Few things sting like opening your bank app to find a string of charges from a mobile game, especially when a child tapped through them without realizing real money was involved. In-app purchases power most free apps, and they are deliberately designed to be quick and frictionless, which is great for developers and risky for everyone else. The good news is that locking them down is simple once you know where the settings live. This guide explains how to stop in-app purchases on Android in a few minutes, for your own phone and for any device a child uses.
Most free games make their money through in-app purchases, from currency packs and battle passes to one-tap "remove ads" buttons. By default, many Android phones do not ask for any confirmation on a follow-up purchase made shortly after the first, which is how a few innocent taps can turn into a real bill. Games aimed at children are especially aggressive, dangling shiny upgrades exactly where small fingers tend to tap.
None of this is an accident. The frictionless checkout is the point. But Android gives you several layers of control, and learning how to stop in-app purchases on Android takes far less time than disputing a charge after the fact. The steps below move from the quickest fix to the most thorough.
Work through the options below in order. The first one alone solves the problem for most adults, while the rest add stronger protection for shared phones and kids' devices.
This is the single most important setting. Open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, then Settings, then Authentication. Choose to require authentication for all purchases through Google Play on this device. From now on, every purchase, including in-app ones, demands your Google account password or fingerprint before it goes through.
If your phone supports biometric authentication, enable that too under the same menu, so a fingerprint or face scan is needed for each transaction. This keeps checkout fast for you while blocking anyone who does not have your fingerprint, which is exactly the balance most people want.
For a child's phone or tablet, the strongest tool is Google Family Link. Once a device is supervised, you can turn on purchase approvals so every attempted purchase, paid app, or in-app transaction sends purchase requests to your phone that you must approve before they complete. Nothing gets bought without a tap from you.
Family Link also lets you hide apps with high purchase pressure and review what your child wants to download before any install goes through, which stops unauthorized purchases at the source. We covered the full setup in our guide to parental controls on Google, and purchase approval is the piece that prevents billing surprises specifically.
If there is no payment method attached, there is nothing to charge. Visit the Payments and subscriptions section of your Google account, or open the Play Store settings, and remove any saved card or PayPal link you do not need for active subscriptions. For a child's account in particular, leaving no stored payment option is the most reliable backstop of all.
Be aware that gift card balances and carrier billing count as payment methods too, so check for those as well. A leftover Google Play balance can still fund in-app purchases even when no card is on file.
Some games store their own quick-buy shortcuts. After enabling Play Store authentication, open any game that has prompted purchases before and confirm it now asks for your password at checkout. If a game uses a non-standard billing system outside Google Play, which is rare on the official store, treat it with extra caution and avoid saving any card inside the app itself.
Stopping future payments is only half the job. To review what you are already paying for, open the Play Store, tap your profile icon, then Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions, and cancel anything you no longer want. Cancelling here stops the next renewal while letting you use the service until the current period ends.
If an unwanted charge has already happened, Google Play lets you request a refund directly through the order history in your account, and accidental purchases by children are often refunded when you explain the situation. Act quickly, because refund eligibility is easier to claim within the first 48 hours.
The same problem exists on Apple hardware, and the fix mirrors Android. On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings and tap Screen Time, then Content and Privacy Restrictions, and set App Store purchases and in-app purchases to require approval or switch them off. This blocks unauthorized purchases on any Apple mobile device the way Family Link does on Android. You can also remove your card so there is no iTunes or App Store balance left to spend. Whichever platform you use, the principle is identical: require approval before money leaves the account.
Android has no built-in switch to disable in-app payments for one specific app. To control a single app, your practical options are removing your saved payment method, requiring Play Store authentication for all purchases, or supervising the device with Family Link so each purchase needs your approval.
Yes. Open the Google Play Store app, tap your profile icon, go to Settings then Authentication, and select require authentication for all purchases. This applies across every app on the device, so no in-app purchase completes without your password or fingerprint.
This usually means purchases are blocked by your Play Store authentication setting, a Family Link restriction, a missing or declined payment method, or a regional limit. Fix it by checking your payment method, updating the Play Store, and reviewing your authentication or Family Link approval settings.
Knowing how to stop in-app purchases on Android matters because the main risk is unexpected charges, especially from children tapping through games that sell currency or battle passes. Adults face subscription traps too, and a few careless taps can add up to real bills before anyone notices.
For how to stop in-app purchases on Android, Google Family Link is the main free tool, approving or blocking every purchase on a supervised device. Third-party apps like Qustodio, Bark, and Norton Family add monitoring and can block Play Store access rather than overriding Play billing.
Once your settings are in place, a few habits keep them effective. Recheck your authentication setting after major Android updates, since occasionally a system update can reset a preference. Avoid sharing your Google account password with children, because authentication only works if they cannot approve purchases themselves. Android devices share the same settings across brands, so the steps work whether the mobile device is a Samsung, Pixel, or any other phone. And if you hand a phone to a child even briefly, make sure it is either a supervised device or has no payment method attached, rather than relying on them not to tap.
For families, the combination that works best is Family Link supervision plus no stored payment method on the child's account. Together they make an unwanted purchase nearly impossible rather than merely unlikely.
Knowing how to stop in-app purchases on Android comes down to one habit and a few settings. Turn on Play Store authentication first, since it protects every adult phone in seconds. Add Family Link and remove saved cards for any device a child touches. With those layers in place, the only purchases that go through are the ones you actually choose to make, and the days of surprise charges from a free game are over for good.
Miles Hollen · Editor
Editor
