Just last week I’ve posted quick tips on how to save phone extensions and create HTML email signatures. This week, however, I would like to share other tips on preventing in app purchases and blocking your caller ID. At first, you may find these topics a bit boring and irrelevant, but in truth these topics are very helpful. In fairness to new iPhone owners, these tips are quite simple and easy-to-follow.
Preventing Accidental In-App Purchases
Since the release of iOS 3.0 up to the latest iOS, iPhone, iPad and iPod owners would be able to purchases subscriptions or any extra contents within an application; this is what in-app purchase means. More often, there are built-in links within an app and these are the most common media to where these purchases happen. Most of the times, we think clicking on those links would not cost a dime and most of the times we are wrong. It’s better to turn it off before you can spend too much on things which are not important. Here’s how:
Step 1: Launch the ‘Settings‘ app and tap on ‘General‘.
Step 2: Now, look for ‘Restrictions‘ and tap on it to open. If you have set up your passcode previously, you will be asked to enter your 4-digit code.
Step 3: Try to scroll down a bit and look for a section ‘Allowed Content‘. From there you will be able to find ‘In-App Purchases‘, just simply turn it OFF.
That’s simply it. Honestly, most of iPhone users don’t know much about in-app purchases, they will be able to learn they’re present in their iPhones only when they receive a receipt email about the transaction. Moreover, if you have kids at home who keep on playing with your phone, it is a good reason to turn it off for good. Kids are just too smart these days.
How to Block Your Caller ID When Calling Someone
Telephone companies anywhere in the world follow standards for their businesses. One of the common denominators of these companies is the caller ID. Whenever you are calling someone from your phone, your number appears in the phone of the other party even before the call is answered.
There are two ways you can block your caller ID, first, by using special country code every time you make a call (temporary), and by turning off ‘Show My Caller ID’ in your iPhone.
Blocking Caller ID by Special Code
Supposing you are calling the number 212-123-1234 (just an example), here’s what you should do;
Step 1: Learn the special code for your country. For example, if you are in Australia you use 1831, or *67 if you are in the US. You can check out Wikipedia for these codes.
Step 2: If you know the special code to use, dial it before dialing the phone number of someone you are calling to. For example, dial 1831 (Australia) before dialing 212-123-1234. So, the number to appear in your screen would be 1831-212-123-1234.
The person you are calling to would not be able to see your number, instead he/she would see a “Blocked” call.
Block Caller ID from iPhone Settings
The other way to block your caller ID is to turn ‘Show My Caller ID‘ off from your iPhone settings. Here’s how you do it;
Step 1: Launch ‘Settings‘ app and look for ‘Phone‘.
Step 2: Inside Phone settings, look for ‘Show My Caller ID‘ and tap on it to open.
Step 3: Now, you are ready to turn it off without a sweat. And that’s it.
The other party would be able to see ‘Blocked‘ on his/her screen.
I hope these tips would be useful to you. If you have comments, suggestions or questions, don’t hesitate to use the boxes below.
Harold is a techno geek who writes Technology News. While technology is his passion, he also writes about travel tips, iPhone how-to’s and other fresh news on the web. He is even very active in a News Community which seeks to bring the latest news for online readers around the world.
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