How to disable In-App purchases on IOS

Recent horror stories of kids charging thousands of dollars to their parent's iTunes accounts through in-app purchases are enough to scare any parent into banning their kids from further iPhone use. A five year-old from England managed to rack up $2,550 in in-app purchases in just 15 minutes. The incident occurred days after Apple settled a lawsuit involving in-app purchasing by kids. Although Apple has refunded the charges, the whole debacle put freemium apps in the spotlight and pointed out the dangers of free game apps targeted at children.

Don't let in-app bill shock happen to you.

Freemium apps, also known as bait apps, are free to download, but require the user to purchase items in the game to continue playing or pass levels easily. The prices for some of these items are ridiculously high. For example, in Zombies vs Ninja , 333 bombs cost $99.99. So imagine your child wanting a thousand bombs—that's more than $300 down the tubes.

Luckily, there is a way to disable in-app purchasing on iPhones, which completely blocks any attempt to purchase from any app. Here are the steps.

1. In the Settings, tap General.

2.Scroll down and tap Restrictions.

3. If it's not already enabled, you will see that most of the Restrictions page is grayed out. Click on Enable Restrictions at the top to turn it on.

4. Once you enable Restrictions, you will be prompted to create a four digit passcode and re-enter it a second time. Be sure this passcode differs from your locked screen passcode for safety's sake.

5. After you create a passcode, scroll down to In-App Purchases and you'll see that it's turned on.

6. Click on the toggle to disable In-App Purchases.