My family settings are restricting 13-17 year olds from downloading apps

[colinkiama]

And if you want to stop IAPs and purchases, don't give your children your credit card details in the first place!!!!

 

[Nerdy Woman]

Colin, the price of the app/content is irrelevant. Terms of use, terms of service, whatever they want to call them -- those are legal agreements.

One of the reasons that Apple and Google are paying up big fines is because they made contracts with people who have no legal standing to make contracts.

Have you ever clicked on an "I agree" button? You know, one of those buttons that if you don't agree, you don't get whatever you would get by agreeing. What you are agreeing to is the terms of use, all that legal mumbo jumbo that says you can't sue the person/company providing the app or whatever to you, the limits of their liability is to refund your money, etc. Many times, you're also agreeing to let them know your exact location, give them access to information on your phone, etc.

The point is this: you can't make that contract with any provider until you're 18 (or 21 in some countries). Most teens (and too many adults) will ignore the terms of use in their haste to d/l that awesome app all their friends have. For instance, d/l the Instagram app and they ask if they can use your location... sure! why not? Teens don't often stop to consider the risks in publicly posting their GPS coordinates... Hopefully, parents are a bit more discerning.

Meanwhile, exhale. You'll be 18 soon enough and then have a lot of years to wish you were a kid again.

 

[hopmedic]

In addition to what Nerdy Woman has stated, which I wholeheartedly support, there is the issue of content. Not all 13-17 year olds will make wise choices of content. And I'd argue that even many adults make unwise choices in this area. And much of it is free. But parents of teens not only have the right, but have the RESPONSIBILITY of making sure that their kids are taught to make wise choices. Part of that is in monitoring what they do online.

My grandson is 13. But emotionally he is more like a 9 year old. He has developmental disabilities. I am a "parent" on his Microsoft account, because his mother doesn't have the technical know-how or the patience to keep an eye on what is going on. One of the things that upset me when he turned 13 is that Microsoft automatically took away some of the controls that I had, because they somehow determined that at 13 he should no longer be monitored in the same way he was. That gets under my skin in a big way. Who in the world gave Microsoft the right to take away controls from a parent (or in this case a grandparent who was authorized by the parent)???

How much control a parent has should be up to the parent, not the service provider. That's why I believe there should be options on that. But regardless of how much monitoring a parent does, a minor still has no ability to enter into a legally binding contract, which is what happens every time you install an app, paid or not.

And as NerdyWoman said, take a deep breath. You will be 18 soon enough, and it won't be long after that when you'll be like the rest of us, wishing you were back to 18.