Apple iOS 4.3 Requires Passwords For In-App Purchasing To Protect Kids

With Apple's iOS 4.3 comes a new in-app purchasing policy that will help prevent accidentally racking up iTunes charges. This change is largely in response to the many complaints from parents that the original purchasing policy made it easy for games to lure children into spending hundreds of dollars on game items.

The original purchasing policy gave a 15-minute window between password entries, giving plenty of time for children using their parent's iOS devices to inadvertently charge up large totals on their parent's iTunes accounts. Although, Apple has always offered parental control settings to restrict in-app purchases, they now add an additional layer of protection.

"We are proud to have industry-leading parental controls with iOS," said Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Apple. "With iOS 4.3, in addition to a password being required to purchase an app on the App Store, a reentry of your password is now required when making an in-app purchase."

However, this may be an annoyance for folks who dislike having to re-enter passwords for each purchase. And certainly this will affect the revenues of companies behind games such as the Smurfs, which has been targeting children to buy $99 barrels of "snowflakes" and "Smurfberries."

[via TUAW]