There’s a lot of media attention this week on in-app purchases within children’s apps, due to a lawsuit in the US. We had our say in an opinion post earlier this week.

One of the key problems is that many parents don’t know how to use the iOS Restrictions settings to control what their children can and can’t do on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. So here’s a quick and (hopefully) handy guide.

The short version: go to Settings, tap on General, then Restrictions, set an unlock code, and then scroll down to the toggle for In-App Purchases, and turn it off. But the long version follows…

First, find the Restrictions menu by tapping the Settings icon on your homescreen, then scrolling down to General and tapping on that. And now scroll down to Restrictions (it’s just below ‘Passcode Lock’ on my iPhone) and tap on that. Boom! You’re in.

The first thing to do is tap the button to Enable Restrictions, where you’ll be prompted to set a four-digit unlock code. From now on, anyone trying to change the Restrictions settings on your device will have to type that code in.

Now look down, and you’ll see a list of things you can ‘Allow’ - Safari, YouTube, Camera, FaceTime, iTunes, Ping, Installing Apps, Deleting Apps, and Siri. If the device is for the sole use of your child, you may wish to turn some of these things off at this point.

Scroll down more, and you’ll come to a section headed ‘Allowed Content’, which is the bit we’re looking for. You can set various age ratings for music and podcasts, films, TV programmes and apps – the latter can be set to not allow apps marked as 17+, 12+, 9+ and 4+, or several of the above - but there is also a toggle marked ‘In-App Purchases’. Switch this off, and your child won’t be able to buy IAP.

If that feels draconian (or if it’s your device and you don’t want to have to come to this menu every time you want to buy something in-app), you can instead require a password to be entered every time IAP is bought on the device, rather than the default of ’15 minutes’.

(If you’re wondering, that default means that whenever you type your iTunes password in – for example to download an app – there is a 15-minute window after that point when IAP can be bought without having to re-enter it. This is how children in the US ran up hundreds of dollars on their parents’ iTunes accounts in games last year, prompting the lawsuit).

This may sound fiddly written down, but it’s quick, easy and should give you peace of mind to let your children continue enjoying apps, rather than fretting about what they might be spending money on.

One additional opinion: if your child is old enough, we think it’s only fair to tell them what you’ve done and why. At some point, they’ll want to take responsibility for in-app purchases themselves (even if not on your account!), so it’s best to be open from the start.