While the In-app purchases feature in Android makes it easy to buy apps, you may want to disable in-App purchases on your Android device, in order to prevent accidental and unwanted purchases. In this post we will show the steps to disable or limit in-app purchases on your Android device.
Disable In-App purchases On Android
The In-app purchases feature in Android is designed to ease the process of buying apps and games on your Android device. This feature enables you to buy anything on Google Play without having to go through the hassle of entering your user name and password, every time you make a purchase.
However, leaving this feature enabled on your device can potentially expose you to the risk of your kids running up a large bill on your Android phone by purchasing random apps and games. Hence, this post to help you disable in app purchases on your Android device.
1. Go to the Google Play Store
Open up the Google Play Store from the shortcut on your phone’s home screen or by finding it in the all apps list.
2. Tap on 3 Line Menu icon
Now tap on the 3 line menu icon located near the top left corner of your screen (See image below).
3. Tap on Settings
Once you tap on the 3 line menu icon you will see a drop-down menu, tap on Settings from the drop-down list.
4. Change Require Authentication Frequency
Look through the settings till you find the User control sub-menu. In this sub-menu look for “Require Authentication for Purchases”. (See image below)
Now tap on Require Authentication for purchases and you will see three options in front of you – We have provided below a brief description of what each option means.
- Never: Authentication is not required for purchases
- Every 30 minutes: Every time you authenticate for a purchase, you can continue to buy all forms of digital content from Google Play for the next 30 minutes without authenticating again.
- For all purchases made through Google Play on this device: Authentication is required for every digital content purchase through Google Play
By default, this option is set to Every 30 minutes on most Android devices. This means there is a 30 minute window within which any of your kids might innocently start playing a paid game or download paid apps.
5. Change Authentication Setting
We recommend that you should change the setting to ‘For all purchases through Google Play on this device’.
6. Confirm Changes
Enter your Google account password to confirm the changes to above settings.
Once you have made this change, anyone using your Android device will now be required to enter User Name and Password in order to make a purchase on Google Play. This adds a layer of security to your Android device, preventing unintentional and accidental purchases.
