The Amazon App Store comes installed on a Kindle Fire or Fire Phone, and also makes for an excellent alternative app store for any Android device, such as a Galaxy S5 or Nexus 7 tablet.
Since it is tied to your Amazon account, and the payment details associated with that account, it’s easier than ever to buy apps or content, or to make in-app purchases within games.
This is fine if you’re in charge of the device. But give it to your kids to play with and you might get a shock when your credit card bill comes in an you discover they’ve racked up huge expenses buying gems in Clash of Clans.
Thankfully the Amazon App Store makes it easy for parents to control or even completely disable IAPs. Here’s how to do it.
Two ways to disable IAPs
There are two options for controlling how in-app purchases are made through the Amazon App Store.
Open the Store app and go to Settings.
The best option for parents is under Parental Controls. Tap this then tick the Enable Parental Controls box.
Enter your password when prompted.
With parental controls enabled anyone attempting to make in-app purchases will need to enter the password for your Amazon account.
Alternatively tick the Use PIN option, then enter your password again followed by a four-digit PIN code. With this enabled users will need to enter this code to make purchases—it means you can share the code with others without giving them full access to your Amazon account.
Block all in-app purchases
The second method is to go to the In-App Purchasing section of Settings.
The option here is Allow In-App Purchases—leave it ticked if you want to allow (and then use the Parental Controls to fine tune your settings), or unstick the box to prevent them entirely.
Using Amazon Coins
Don’t forget that the Amazon App Store uses the Amazon Coins virtual currency. These can be purchased, as well as earned by downloading or buying certain apps.
Coins are a great option of kids to use, since they are limited to spending the number of coins they have, thus making it impossible to overspend.
Coins are restricted by the same Parental Controls as other payment methods.