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General discussion (archive)Android help for parents(21 posts)solved(21 posts)solved
(21 posts)solved
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Posted December 01, 2011
So, my son is getting his first Android phone for Christmas, and I need to find a way to buy apps and games for him. Connecting his phone to my Google account is not an option I care to contemplate. Basically, what I'm after is a way for me to buy from the market on his phone using my credit card, without leaving the credit card information connected to the phone, so that he can't buy anything himself (he's 10, so I'm not going to trust him with my credit card).

Does anyone have any experience with this?
This question / problem has been solved by Red_Avatarimage
Posted December 01, 2011
I don't have an Android myself, and I think others can give you better technical help, but one option would be to set the phone up to say, a Visa gift card. They act like a credit card, but as with all gift cards, there's a set balance on the card, and once you use it up, you can't go over.

Edited to add: You should also be able to reload them.
Post edited December 01, 2011 by Athenvance
Posted December 01, 2011
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Athenvance: I don't have an Android myself, and I think others can give you better technical help, but one option would be to set the phone up to say, a Visa gift card. They act like a credit card, but as with all gift cards, there's a set balance on the card, and once you use it up, you can't go over.

Edited to add: You should also be able to reload them.
Yeah a visa prepay would be a good way of doing this you can preload it with his allowance each week and he'll learn to budget that way too
Posted December 01, 2011
I don't know how it works over there but over here they can add charges for software directly to the phone's bill. There's no reason for a credit card to be involved. You might want to make sure that's not the case for your son's phone.

And it's Android, there's literally a shit ton of free apps out there. What kinds of apps are you thinking of letting him buy?
Posted December 02, 2011
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orcishgamer: I don't know how it works over there but over here they can add charges for software directly to the phone's bill. There's no reason for a credit card to be involved. You might want to make sure that's not the case for your son's phone.
I'm pretty sure that's not the case with the android market over here.
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orcishgamer: And it's Android, there's literally a shit ton of free apps out there. What kinds of apps are you thinking of letting him buy?
Primarily games. He likes Airport Mania very much, for instance, and he'll probably want the Android version of Minecraft as well. And if the Amazon ever pull their head out of their ass and let other people besides Americans buy from their appstore, then Plants vs Zombies is a must, both for him and me.
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Athenvance: I don't have an Android myself, and I think others can give you better technical help, but one option would be to set the phone up to say, a Visa gift card. They act like a credit card, but as with all gift cards, there's a set balance on the card, and once you use it up, you can't go over.

Edited to add: You should also be able to reload them.
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wodmarach: Yeah a visa prepay would be a good way of doing this you can preload it with his allowance each week and he'll learn to budget that way too
I don't think they exist here in Denmark, unfortunately, but I'll look into it, thanks.
Post edited December 02, 2011 by Wishbone
Posted December 02, 2011
Wow, this is indeed a tough one.

The reason Google don't have gift cards or let you gift stuff, is because there's too many incompatible apps on the market so it would be a mess if people could gift stuff to others because it would happen quite often that the game or app simply wouldn't work. Of course, they could setup a system that checks the receiver's account to see if they have a device that can use the app, but then you still have the risk that they wanted the app for their tablet and it only works on their phone (like World of Goo did for a while).

There IS one trick you can do: and that's to go to:

https://wallet.google.com/manage

And simply add and remove the card each time you want it to be used. I did that for a year on my phone because I was worried it might get stolen and someone could just buy a ton of stuff with the info. Now I just put better security on the phone but it works. Be sure to login with his account, of course.
Post edited December 02, 2011 by Red_Avatar
Posted December 02, 2011
Unless the market is different there, have you considered just letting him use the free games from the market for a while? I have had my device(s) for a while now and have not found a time that I needed to buy any apps so far. With Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja having ad supported options in the market I imagine he would be distracted for a little while. :)
Posted December 02, 2011
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Red_Avatar: There IS one trick you can do: and that's to go to:

https://wallet.google.com/manage

And simply add and remove the card each time you want it to be used. I did that for a year on my phone because I was worried it might get stolen and someone could just buy a ton of stuff with the info. Now I just put better security on the phone but it works. Be sure to login with his account, of course.
Hmm, that is a bit awkward, but it might be my best shot. Thank you.
Posted December 02, 2011
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Red_Avatar: There IS one trick you can do: and that's to go to:

https://wallet.google.com/manage

And simply add and remove the card each time you want it to be used. I did that for a year on my phone because I was worried it might get stolen and someone could just buy a ton of stuff with the info. Now I just put better security on the phone but it works. Be sure to login with his account, of course.
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Wishbone: Hmm, that is a bit awkward, but it might be my best shot. Thank you.
Yeah it's not ideal but at least you can control it from anywhere and not just his phone so you can activate it when you want to - great when you lose your phone too :)
Posted December 02, 2011
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wodmarach: Yeah a visa prepay would be a good way of doing this you can preload it with his allowance each week and he'll learn to budget that way too
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Wishbone: I don't think they exist here in Denmark, unfortunately, but I'll look into it, thanks.
I would recommend a prepaid visa or mastercard as well, since it gives you exact control over spending amounts without a lot of hassle. I really think it'd be helpful to at least become familiar with this, even if it'd only become useful for a later time. They've been available in quite a few countries for years now, and if you're a bit averse to getting one online, they should be available at major banks. I used to give my then-5th-grader nephew some spending money this way as well to help him buy stuff for micro-pay MMOs.

My bad if they're really not available in Denmark. I'll zip my mouth. :p
Post edited December 02, 2011 by grape1829
Posted December 02, 2011
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Wishbone: ...
A friend told me that the Android Parental Control app works pretty well; just install it and the disable the market app from it so he won't be able to buy/install anything.
Posted December 02, 2011
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Wishbone: ...
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AndrewC: A friend told me that the Android Parental Control app works pretty well; just install it and the disable the market app from it so he won't be able to buy/install anything.
The problem there is, he won't be able to install free stuff either.

I honestly think Google needs to think about their security because, right now, if someone loses their phone and you find it, you can simply buy all sorts of stuff with it without having to enter anything at all!

Sure, you can encrypt your entire phone but then, if it crashes, you risk losing everything - even stuff you didn't want encrypted (because either you encrypt everything or nothing).

An app that encrypts vital passwords and such and that needs your input for payments would make me feel a lot safer to be honest.
Posted December 02, 2011
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Red_Avatar: The problem there is, he won't be able to install free stuff either.
I agree; they should do something like Apple does: ask for a password for purchases with a stored payment method (credit/debit card, Google checkout, etc.).
Posted December 02, 2011
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Red_Avatar: The problem there is, he won't be able to install free stuff either.
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AndrewC: I agree; they should do something like Apple does: ask for a password for purchases with a stored payment method (credit/debit card, Google checkout, etc.).
Yes, this sounds like an excellent idea.
Posted December 02, 2011
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AndrewC: I agree; they should do something like Apple does: ask for a password for purchases with a stored payment method (credit/debit card, Google checkout, etc.).
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Wishbone: Yes, this sounds like an excellent idea.
Actually looks like that's already available. Here's how to set it up.
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General discussion (archive)Android help for parents(21 posts)solved(21 posts)solved
(21 posts)solved