You would probably be surprised to hear that there are several apps used every day that parents and kids unknowingly (or knowingly) give permission to continuously charge their credit cards, but there are. It starts with a simple download from Apple’s App Store, Google Play, or the BlackBerry App World.
Available in these stores and other third party app stores online are different types of apps that can easily be downloaded to a smartphone or tablet for free or can be bought for a small fee. The ‘pay to play’ or ‘premium’ apps are very upfront about pricing, requiring money before individuals are ever even allowed to gain access to it, and typically don’t require and money thereafter. Then there are the “free” apps that are usually ok, but parents and kids still need to pay attention to. They need to be aware of these apps that are completely free to download with no hassle, but once downloaded and inside the app, additional purchases are sometimes required to do pretty much everything.
While some apps are called “lite” apps that are a straightforward attempt to get users to ‘try before you buy’ before purchasing the actual premium app, others are setup to only allow a certain amount of use before prompting users to make what are called “in-app purchases” for new levels, in game currency, content, and more. This is where the trouble starts and continues for many users.
Parents may look at the new apps on their mobile device that their kids have downloaded and think nothing of it, no big deal right? And kids may just be playing their game and not even pay attention to the notice asking for permission to charge their account before proceeding to the next level or new content, they just click ‘OK’ and continue on. Unfortunately, it’s not until later when parents receive their billing statement that they even notice how much these FREE apps are costing them.
It is up to parents to do the necessary research on what their teens and young kids are downloading, and take proactive measures to prevent further use and unnecessary increased spending down the line. One solution for parents to know not only what kids are downloading on their mobile phone or tablet, but also other activities they’re participating in on the device is to install mobile monitoring and parental control software such as Mobile Spy.
With this software, parents can view a complete list of each and every app downloaded and installed on the phone or tablet device. From this list, parents can choose to allow usage of particular apps or to completely block access to them to prevent further use. Not only for blocking and monitoring apps, this software monitors many other features of the mobile device such as websites visited, texts, GPS locations, and much more.
Ultimately, it is up to parents and guardians to keep tabs on their teens and tweens to ensure they are using their device properly and safely. Also, it is very important to make sure they are not knowingly or unknowingly running up high credit card bill simply trying to play their favorite game or app.
