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2024-03-28 12:51:16
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Apple iPod Touch credit card tyranny

I like most things Apple does, but one thing has me furious with them. I bought an iPod Touch for two of my daughters (maybe a not-so-smart move, but heck, it was Christmas after a tough year). To pile on the foolishness, I then added them to my me.com accounts (for another $50/year).

They are both minors, and I don’t want them buying anything without my approval; free games are OK, especially educational ones, but I want to know and approve.

So the iPods connect to the Apple Store, and guess what? A credit card is required for an iTunes Store account, even if the goal is just for free apps. So they can’t use their iPod Touch for free games unless I enter a working credit card, whereupon they could buy whatever they want, music, games, videos etc. Ditto if the iPods are stolen. Ugghh.

This has me really upset with Apple. I’ve now sunk $450 into techno-crap ($200 each + $50 me.com), yet they can’t use a single free app unless I fork over a credit card number.

I feel stupid. Isn’t there something really wrong with a system where a device can’t be used for the purpose for which it is advertised?

Update: several helpful readers wrote, offering these suggestions:

1) Turns out after you get their account setup if you go to 'View Account' in iTunes you then have the option of setting the setting the credit card under 'Payment Information' to none, effectively curtailing any kind of crazy shopping spree on their part. Not exactly the most straightforward process, but I think the end result will get you where you want to be.

2) https://specialchildren.about.com/od/familyissues/ss/freeitunes.htm or https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-get-a-Free-Itunes-Account-No-Credit-Card-N/ or https://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/09/create-a-free-us-itunes-account-from-any-country/

3) You do have to fill in your credit card details to download applications,
but for every new download session , you need to provide your Apple ID password. If you keep that password a secret for your kids, they wont be able to download without your approval.

4) Set the kid's iTune accounts with prepaid Itunes gift cards. No credit card is required. When the kids spend the amount in their accounts, they need to save for a new iTunes prepaid Card. [diglloyd: I don't reallly want to spend more money or have them buy stuff]

5) I did the same. Gave my daughter an iPod [for christmas]. And I was too surprised that my 14 year old daughter needed a credit-card. So extremely stupid!

6) I experienced the same problem. However, I found out that after creating the apple store account, you can later logon to the account and delete the credit card. Having done that, I can still logon to the app store and download free apps. When I wish to purchase content, I just enter a card again, then delete it, once the purchase is completed.

7) One possible albeit hokey workaround did occur to me, though: Citibank (and
I'm sure others) allows you to create a "virtual CC number" linked to your
physical account. More importantly you can set it up with a much lower
credit limit. Apparently $0 is not a valid limit but $1 is, at least with
the Citibank cards. I wish Apple will resolve this with a more elegant solution - we can't possibly be the only ones with this dilemma.

8) A slight work around to your problem about the use of a credit card with the ipod account is through the use of a debit card service like entropay (https://www.entropay.com/). It would unfortunately require another outlay, but if you were to place a small amount on a card like this and then use that in itunes, it would allow you to download apps without giving the ability to purchase apps.

 


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