The apple company has been forced to return around 32.5 million dollars (about 24 million euros) to its users for selling content through the app store App Store And, in this case, they have been under age without parental consent those who have incurred astronomical expenses by not having barriers when buying new tools or acquiring content from their own applications This is not the first time that it has reached the media due to the frequency with which the little ones, due to their ignorance or lack of supervision, end up acquiring extra contentthanks to the digital signature or password of their parents.
The incident occurred in the United States, where Apple has reached an agreement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission in Spanish) to return such amount of money. And it is that the company has been fined after the numerous complaints from parents who have received surprises on their telephone bills related to these content purchases. Invoices that in some cases have exceeded $2,600 after compulsive and continued buying through applications such as games , where the format Freemium has been implemented. And it's tempting to have a free game but buy new improvements and content once the user's attention has been drawn.
However, the FTC is of the opinion that Apple has violated the law by failing to inform parents that, after giving the password of your Apple accountpermission is also given for the purchase of apps In addition, this implies a period of 15 minutes of additional purchases unlimited An issue that users were not aware of either and that has allowed children to acquire all kinds of content without the supervision or authorization of the parents.
In addition to the obligation to return this amount of money to those users who have not authorized the purchase of those applications or contents, Apple has been forced to modify its billing policies Although no data is yet known in this regard, you should look for a formula in which the adult user and owner of the account of a proper and real authorization for the purchase of this kind of content through the store App Store The only way to ensure that, at least minors, do not have the power to involuntarily incur expenses. All of this duly informing users.
This is not the first time that the alarm has been raised about involuntary purchases or by minors without parental consent in the App Store Something that does not happen only in the United States. However, complaints from parents in this country have managed to modify the policies of Apple We will have to see if these also change in the rest of the countries in which it operates , although no data is yet known about it. In-app purchases and the pricing of the apps themselves on the iOS platform is what has earned it the status of the most profitable for developers Profits of which Apple keeps 30 percent
