Do your kids play with YOUR iDevice?

How many of you out there let your kids play with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod? I do! One day a few months back, I went to play a movie on our Apple TV and there was a new movie that I knew I didn't purchase. After a little investigative work, I realized that my 4 year old downloaded Monster's University against my wishes. How did he download it you may ask?

When you download an app, or update one (at least in the recent past) by inputting your password once, the App store allows you to download other apps, games, music, movies and books without having to type your password again. Moments before my son downloaded the new $20 movie, I downloaded a few new educational games that he could play with as a reward for helping around our house.

There have been multiple cases of parents footing the bill for their children's downloads in similar circumstances. Some of them got together and filed a class action suit against Apple to recoup some of their charges. In the wake of the filing, Apple has made some adjustments to their policies about in app purchases and the length of time you are allowed to purchase additional apps before having to type your password back in.

(Reuters) - Apple Inc will refund consumers at least $32.5 million to settle a longstanding complaint that the technology company billed U.S. consumers for charges incurred by children buying mobile apps without their parents' consent.
Under the terms of the settlement, announced on Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Apple also will be required to change its billing practices to ensure it obtains consent from consumers before charging for items sold in mobile apps.
"Whether you're doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. "You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize."
In an internal memo to employees, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company decided to settle rather than risk a long and distracting legal battle because the FTC's proposals aligned with the company's own intended changes.
Ramirez said the commission had logged "tens of thousands of complaints" from consumers over the unauthorized purchases of apps such as Dragon Story and Tiny Zoo Friends.
The FTC complaint alleges that Apple does not inform account holders that entering their password in the company's App Store opens a 15-minute window in which children can incur unlimited charges with no further action from the account holder
"To be clear, the issue is not that Apple opens a 15-minute window for in-app purchases," Ramirez said. "What we challenge is the fact that Apple does not inform users of the existence of the window. When parents enter a password, they do not know the full scope of charges they could incur."
Apple shares showed little response to the news and in midday trading were up 2.4 percent at $556.69, holding onto gains posted earlier.
"Protecting children has been a top priority for the App Store from the very beginning, and Apple is proud to have set the gold standard for online stores by making the App Store a safe place for customers of all ages," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling.
The Commission vote to accept the consent agreement package was 3-1, with Commissioner Joshua Wright, a Republican, voting no.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz and Alina Selyukh.; Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco. Writing by Ros Krasny; Editing by Andre Grenon)