Apple Loses $100 Million In Class Action Suit Because Our Kids Know How To Use Our Phones Better Than We Do
The password function is the only thing my toddler hasn’t figured out on my phone. Do you have any idea how much money I would owe Apple if my little technological genius could crack my password? It turns out I may have paid Apple handsomely already – even without my toddler knowing my password. Apparently, there are “add-ons” that require no password for purchase. Not good.
News Grio reports:
The problem, parents complained, was often with games that seemed at their face to be free. But when given a closer examination, some of the supposedly free apps could easily be enhanced by add-ons. For a fee.
ABC News gives the ”˜highly publicized’ example of an 8-year-old who managed to spend $1,400 on ”˜Smurfberries’ within the ”˜free to play’ app of Smurf Village, available on iTunes.
The top of the iTunes download page for Smurf Village currently reads ”˜PLEASE NOTE: Smurfs’ Village is free to play, but charges real money for additional in-app content. You may lock out the ability to purchase in-app content by adjusting your device’s settings.’
Um, what? I always assumed I had to enter a password to purchase anything on my phone. Now I am thinking I should probably go through my credit card statements and see how much money I’ve paid Apple in the last few months.
I know a lot of people have a problem putting their phone down, but I am not one of them. I’m not one of those people who is constantly looking at her phone. I never really have my ringer on. For this reason, my toddler pretty much owns my phone. I put it down, he finds it and plays with it. He occasionally tweets some children’s videos that probably make my followers think I am strange and he takes the most adorable selfies. I honestly always thought allowing him to play with my phone was harmless. Wrong again.
I suck at this parenting thing sometimes.
(photo: Songquan Deng/ Shutterstock)