How to Stop Kids Making In-App Purchases on an iPad: Using Ask to Buy

One of the things parents worry about when handing a child an iPad is purchases. Plenty of free games sell items or coins inside the app. A child can tap a buy button without really understanding what the price means.

Apple has ways for parents to block these purchases or make them need approval. In this post I go through those settings, following the steps on Apple’s support pages. Labels can differ slightly from page to page, and the screens also vary by iPadOS version, region and your child’s age, so please compare with what you see on your own device.

Two ways to do it

There are two main ways to manage a child’s purchases.

Ask to Buy. This is a Family Sharing feature. When your child tries to buy or download an app, or make an in-app purchase, you get a request. The purchase or download only happens if you approve it.

Block in-app purchases in Screen Time. This sets in-app purchases to Blocked. No request is sent; the purchase simply can’t be made.

If your child has their own Apple Account, I think the best approach is to start with Ask to Buy and add the second setting if you need it.

1. Ask to Buy

According to Apple’s page “Approve what your child can purchase and download with Ask to Buy”, you need a few things in place first.

Set up Family Sharing, create a Child Account, and make sure it is part of your Family Sharing group
Your child has their own Apple Account and doesn’t share it with anyone else in the family
Every device in the group is updated to the latest software
The Family Sharing organizer or a parent/guardian is in your child’s contacts

You turn it on from your own iPhone or iPad.

Open the Settings app, then tap Family.
Tap your child’s name.
Tap Apps & Websites, then tap Restrictions.
Tap Ask to Buy, then turn on Require Purchase Approval.

Apple’s page says that with Ask to Buy, your child needs to ask permission to download or buy an app or make an in-app purchase, regardless of the app’s age rating. Depending on where you live, Ask to Buy is on by default and can’t be turned off for children under 18.

Requests arrive in Messages on your device. You open the request and approve or decline it. If you approve, you sign in to your Apple Account to make the purchase, or authenticate with Face ID. If you decline, or don’t approve within 24 hours, your child has to send the request again.

It is worth knowing that some actions don’t send a request. When a child redownloads something they bought themselves, installs an update or uses a redemption code, you won’t be asked to approve it.

2. Block in-app purchases in Screen Time

Here are the steps from Apple’s page “Turn off Apple In-App Purchases from Screen Time on your iPhone or iPad”. Screen Time needs to be turned on first.

Open the Settings app, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Apps & Websites, then tap App Store.
Tap In-app Purchases and select Blocked.

If you manage your child’s device from your own, Apple’s page “Use parental controls to manage your child’s iPhone or iPad” says you can go to Family, tap your child’s name, then Apps & Websites and App Store, and set options such as Installing Apps to Allowed or Blocked.

Before the new Screen Time screens arrived with iPadOS 27, the path was Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, then iTunes & App Store Purchases, where you set In-app Purchases to Don’t Allow. If your family can’t update every device and is still using the previous version of Screen Time, you will probably see these screens instead.

Either way, the Screen Time passcode is what protects these settings. Use a different number from the one that unlocks the iPad, and don’t type it in front of your child.

When your child uses your iPad

Some families don’t create a child account and just lend the child a parent’s iPad. In that case Ask to Buy doesn’t apply. Apple’s page notes that you can require a password for every purchase instead (password settings for purchases). Setting in-app purchases to Blocked, as above, also works.

Your iPad has your payment method on it. I think it is worth checking which app is open before you hand it over.

If something was bought by mistake

If a purchase still happens, you can ask Apple for a refund. The steps are on “Request a refund for apps or content that you bought from Apple”.

Sign in to reportaproblem.apple.com.
Tap or click “I’d like to”, then choose “Request a refund”.
Choose the reason, then choose Next.
Choose the item, then choose Submit.

You should hear back within 24 to 48 hours. If you are the Family Sharing organizer, you can also request refunds for family members’ purchases charged to your shared payment method. Refund eligibility varies by country or region, and a refund is not guaranteed.

Also, in some countries and regions, purchases inside an app might not be made through Apple. Those may fall outside Apple’s purchase settings and refund process. If reportaproblem.apple.com can’t help, Apple’s page suggests contacting Apple Support.

Talking it through

Settings matter, but I don’t think they solve everything on their own. That the coins in a game are real money. That you would like to be asked before a button is pressed. These things are quicker to say than to configure.

Ask to Buy can also start that conversation. When a request comes in, ask your child what they want and why. If you decline, give a short reason. I think that is enough.

In my Kinder Browser developer interview, I was asked why there is no way for a child to ask a parent for a new site from inside the app. My answer was this:

Problems that can be solved by talking should be solved by parent and child talking directly. I don’t believe in doing everything through an app.

I feel the same way about purchases.

About Kinder Browser

Kinder Browser is a children’s web browser for iPhone, iPad and Mac that I make. It is a one-time purchase, $9.99 in the US and ¥1,500 in Japan, with no in-app purchases, no subscription and no ads. Nothing costs extra inside the app after you buy it.

In Kinder Browser, your child opens the sites you have set as the home page and bookmarks. If they tap a link that leads to a different site, it stops with the message “External links are disabled”. The settings are behind a parental gate. The default parental passcode is “0000”, so turn on Use CustomPIN and change it to your own number.

Kinder Browser does not manage app purchases, though. For purchases in the App Store and other apps, use the Apple settings in this post. I cover Screen Time more broadly in How to Set Up Screen Time on an iPad for Your Child.

Getting Started with Kinder Browser covers the first setup, and Kinder Browser vs Other Ways to Keep a Child’s Web Safe compares it with Screen Time, Guided Access and other options.