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How to Stay on Top of In-Game Purchases

The main thing you need to know 

Before you make any purchase within a game, it’s really important to be clear on the difference between ‘spending gems’ that you have within a game and spending real money.


Many games have ‘in-game currencies’ like ‘gems’ or ‘gold’. You can earn these through game play or you can buy them with real money – an in-game purchase.


You can also spend your ‘gems’ on upgrades within the game but never think of these as real money and once you have bought something with real money, that money is spent and the in-game gems or items can’t be ‘un-purchased’, refunded or converted back to real money. It all stays within the game.


How do I know if I have made an in-game purchase? 

If you are spending your in-game ‘gems’ during gameplay then it is usually fairly straight forward and seamless within the game experience.


However, you can distinguish this from a scenario where you are spending real world money as you will see a separate screen or pop-up from the game to make a financial transaction, usually with either Apple Pay of Google Payments.


You will be asked to confirm the purchase with a pin, or thumbprint or face scan.   

If you’re being asked to enter your phone security via a payment screen, then you are spending real money and you will almost always receive a notification. 


With these simple steps, we can all can get the most out of mobile gaming and keep it fun for everyone. 

Top Tips

  • Monitor purchases by regularly checking your App Store account


  • Set parental controls that use a password or PIN


  • Make the most of family management tools from Google or Apple so you know when a purchase happens


  • Consider a pre-paid gift card that will help budget and track spending 

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