Updated with some additional warnings:
I noticed a lot of folks bought Kindle Fires for Christmas. If you let the kids use it, please note that they can purchase apps without any password or warning. You can turn off in-app purchases through parental controls (apps>store>settings>parental controls) but you can't disable first-time purchases, no way, no how (unless you completely disable the Kindle from amazon), even if you have already disabled 1-click purchases on your account.
(I find the threat of bodily harm, however, usually does the trick.)
I think it stinks, but my son says it's fair game. These dadgum young, whipper snappers.
(you can remove all credit card information if you don't find adding them for each purchase rather tedious.)
PS I don't mean to be a killjoy if you are loving your new toy, because I am enjoying mine as well, but better you hear it from a friend than to find out the hard way...the Kindle has no parental controls for surfing the Internet which is pretty scary if your kids are free to take it a quiet corner. There are also many pornographic style books available for free (no credit card number or password necessary), and if you are a Prime member, there are lots of free movies, many of which you really don't want the kids to view.
The bottom line is, use with great care and supervision.
Kids using "old-school" (keyboard) Kindles can also purchase books with no problem either. No way for the parent to know unless their name & email are associated with the account.
ReplyDeleteOh boy. Amazon is not "getting it." If I have to remove my credit card number to avoid the kids getting apps, I'm not inclined to make many purchases.
ReplyDeleteAmazon really doesn't get it. My cousin wrote them a letter because she was scrolling through all kinds of recommendations for pornographic novels on her kindle. She explained that she NEVER gets those recommendations on her computer, just the kindle, and it's not based on anything she's ever actually purchased. She's says the recs on the computer are excellent and very accurate, but they must be using a different algorithm for the kindles, trying to push stuff that's only available in e-book form. She had a back and forth conversation with them that went nowhere. They really don't care. Stupid of them.
ReplyDeleteIf I had one for family use, it would have to be watched very carefully. :-(
Sara, I noticed when I was browsing through free books that there were a lot of pornographic style books -- not just novels, but how-tos. Wow -- had no idea there were so many out there!
ReplyDeletePS Sara, mine is not for family use.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed the porno stuff . . . the recommendations I've received on the Kindle (so far - and the last time I actually looked at the recommendations was a month or so ago) were for books by the same author's I've purchased from already (or similar books/authors). My Kindle is for me and me alone, but I know my kids and they'd be deathly afraid to offend God (or me!) before they'd think about downloading trash. I'm very blessed Dan and I have done well by our kids (so far) and they have the fear of God in them . . . uff da!
ReplyDeleteOur Kindle WAS purchased in the hopes that the kids would use it for free or library books. I've also downloaded some educational apps, so far everything has been free. It does send me an email every single time anything (even free things) are purchased, so I will know what's going on. But from Day One I warned my husband about unfettered access to the internet. The free sudoko game I downloaded has flashing ads at the bottom - the one that caught my eye was "adult" in nature. Very not happy.
ReplyDeleteSo far, the kids have always asked before trying to download something on the iTouch, and that one requires a password, so they couldn't even if they tried. And so far, my kids haven't been overly interested in web surfing...thankfully, their time with their peers is limited, so they don't get lots of recommendations for "things to do and see" online.
Thank you for the warnings. I might have to get militant about this - to Amazon and to my family.