Do not leave mobile phones or tablets to children to play with the applications that we have previously downloaded would not make much sense. But if we don't want to take unpleasant surprises in our bank account, the best thing is deactivate the Internet connection whenever the children use the device.
I could say that this story is based on real events, which fortunately ended well for me, but not so for many other parents who have increased their phone bills up to thousands of euros, without their consent, of course.
Because it is usual that, even if the application in question is free, it offers the possibility of expanding content by paying ("in-app purchases"), or that advertising of other applications that are paid while we play appears. Young children usually hit the buttons without thinking about what it is, simply looking for news or moving forward in their game.
But those randomly pressed buttons can lead them to buy, to spend cash and sound money that can bore the paternal current account. There are ways to deactivate some of these "unexpected" purchases on mobile devices, which vary according to the operating system and that we will have to investigate to have more security, but The simplest way to avoid risks is to deactivate the connection before the child plays.
That's why the only applications I download for girls are those that don't need a network connection, so I avoid that in a moment of carelessness there is a mess and it doesn't worry me, that I don't always have a connection, that they can't play or use them at any given time (which by the way are rather few). However, this way and everything a few days ago I got a good scare ...
Having no balance also works (but it is unusual)
A scare of just eight euros and that saved me having no balance on my phone prepaid card, so I'm glad in this case it took to recharge the mobile ... It was a time when my little daughter asked me for the phone to play, I told her that five minutes, as always, without realizing it that I had the Wi-Fi connection from the previous day without disconnecting.
It had not been two minutes, I was looking at my computer on my computer, when I see that several messages from Google Play begin to arrive. Now you can imagine the jump I took to pick up the phone to the girl, who had actually given some "Buy now" button.
If I get a balance, or my phone is a contract, goodbye to eight euros, but the scare is that it could have been 20 or 60, and one behind the other ... in a few minutes we are not looking at what they do with the mobile . Luckily purchase stopped due to lack of balance and they told me that if I didn't recharge in a week, that purchase would be canceled. If I am not mistaken eight days ago, but I have not recharged just in case ...
Maybe you think, well, eight euros is not so much ... and it is true, but if you have never paid for an application, it hurts, and more because you have not chosen it and not even your daughter, who gave the button without knowing what was.
And eight euros are not so much, but there is little the amount that companies pocket for unauthorized application downloads, those "clicks" that children do without parental consent and often without really knowing what they are doing. What is strange to me is that these amounts are repeated, because if I discover that my daughters have spent 40 euros in a month on applications, I not only withdraw their cell phone for a year, almost until greeting ...
Jokes aside, inquiring about the subject, there are games such as "farms" or "cities" in which it is offered to advance buying "objects" for up to 80 euros. Stunned I stay ... and I hope that such purchases can also be blocked.
At the end of this I also do self-criticism and I emphasize that I do not have to leave the phone to the girls without seeing where they get in and without checking that they have no connection. Well, until next time, I guess ...
Therefore, for healing in health, and although we think that we are always attentive to what they do or that they already know the game in question, it is best to disconnect the Internet before letting children play with the phone or tablet, the little game won't cost us ...
