Game Apps for children which need an internet connection to play - any workaround!!

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Hi, I bought my young grandson a couple of game apps, cost about £17.
One was BOX ISLAND, which teaches coding and the other was Super Mario Run.
Both these games, we found out later, are unplayable without an internet connection but he is too young to internet access. Is there anyway the internet connection can stay in place but access to the internet via other browser etc stopped. I have contacted both the developers and Apple, as you might expect, neither give a ****.

Apples policy needs challenging, whenever you report an app problem they make it soooo difficult to get a refund and most times say ‘this app does not qualify for a refund’. In the EU this is illegal!!!
 
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Raz0rEdge

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If the app needs an Internet connection to operate, there is absolutely nothing you can do about that. If you prevent Internet access (a good way of checking this is to enable Airplane mode) and the app fails to work, then you are stuck. If you enable Internet access, the app would work a 100% and as such hard to believe that it would qualify for a refund.
 
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If the app needs an Internet connection to operate, there is absolutely nothing you can do about that. If you prevent Internet access (a good way of checking this is to enable Airplane mode) and the app fails to work, then you are stuck. If you enable Internet access, the app would work a 100% and as such hard to believe that it would qualify for a refund.


Thanks Razor, it should be compulsory to state in a prominent manner ‘Always on Internet connection required to play this game’.
 

IWT


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@TonyN

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums.

I don't have these apps (not in my second childhood yet, despite what my wife says); but researching these on the web, it pretty clearly indicates that a live internet access is required, either directly or by implication.

That being so, you cannot in all reason, insist on a refund nor blame Apple.

As our Moderator said above, you can test the need for internet access very easily.

I don't mean to pry, but when you say your grandson is too young to understand or use internet access, is your primary concern that he might inadvertently come across unsuitable material; or are you saying that the internet is too "complicated" for him.

If the former, then a grownup can supervise and you could invoke parental controls on internet access.

If the latter, then it shouldn't be a problem because if he can learn basic coding through a game and play Super Mario Run as a game, the presence or absence of an internet connection (which an adult sets up) is a total irrelevance to him - it simply works!

Ian

Ian
 

Raz0rEdge

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Thanks Razor, it should be compulsory to state in a prominent manner ‘Always on Internet connection required to play this game’.

I understand your point of view, but this is a foregone assumption for most developers today since that's how 99% of their users are going to use their app. So they will not denote the requirement for the 1% that want to use it differently. This gets frustrating when you want to use said app on an airplane or when you have no coverage.

This is largely a non-issue on games that specifically tout multiplayer/online components, but it's harder to discern with other apps. But in general, the assumption should be that the apps will need access to the Internet to get supplemental content, ads and other data.

A lot of app developers try to limit the size of the initial download to a reasonable size. But that download gets you the bare application, upon first or future launches, the app will download additional data needed to actually operate and will continue to update that data as they are available. This avoids having apps that are multiple GB in size for the initial download.
 

Slydude

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The only thing I can think of is to turn on parental control / access restrictions so that apps which are going to use internet need a separate password. You would have to add each new app to the list if you want it restricted. That may or may not be a pain depending upon how often you add new apps.
 

pigoo3

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One was BOX ISLAND, which teaches coding...

Both these games, we found out later, are unplayable without an internet connection but he is too young to internet access.

I'm not familiar with this game...but given the game topic material ("teaches coding")...having an always on internet connection may be necessary for a game like this to work properly.

As a "coding project" is worked on & completed in the game...may need an internet connection to see the results/progress of the coding.:)

- Nick
 
R

Rocky97

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Hi, I bought my young grandson a couple of game apps, cost about £17.
One was BOX ISLAND, which teaches coding and the other was Super Mario Run.
Both these games, we found out later, are unplayable without an internet connection but he is too young to internet access. Is there anyway the internet connection can stay in place but access to the internet via other browser etc stopped. I have contacted both the developers and Apple, as you might expect, neither give a ****.

Apples policy needs challenging, whenever you report an app problem they make it soooo difficult to get a refund and most times say ‘this app does not qualify for a refund’. In the EU this is illegal!!!

I have an idea, maybe try entering bogus proxy settings in the browser's settings. This way, internet through the browser will not be accessible whilst apps will be. This may be more convenient than setting up parental controls short-term.

I tested this approach by entering a bogus proxy through the browser. Be warned that this affects all browsers on a mac machine. Howeve,r other applications still work it seems, I tested this by connecting to a vpn. vpn's won't otherwise connect.
 
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IWT


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I'm perhaps losing the thread of thought here; but as I said in my first post #4, the problems are more imagined than real.

Almost all games of this sort need internet access and that was kind of spelt out on the respective app sites.

But internet access is not a real problem, as I said.

Two options:

adult supervision to ensure no access to unsuitable material, coupled with parental control as added backup - easy to initiate.

or permit internet access if grandson is very young and extremely unlikely to "experiment" and the lad won't know any different - the games will simply work nicely for him.

Ian
 
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Simple solution

Hi, I bought my young grandson a couple of game apps, cost about £17.
One was BOX ISLAND, which teaches coding and the other was Super Mario Run.
Both these games, we found out later, are unplayable without an internet connection but he is too young to internet access. Is there anyway the internet connection can stay in place but access to the internet via other browser etc stopped. I have contacted both the developers and Apple, as you might expect, neither give a ****.

Apples policy needs challenging, whenever you report an app problem they make it soooo difficult to get a refund and most times say ‘this app does not qualify for a refund’. In the EU this is illegal!!!

The simplest solution to this problem is restrict everything from accessing internet except the game. Go to Settings > Cellular > Scroll down and toggle off all the apps, except the game.

This way, Safari or any other app will be disconnected from the internet and there is no way to land on adult content.

Hope that helps.
 

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