Kids love tapping away on smartphones games, and most parents these days have that moment of letting your child play with your phone so that you can finish that one SUPER important task. But those precious moments of peace and quiet can come at a big price, especially if the kiddo in question knows their way around the App Store! If you find yourself on the wrong end of an bill for apps or in-app purchases you never wanted to begin with, both Apple and Google make it easy to hit the panic button.
iOS
Here’s how to score a refund for App Store misclicks and pesky unauthorized purchases:
- Head to Apple’s official support page, reportaproblem.apple.com, and sign in using your Apple ID and password.
- Click “Apps” on the top of the page.
- Locate the transaction you want to reverse on your list of recent activity.
- Click “Report”
- Select your reason from the list — in this case, “I didn’t authorize this purchase.”
- Click “Submit” and you’re done!
Android
The process is just as simple on Android:
- Head to your Google Play account page at play.google.com/store/account and sign in.
- Scroll down the page and find the “Order History” section.
- Locate the purchase you want to reverse on the list and click the “More” icon, which appears as three vertical dots.
- Click “Report a Problem”
- Select the reason from the list, which includes options for purchases made without your consent, or accidental purchases made by you or someone else.
- Click “Submit” and you’re done!
In both cases, the company will review your request, look at the circumstances in order to make sure you’re not a chronic refunder just looking for a quick buck, and then send you an email letting them know that they either approved (typically) or denied (rarely) your request.