Child-Proof your iDevice

There are all sorts of stories floating around the web about the kid who rang up a couple thousand dollar iTunes bill. If you read it on the internet, it has to be true, right? Surprisingly, most of these stories are true. Sadly, it's easy enough to do if your child has an app that takes advantage of in-app purchases. Some games allow users to move to the level or buy extra features just by tapping a few buttons. It's a great idea to turn off these In-App purchases to prevent this from happening - especially if you have a child using your iDevice. Turning them off is easzy, here's how:

1. Go to Settings - General - Restrictions
2. Enable Restrictions (will require setting up a passcode)
3. Turn In-App Purchases to OFF
4. While in this menu, you can also change the following:
   1. restrict ability to install or delete apps
   2. restrict playing of 'explicit' music
   3. turn off ability to play multi-player games or add friends in Game Center (some games allow users to connect to anyone else in the world playing the same game and users can chat with one another in some games which, while normally just fine, can be a way for online predators to talk to kids)
   4. An important one - consider changing Require Password to Immediately instead of 15 minutes. if it's 'Immediately', you will be required to type in your iTunes password every single time you want to buy an app. If it's '15 minutes', your child can buy anything just by tapping the 'Buy Now' button within 15 minutes of you last entering your iTunes password.