If you happened to open up your subscription to The Daily after installing iOS 4.3 on Wednesday and got a prompt to enter your iTunes password again, you’ve stumbled across a new security measure in iOS 4.3 that Apple has put in place to help squelch accidental purchases.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple has quietly improved in-app purchasing, which now requires entering your iTunes password prior to making such a transaction. The move comes after numerous complaints from parents whose children have racked up big bucks buying virtual goods from inside free apps.
Apple already has a fairly strong parental controls (found under Settings > General > Restrictions) to avoid just such a problem, allowing parents to switch off in-app purchases as well as iTunes and the installing or removal of apps. The company also requires an iTunes password prior to a purchase, although once the first one is made, additional purchases won’t require password entry for another 15 minutes.
According to the Washington Post, the problem stems from parents who enter their password to purchase a new game, then discover that within the 15-minute window, their child has racked up hundreds of dollars buying virtual goods from inside the app -- all without ever requiring the password to be entered again.
“With iOS 4.3, in addition to a password being required to purchase an app on the App Store, a reentry of your password is now required when making an in-app purchase,” Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller explained in a statement, adding that the company is “proud to have industry-leading parental controls with iOS.”
A number of game developers offering “free” apps and then charging steep prices for in-app virtual goods have come under fire in recent months for what some lawmakers are calling “deceitful marketing,” which has put Apple on the offensive to help curtail the problem.
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