Spending money in games? This way you limit your in-app purchases

It’s easy to accidentally spend a lot of money on your favorite games. This way you ensure that you keep your hand on the cut.

Spending money in games? This way you limit the damage

Many games for Android are free to download and play. That’s fine, but of course it doesn’t stop there. In-app purchases can be made in these games. With a small amount you can unlock something new. This can be some items to be able to progress faster, clothing or even completely new levels.

Game makers do their best to let you play for as long as possible and to spend as much money as possible. Spending money in a game that you enjoy is of course not a problem. The creators deserve a reward for their work, but before you know it, you’ve spent more than you would have liked. With these tips you ensure that you stay within the limits.

1. Give yourself a limit

To limit the amount of money you spend in games, you can set a limit for yourself. That limit can be a maximum amount that you spend on games each month, but also think of a limit in your playing time. Many games ask for money if you play a lot to fill an energy meter, for example, but by playing a little every day you can often continue for free.

Do your children find it difficult to stick to a limit? Then you can use Play Store gift cards. With such a card you give a limited budget to spend within games. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

2. Block in-app purchases

You can also block in-app purchases so that only you can authorize a transaction. To do this, go to the menu in the Play Store and select ‘Settings’. At ‘user settings’ you choose ‘Require verification for purchases’. Then choose ‘For all Play purchases on this device’. Every time an in-app purchase is made, you must verify it. This way your children will never accidentally make an expensive purchase again.

3. Check in-app purchases before downloading a game

Before downloading a game from the Play Store, you can check for in-app purchases. This is stated directly at the top of the app page. You can then look at the Game info (at ‘About this game’) to see how expensive these purchases are. Unfortunately, this information is somewhat limited, because you only see how expensive the cheapest and the most expensive in-app purchases are and not what they are intended for.

Pay for your games

It seems attractive to only download free games from the Play Store, but with many in-app purchases such an addictive game can become quite an expensive joke. You can therefore choose to only play games that you have to pay for in advance, but where no in-app purchases are around the corner.

An interesting alternative to this is Play Pass, a subscription with a large collection of games that you can then play freely from start to finish without ever having to make an in-app purchase. These are the best games on Play Pass.

5. It’s time for a new game

If you start a new game, you can often get a long way without having to pay. Only when the makers have got hold of you, you are tempted to spend some money. As said before, there is nothing wrong with spending some money on a game to support its creators, but if you don’t feel comfortable with it, it may be time to start another game.

6. Set other goals

You often have to pay to do specific things in a game. The makers of the game then motivate you to do those things. The great thing about games, however, is that you can set your own goals. For example, in a game like Pokémon GO, choose to go for the most miles instead of the most monsters. You don’t need any in-app purchases for that.

More tips for saving money

The whole month of Android Planet is all about saving money. Read our tips on how to save on your digital subscriptions and how to earn PlayStore credit with your opinion that you can then spend on in-app purchases. Read all articles in the overview.