digit code (make it something less obvious than a birthday or house number).  Once you’ve set up the code, you can disable them from accessing the App Store or iTunes Store by sliding those switches to the Off position.  Although the App Store is disabled, they may still be able to make in-app purchases on apps that are already installed.  To disable this, scroll down to the “Allowed Content” and turn the “In-App Purchases” switch to the Off position.

This is a good start.  There are other restrictions you can enable for their iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad that I'll discuss in the next newsletter.  Stay tuned!

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