Just days after Google was hit by a class-action lawsuit by a woman over accidental purchases worth $66 (around Rs 4026) in an Android app, the company has rolled out an update to the Play store. The update, among other features, adds option to enable password-protection for each purchase made in the store.
This means, if you enable the password-protection, you will be prompted for password each time you make a purchase in the Play store, whether for an app or inside an app. Currently, the password is required only if the gap between your current and the last purchase is more than 30 minutes.
The update to the Play store is already rolling out to Android users. But just like any other Google software update, it will not reach everyone at the same time. If you haven’t got the update yet, you should wait for another day or two.
The update makes the Play store behavior similar to that of iOS store on iPhones and iPads. On Apple devices, users are asked for password each time they purchase an app.
The woman, who recently filed the lawsuit in California court, alleged that his five-year-old son accidentally purchased in-game items in Run Jump Smash. Apple was sued on similar grounds earlier and the company paid $5 million to settle the case and another $32.5 million in fine.
Once the Play store gets updated on your phone, you will have three options regarding the password in the app setting. The option one will enable password-protection for every purchase. The option two will have the password protection every 30 minutes and the option three will disable the password protection.
Apart of the password protection, the new Play store has several other unique features. The most important of these is “batch install”. This means if you move to a new Android phone, you can go to “My Apps” in the Play store and from the list select multiple apps to install in one go. You don’t have to install them one by one.
