IAP Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple could face 'legal undertakings' in UK over in-app purchases

by Steven Sande (Apr 12th, 2013)

Remember the UK police officer who reported his son to authorities for fraud after the 13-year-old ran up a US$5,600 bill for in-app purchases on the iOS App Store? That kind of unexpected consumer cost has thrown the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into a tizzy, and they've announced that ...

Daily iPhone App: Dungeon Hunter 4 is a hack-and-slash that asks for cash

by Mike Schramm (Apr 11th, 2013)

I got to see Dungeon Hunter 4 in action a few weeks ago at GDC, and now the app is out and available for free on the App Store for you to try out for yourself. I'm torn on this one, unfortunately. On the one hand, this is an excellent game -- the graphics are extremely well done and the ...

Dear parents, it's not Apple's In-App Purchase problem, it's yours

by Michael Grothaus (Mar 27th, 2013)

Dear parents, Week after week we see articles about someone's child racking up thousands of dollars' worth of In-App purchases on their parents' iTunes account. You know the stories. They're ones like this: Five-year-old spends $2,500 on in-app purchases. And this: Apple's in-app game ...

Civ Revolution updated, with multiplayer and more

by Mike Schramm (Feb 21st, 2013)

Civ Revolution is one of my favorite apps on my iPad -- I'm a big Civ fan, and I think Civ Rev is a great touchscreen adaptation of the series. And now, it's even better: 2K Games has released an update for the app that adds a number of new in-app purchase packs, giving you the option to pick ...

The must-try Spaceteam update adds challenges, new play modes

by Mike Schramm (Feb 18th, 2013)

Spaceteam is a great app that we haven't mentioned much, but the TUAW team certainly knows about it, as we played during most of our downtime at Macworld. The lastest update has made it even better. Spaceteam is based on an amazing idea. It's a multiplayer game for one to four (or more, see ...

DevJuice: Beeblex offers in-app purchase validation services

by Erica Sadun (Jul 18th, 2012)

The security of iOS in-app purchases is a hot topic after an IAP hacking server was launched last week by a Russian developer. When The Next Web talked to Alexey Borodin, he told them he's since turned the service over to an unnamed third party -- and, as of that conversation, he'd collected ...

Apple accessory developer conference pushes AirPlay, Bluetooth

by Michael Rose (Dec 12th, 2011)

Last week, Japanese blog Macotakara reported that Apple hosted its "Made For iPhone" (MFI) technology summit in Shenzen, China (translated version). The conference last week, including 2,000 accessory makers and OEMs, featured Apple's announcement of a new certification chip for MFI accessories ...

You're the Pundit: Is in-app purchasing out of control?

by Erica Sadun (Dec 8th, 2011)

When it comes to forecasting the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is in-app purchasing, or IAP for short. We've been having a house debate recently about the proper role of IAP in game ...

Tiny Tower picks up a million downloads in four days

by Mike Schramm (Jun 28th, 2011)

Developer Ian Marsh of NimbleBit has been sharing some interesting facts and figures on Twitter about his new app Tiny Tower. Perhaps the most impressive overall is that the pixelated freemium tower simulation game has already gained a million players, despite only being on the App Store for ...