DODGE THE BULLET
Massive Fortnite bill? An easy guide to stop your kids spending money in the hit video game
It's easy to rack up huge bills in Fortnite, so we've rounded up some easy tips to make sure this doesn't happen
DO you have a child obsessed with Fortnite? The popular video game is loved by Britain's youngsters, but some parents aren't as happy.
Mums and dads have revealed how they're being hit by surprise bills caused by their kids spending cash in Fortnite – here's how to make sure it doesn't happen to you.
3
Earlier this year, a concerned parent on Mumsnet complained that their son had "accidentally spent £80 on Fortnite".
"He was literally scrolling through, and press the A button instead of B.
"It was done by that one press of a button.
"Any ideas? I really can't afford to lose £80, certainly not this month."
It echoes a large number of reports online about kids accidentally (or intentionally) dropping money on virtual items in Fortnite.
3
We recently reported how Fortnite players on iPhone spent an incredible £10million in just a few weeks.
Fortunately, it's easy to prevent this from even happening. Here's how.
How to stop Fortnite purchases on PS4
The big problem with PlayStation is that standard accounts can make purchases without much effort.
But Sony allows parents to create special child accounts that can be linked to your adult account.
This lets you set a monthly spending limit, which is set to zero as standard.
You can also set it higher, and then your children will be able to spend a limited amount of money each month.
First, log into your main PS4 adult account.
Then go to Settings > Parental Controls > Family Management.
Choose Add Family Member > Create User, and then enter your kid's name and date of birth.
You'll have to accept a user agreement, and then you'll be given options to set specific parental controls.
What is Fortnite Battle Royale?
If you're new to the game, here's what you need to know
- Fortnite Battle Royale is a free game
- It's available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac and now iPhone too
- In the game, up to 100 players are dropped onto a fictional island
- Players are then forced to battle it out in a last-person-standing deathmatch
- To help, players can collect a range of weapons hidden all over the island
- You can also collect resources – like wood, bricks and metal – to build defensive structures
- The area you can play in on the island is constantly shrinking thanks to an encroaching storm
- This means players are forced together over time, until just one person survives
- The game has been a huge hit, and is currently being trialled on iPhone
How to stop Fortnite purchases on Xbox
Usually, the easiest way to avoid surprise Microsoft bills is by creating a special Xbox account with no payment details added.
But playing Xbox multiplayer games (like Fortnite) requires Xbox Live Gold Membership, which costs money.
So that won't work in this case.
However, you can create a special passcode that's required to verify purchases.
Just go Settings > All Settings > Accounts > Sign-in
Then choose Change My Sign-In & Security Preferences, and scroll right to Customise.
Then scroll right again and select Ask For My Passkey To Make Purchases, and choose Passkey Required.
Now all you have to do is pick a PIN number that your kids won't guess – so don't go with 0000, 1234 or a birthday.
3
How to stop Fortnite purchases on your computer
Blocking Fortnite purchases completely isn't too tricky on PC and Mac.
To play the game online, your kids will need an Epic Games account.
Go into the account settings and then choose Payments.
Once you're in there, simply make sure there aren't any card details or linked PayPal accounts.
If there are, you can very easily remove them.
How to stop Fortnite purchases on iPhone
Earlier this year, Fortnite launched on iPhone and iPad – much to the despair of teachers.
Whenever you make a purchase on iPhone (even inside apps like Fortnite), you'll always have to verify it.
That'll be either by entering a password, using the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, or by scanning your face with Face ID.
If your child doesn't know your password and isn't set up on any of these systems, you're largely safe.
But some of you may have an iPhone set up so that you only have to enter a password once every 15 minutes.
To stop this, go into Settings > Your Name > iTunes & App Store.
Underneath you'll see a Password Settings section – this won't appear if you have Touch ID or Face ID set up.
Go to Purchases And In-App Purchases, and then choose Always Require.
MOST READ IN GAMING
If your child knows your iPhone password, you can also set up a second PIN code needed for purchases specifically.
Go to Settings > General > Restrictions, then press Enable Restrictions.
You can then choose a four-digit passcode for In-App Purchases, which will work immediately.
Have you ever caught your kids splashing cash on video games without your knowledge? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
Topics