Turning on the controls before you need them
Both stores ship with the useful controls switched off. Turning them on takes about five minutes and removes almost every situation that later needs a refund request.
On Android
Require authentication for every purchase
In the Play Store app, open the account menu, then Settings, then Authentication. Set purchase verification to require your password or biometrics for every purchase on this device. The alternative setting, which asks only every thirty minutes, is the default and is how a run of purchases happens in one sitting.
Family and children's accounts
Google's Family Link allows a parent to approve each purchase before it completes. Approval requests arrive on the parent's device, which puts a second person between a frustrating level and a payment.
Remove the stored payment method
The most effective control of all, and the one nobody mentions: an account with no stored card cannot make an impulse purchase. Gift cards can be added when a purchase is genuinely intended.
On iPhone and iPad
Require a password every time
Settings, then Screen Time, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, then iTunes & App Store Purchases. Set In-app Purchases to Don't Allow to block them entirely, or set Require Password to Always.
Ask to Buy
Within Family Sharing, Ask to Buy sends every purchase attempt by a child account to the organiser for approval. It covers free downloads as well, which also stops unwanted installs.
Check the subscription list
Settings, your name, then Subscriptions. This is where a weekly or monthly pass is cancelled. Cancelling here is the only way; removing the app does nothing to the charge.
Do this before an evening of hard levels rather than after one. Every control above is free, reversible and takes less time than one failed level.
A five minute setup that holds
- Turn on per-purchase authentication in the store you use.
- Open the subscription list and read what is already there.
- If a child uses the device, enable approval requests.
- Consider removing the stored card and using gift cards for intended purchases.
- Note where purchase history lives, so you can find it quickly if needed.
What these settings do not do
They do not remove advertising, they do not change level difficulty, and they do not stop offers appearing inside the game. They only ensure that a purchase requires a deliberate act. If an unwanted charge still happens, the routes are set out in our guide to refunds and consumer rights.
Short version
- Require authentication for every purchase, not every thirty minutes.
- Use approval requests on any device a child uses.
- Subscriptions are cancelled in the store account, never by deleting the game.
- An account with no stored card is the strongest control available.
Homescapes: Match 3 Games on Google Playon the App Store
Prices, purchase options and the ads label are shown on those listings and can change at any time.