In-appPurchases Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple posts 'Learn more about in-app purchases' in iTunes

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 26th, 2013)

Apple has been steadily beefing up its in-app purchasing policy to prevent children and adults from inadvertently buying items from within an app. As spotted by App Advice, Apple recently added a new disclaimer about in-app purchases to its App Store on the iPad. The new "Learn More About ...

Kids' iPad magazine Timbuktu rethinks in-app purchasing model

by Mike Schramm (Apr 22nd, 2013)

Timbuktu is an iPad magazine meant for children, and as our friends over at TechCrunch have noted, its developers recently rethought how it implements in-app purchases. The previous incarnation of Timbuktu (and most famously, Smurf Village, among others), made in-app purchases too tempting and ...

Daily Update for April 12, 2013

by Steven Sande (Apr 12th, 2013)

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player ...

Gameloft tries to make good with Dungeon Hunter 4

by Mike Schramm (Apr 1st, 2013)

Gameloft is one of the most interesting companies on Apple's App Store. The company, run out of Paris, France, has earned a reputation for itself by essentially cloning popular console titles. When the App Store first began, huge console titles like Halo, Call of Duty, and Diablo didn't have ...

UK cop turns in his son after Apple refuses to refund App Store spending spree

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 25th, 2013)

UK father and police officer Doug Crossan took an extreme measure when he discovered his 13-year-old-son had racked up £3,700 (USD$5600) via in-app purchases on the iOS App Store. After Apple refused to rescind the charges, Crossan decided his next best move was to report his son to the ...

Study: Higher resolution smartphone screens mean more in-app purchases

by Dave Caolo (Mar 21st, 2013)

The results of the study discussed in this post seem obvious when you think about it, but at least there's some empirical data to back it the findings. A study conducted by Pocket Gems suggests that people whose smartphones (including iPhones) have high-resolution screens are more likely to buy ...

Daily Update for March 21, 2013

by Steven Sande (Mar 21st, 2013)

Apple reaches settlement with parents over in-app purchases

by Randy Nelson (Feb 25th, 2013)

Parents whose children purchased in-app items for real money without them knowing are going to receive compensation from Apple. As reported by GigaOM, the company has reached a settlement today in a class action lawsuit filed against it in 2011, and will issue a US$5 iTunes gift card to those ...

Enfour shares more details about app piracy

by Mike Schramm (Nov 16th, 2012)

A few days ago, we wrote about the story of Enfour, an app developer that's specialized in a bunch of dictionary apps, who recently tried to shame pirates of their apps over Twitter, in a plan that caught too many legitimate users and didn't end up so great. Ars Technica went to chat to Enfour ...

Terry Cavanagh's latest game rejected from App Store for making fun of in-app purchases

by Mike Schramm (Oct 16th, 2012)

Game developer Terry Cavanagh has released a few really great games over the years -- in addition to the popular PC title VVVVVV, he's also the man behind iOS' recent (and terribly difficult) hit Super Hexagon. Right now, he's in the process of trying to release an old experimental game he made ...

In-app purchase hack won't work in iOS 6, say coders

by Mike Schramm (Jul 23rd, 2012)

The IAP hack of the past few weeks allows users of iOS apps to make in-app purchases ... without actually paying. The hack is essentially a DNS exploit -- it fools apps running on your iPhone or iPad into thinking they're contacting Apple's in-app purchase servers when they actually are not. ...

Amazon's Appstore takes a 30 percent cut

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 10th, 2012)

Starting today, Amazon will open up its Android Appstore to in-app purchases, according to a report in AllThingsD. Its model will follow that of Apple and iOS, with Amazon taking a 30 percent cut of each purchase. Transactions will be handled through Amazon's 1-Click purchasing system, which ...

Mobile is the fastest-growing segment of social games

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 21st, 2012)

The iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices are a growing source of revenue for those selling virtual goods, says a report from Inside Virtual Goods. The report looks at the virtual goods market and tracks sales from mobile devices and social games like those on Facebook. Though social games ...

Daily iPhone App: Magic Guitar

by Mike Schramm (Dec 30th, 2011)

Smule, as we've said before, is an interesting company. Its goal is to bring new musical experiences to people through technology like the iPhone. The company's latest release, Magic Guitar, definitely follows that philosophy. Like the very popular Magic Piano for the iPad, the app enables you ...

Daily iPhone App: Spellcraft School of Magic

by Mike Schramm (Dec 26th, 2011)

I'll be honest: I have come down with a pretty bad case of freemium ADD. Pocket Frogs was my first real freemium hookup on the iPhone (and it's still pretty great), but since then, I've made my way through a train of freemium games, including We Rule, Tiny Tower, Battle Nations, We Farm, more ...