I have an app for small children in the Google Play store. It is free to install and offers an in-app subscription. My users report that when they manage their kids devices with Google Family Link, they are not allowed to purchase the subscription from their kids tablet.
Apperantly the Google Family Link parental approval process for purchases only applies to app-purchases (so apps where you pay for installing... not in-app purchases and not in-app subscriptions). I found a reference that talks about purchase abilities changing when kids turn 13, but in my case, that does not really apply as I'm targeting a younger audience.
I always thought that a workaround for this would be to take out a subscription on the parent device (or parent account on the same device) and because of the Family Link, the child would also get access to this subscription. Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case.
This is the documentation from Google I found on this topic:
- You can share purchased apps, games, movies, TV shows, and e-books and audiobooks from Google Play with up to 5 family members using Google Play Family Library.
And under the 'Apps & Games' section they say:
- You can't share in-app purchases and apps downloaded at no charge with your family members.
- Any apps or games purchased after July 2, 2016 are eligible to be added to Family Library. If you purchased the app or game before July 2, 2016, it’s eligible for Family Library if the developer has made past purchases available. You can find out whether this is the case by tapping Read More on the app’s details page.
This last bit of info seems outdated as the 'Read More' section seems to have been removed from the app details page.
When I go to Google Play on my phone I can see the option for apps & games in the settings for the family library. This screen allows me to 'automatically add' bought apps. This seems to only refer to apps that have paid installs as this screen does not show apps with in-app purchases, and also it does not mention subscriptions.
There do seem to be SOME apps that have subscriptions that you can share between family members, but it seems they are all from Google (Youtube TV, Youtube Music, etc).
I find it very strange that this situation is not supported for devices managed with Family Link.
The only two workarounds my research have dug up are:
- one I still have to test: Edit the kids age to be 13, so they can do the purchase, and maybe reverse the age afterwards. Kids > 13 will be able to get out of the parental supervision, but as long as they don't read their email yet, that won't really be a problem. But it won't help with sharing if a parent has multiple kids and multiple devices / accounts for their children.
- Introduce my own 'account & family management system' that uses a 3rd party to update me on subscription changes. This could even work accross iOS & Android but it will be a lot of work to create.
Do you guys have another way to accomplish this?
More references: