How to Stop In-App Purchases on Your Child’s iPhone for Good

A game looks free, your child taps a shiny button, and suddenly gems, coins, or a weekly subscription are charged to your card. In-app purchases are designed to be effortless, which is exactly why parents need to block them properly. An iPhone gives you several layers of protection: you can turn in-app purchases off completely, require approval for every download with Ask to Buy, and force a password for every purchase.

This guide explains each protection in iOS 27, when to use it, and what to do if a charge has already appeared. Securing a child’s iPhone takes less than five minutes.

Quick Answer

To stop in-app purchases on your child’s iPhone, go to Settings, Screen Time, select your child’s name, then tap Content and Privacy Restrictions. Turn restrictions on, tap iTunes and App Store Purchases, choose In-App Purchases, and select Don’t Allow. Also turn on Ask to Buy in Family settings so every purchase or download needs your approval first.

Why In-App Purchases Catch Families Out

Most games no longer make money from the download price. They earn inside the app: extra lives, skins, battle passes, and subscriptions that renew every week. Buttons are large, colorful, and placed where small fingers tap during fast play. Timers and limited offers add pressure to buy immediately.

Children often do not connect these taps with real money. To a seven-year-old, 500 gems does not feel like real money leaving a parent’s bank account. Even teenagers can be caught by a free trial that quietly becomes a paid subscription, or by tapping Buy without noticing the price in a small pop-up.

Warnings alone are not enough. You need a technical block that makes buying impossible without you, plus an approval system for the apps themselves. The two methods below give you both, while still letting your child enjoy free games and approved content normally.

Method 1: Block In-App Purchases with Screen Time

This is the strongest fix because it removes in-app buying entirely. You can set it on your child’s phone directly or from your own phone through Family Sharing.

1. Open Settings and tap Screen Time.
2. On your own phone, tap your child’s name under Family. On your child’s phone, continue directly.
3. Tap Content and Privacy Restrictions and enter the Screen Time passcode if asked.
4. Turn on Content and Privacy Restrictions at the top.
5. Tap iTunes and App Store Purchases.
6. Tap In-App Purchases and choose Don’t Allow.
7. Consider your settings for Installing Apps and Deleting Apps on the same screen. Many parents block deleting so children cannot hide activity.
8. Under Require Password, choose Always Require for purchases, so even allowed purchases need authentication.

Now test it. Open one of your child’s games and tap a purchase button. The app should say in-app purchases are not allowed, without offering a payment screen. If buying still works, check you changed the setting for the correct child profile and that Screen Time is still on. Apple describes the same controls in its guide to preventing in-app purchases with Screen Time.

Method 2: Turn On Ask to Buy

The Screen Time block stops spending inside games, but your child could still try to buy a paid app or subscription from the App Store. Ask to Buy closes that door by sending every request to you first.

1. On your iPhone, open Settings and tap your name.
2. Tap Family and select your child’s name.
3. Tap Ask to Buy and turn on Require Purchase Approval.
4. Confirm which parents or guardians in the group can approve requests.

When your child tries to get an app or buy content, they tap Ask and you receive a notification with the name and price. Nothing is charged or downloaded until you approve and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, or your password. If you decline, the purchase simply does not happen.

Ask to Buy is required for child accounts and stays on until they reach the adult age threshold in your country. To combine spending controls with time controls, see our guide on how to set screen time limits for kids on iPhone.

Extra Protections Worth Turning On

Keep Your Password and Card Private

A child should always use their own Apple ID in a family group, never yours. Never give them your Apple ID password, device passcode, or bank card details. The moment a child knows your password, every purchase control can be bypassed.

Require a Password on Your Own Phone

If you lend your phone for videos, check Settings, your name, Media and Purchases, and Password Settings. Choose Always Require Password for purchases. Many accidental family charges happen on a parent’s unlocked phone with one-tap buying enabled, not on the child’s device at all.

Check Subscriptions Every Month

Go to Settings, your name, Subscriptions and review the family list monthly. A free trial can become a weekly charge without any new tap from your child. Cancel anything you do not recognize while it is still small, instead of finding months of renewals later.

Use Guided Access for Very Young Children

For a toddler using your phone for one video or game, turn on Guided Access in Settings, Accessibility. It locks the phone to a single app until you enter your passcode, blocking trips to the App Store or settings.

What to Do If a Charge Already Happened

If you find an unexpected charge, act calmly and quickly. Open Settings, your name, Media and Purchases, View Account, and Purchase History, or check Apple’s email receipt, and note the app, date, and amount. Many surprise charges are a subscription renewal rather than a new purchase, so the fix includes cancelling as well as refunding.

1. Cancel any linked subscription in the Subscriptions screen so it does not renew again.
2. Request a refund through Apple’s purchase reporting page, explaining a child made the purchase without permission.
3. Turn on the Screen Time block and Ask to Buy straight away, before handing the device back.
4. Talk to your child without blame and explain that the buttons spend real money and all purchases now go through you.

Refunds for child purchases made without permission are often approved when reported promptly, but never guaranteed. Prevention is more reliable. Apple explains eligibility in its support information about purchases and refunds for families.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Only using Ask to Buy: It controls App Store downloads, but spending inside an installed game also needs the Screen Time in-app block. Use both.
• Sharing your Apple ID password: Even once is enough to bypass every control. Never share it for a single download.
• Obvious Screen Time passcode: If your child guesses it, they can re-enable purchases in seconds. Use a unique code and enter it privately.
• Approving without reading: Check the app name, price, and whether subscriptions or in-app items are included. Some free-looking approvals carry paid extras.
• Forgetting your own phone: Secure the lending device as well as the child’s device.
• Never reviewing subscriptions: Blocking new purchases does not cancel old trials. Review them monthly.

Explain the rules before your child discovers them mid-game. A short, kind explanation that buying now needs a grown-up prevents frustration and secret attempts to work around the settings.

Conclusion

Stopping in-app purchases takes two settings working together: set In-App Purchases to Don’t Allow in Screen Time restrictions, and turn on Ask to Buy so every store request needs your approval. Add Always Require Password, keep your password private, and review subscriptions monthly. With those layers in place, your child can still enjoy games and apps, but real money is only spent when you have seen the request and said yes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will blocking in-app purchases break my child’s games?

No. Free play, progress, and items earned by playing still work normally. Only buying with real money is blocked. If a game is unusable without paying, replacing it with a fairer game is usually better.

What is the difference between Ask to Buy and the in-app block?

Ask to Buy controls getting apps and content from Apple’s stores. The Screen Time block stops spending inside apps already installed. You need both for complete protection.

Can my teenager turn these restrictions off?

Not with a private Screen Time passcode on a child account. They cannot change purchase restrictions or disable approvals without the passcode or reaching the adult age limit in your country.

How do I allow one specific purchase?

Approve store purchases through Ask to Buy. For an in-app item, temporarily set In-App Purchases to Allow with your passcode, complete the purchase yourself, then turn the block back on immediately. Never share the passcode.

A free trial became a paid subscription. What should I do?

Cancel it at once in Settings, under your name and Subscriptions, so it stops renewing. Then request a refund through Apple’s purchase reporting page if the renewal was recent.