How to block in-app purchases on Android

The vast majority of applications within the Play Store are free. That does not mean that developers want to earn money for their work, and therefore must seek other forms of monetization. One of them is to show ads within the app / game that we just downloaded. Another consists of add purchases in-app within the app, also known as "microtransactions."

This type of shopping in applications can be quite dangerous, especially if we share the mobile with another person, or if we have a tablet at home that our children, nephews or any other child with slightly long hands use. Today, we are going to see how to avoid this type of unwanted purchases on Android, adding additional control filters.

How to disable in-app purchases in mobile apps and games

The first thing to say is that you can not disable the purchase of applications on Android. What we can do is activate an additional filter, so that whenever someone wants to make a purchase in the Play Store (either from a premium application or game, or an in-app purchase) must enter the password of our Google account.

  • Open the Google Play Store and click on the drop-down menu in the upper left margin (3 horizontal lines).

  • Click on the menu "Settings”.

  • In the settings menu, scroll until you reach the section "User controls"And select"Ask for authentication to make purchases”.

  • Make sure to check the option "For all purchases made through Google Play on this device”.

This is a very practical "lifesaver", but if the person who has our mobile uses it regularly, it is possible that they also know the password of our Google account. In this case, it will be of little use to add this type of filters. We must look for an additional solution.

NOTE: You may also be interested in changing the password for your Google account.

Increase security: fingerprint authentication

Activating fingerprint authentication to make purchases is the definitive method, as it ensures that only we can authorize any purchase made from our mobile phone.

  • Open the Play Store and click on the drop-down menu in the upper left margin.
  • Click on "Settings”.
  • In the settings menu, scroll until you reach the section “User controls"And check the box for"fingerprint authentication”.

  • Enter your Gmail account password to confirm activation.

From this moment on, the system will require our fingerprint to validate any type of monetary transaction within the Google application store. Now we just have to make sure that nobody takes advantage of the fact that we are taking a nap to steal our fingerprint in an oversight, I leave that in your hands!

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