I work for a charity that supports CM, a 25-year-old with Down’s syndrome and a learning disability, to live in his home.
He has round-the-clock care and limited capacity around decision-making.
However, I recently discovered he had managed to get around the screen time controls on his iPhone to access the App Store.
He then spent £1,300 on various apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions, all paid for using the credit card details held on a “family sharing” account.
His parents had set this up so he could access their Apple Music account, but they did not realise this meant he could make purchases on their credit card.
As soon as I realised what had happened,I contacted Apple by phone and email, but both were fruitless.
I explained CM’s additional needs, that he didn’t have the bill payer’s permission and, also, that this had never happened before but the company would not budge, and refused to grant a refund.
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Should I take CM to an Apple store to try to explain the situation again?
AT, Bristol
This is every parent or guardian’s worst nightmare, as CM managed to run up a huge credit card bill in a very short period.
However, the good news is that when I contacted Apple on your behalf, it was sympathetic, and the £1,300 has been refunded to his father’s credit card.
The Apple site has lots of how-to guides that might help other households avoid a stressful situation like this on a family sharing account.
A particularly useful feature is “ask to buy”, which the account owner can turn on for a family member via the settings app on their iPhone or iPad. This means that when a purchase, or free download, is initiated, the account owner is sent a request to approve or decline (it’s on by default for any children under the age of 13).
If you want to go further and stop in-app purchases altogether, you first need to turn on “screen time” on their device. Once that is on, there is an option to disable purchases.
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