Guides
Injustice Parental Controls: Stopping Unwanted Spending
If a child has spent money in Injustice, this is the practical version — what to do in the first hour, why in-game currency makes it so easy, and the controls that actually prevent a repeat.
Setting up Injustice parental controls is usually something people research after a bill arrives rather than before. If that is why you are here, the first section is the urgent part and the rest can wait an hour.
No lecture follows. This happens constantly, it happens to attentive parents, and there are structural reasons for that which are worth understanding.
If it has already happened
Act today. Refund windows for digital purchases are short and delay is the most common reason claims fail.
- Go to the app store, not the game. Google Play or the App Store processed the payment; the game publisher did not and generally cannot reverse it.
- Find the transactions in your order or purchase history.
- Request a refund and say plainly that a child made the purchase without permission. Do not bury it in a longer explanation — stores have a specific route for this and treat it seriously, but only if it is stated clearly.
- Do not submit repeatedly. One clear request per transaction. Stores track refund frequency and a pattern weakens future claims.
- Secure the payment method now, before doing anything else on the device.
Our refund guide covers the wider process, including which situations are strong and why a chargeback is far riskier than it looks — that route can suspend your entire store account, which is a much larger loss than the disputed amount.
Why this happens so easily
It is worth understanding the mechanism, because it explains why "just be careful" does not work as a strategy.
Payment details are stored by default. A purchase can complete without anything that feels like a payment occurring — no card, no number to type, often no password.
The purchase flow is optimised for conversion. Every step that creates hesitation reduces revenue, so the path from wanting something to owning it is deliberately short. That design is aimed at adults and is considerably more effective on children.
Offers arrive with timers. Urgency reduces deliberation, which is precisely what it is for.
The currency abstraction, which is the real cause
This is the part that explains the size of the totals, and it is rarely discussed.
You do not spend money in the game. You spend currency, which you bought with money in a separate transaction, usually earlier.
That gap does a great deal of work. A child spending a large balance of credits is not experiencing "spending twenty pounds" — they are spending credits, which feel like a game resource because that is exactly what they look like. The money decision happened once, in a different context, possibly days before.
It is genuinely difficult for an adult to hold the conversion in mind. Expecting a child to do it without ever having it explained is unrealistic.
Controls that actually work
| Control | What it prevents | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Require authentication for every purchase | Unintended and unsupervised buying | High |
| Family controls with purchase approval | Any purchase without an adult approving it | Very high |
| Disable in-app purchases entirely | All spending in all apps | Highest, bluntest |
| Remove stored payment details | Frictionless repeat purchases | High |
| Gift card balance instead of a card | Any loss beyond the loaded amount | Highest practical |
| Separate child account or profile | Adult payment methods being reachable | High |
| Screen time or usage limits | Extended sessions where offers accumulate | Moderate |
On both major platforms these live in the store or system settings — purchase authentication under the store account settings, family approval features under the family sharing or family link sections, and in-app purchase restrictions under content or privacy restrictions. Menu names and locations change with operating system versions, so search your current settings rather than following a years-old walkthrough.
The strongest single measure
If you do one thing: remove the linked card and use gift card balance instead.
Everything else depends on a setting staying enabled, a password staying unknown, or a rule being remembered. A balance is a hard ceiling that depends on none of those. Whatever happens, the maximum loss is what you loaded, and that number is one you chose deliberately in advance.
It also has a useful secondary effect. A finite balance makes the currency legible — it runs out, and running out is a far better teacher than a blocked purchase screen.
Talk about it as well as blocking it
Controls stop spending on this device today. They do not travel to a friend's tablet, a new console, or the next game.
The conversation worth having is specifically about the abstraction above: that credits are money, bought earlier, and that spending a balance is spending the money that bought it. That single idea generalises to every free-to-play game a child will ever encounter, which is more than any setting achieves.
It is also worth being clear that wanting things in a game is completely normal and not something to be ashamed of. The problem is the gap between the decision and the cost, not the wanting — and framing it that way tends to get a more honest conversation than framing it as a rule that was broken.
What controls do not cover
Currency already on the account. Restrictions prevent new purchases; they do not remove what was already bought.
Offers still appearing. The game will keep presenting them. Restrictions block the transaction, not the marketing.
Other devices. Every device signed into the same store account needs the same treatment.
Remembered passwords. If the authentication password is known, it is not a control. Change it.
If it happens again
Treat a repeat as a gap in the controls rather than a failure of behaviour. In practice it is nearly always one of: a second device nobody audited, a remembered password, a card stored somewhere separate, or a setting that reverted after an operating system update.
Audit every device with access, change the store password, and move to prepaid balance if you have not already. A ceiling that does not rely on anyone remembering anything is the version that holds.
For the wider question of deciding a spending figure deliberately rather than arriving at one, setting a spending limit covers the same problem from the adult side — and much of it applies to households as readily as to individuals.
Frequently Asked Questions
My child spent money on Injustice — can I get it back?
Often, if you act immediately. Request the refund through the app store rather than the game, and state plainly that the purchase was made by a child without permission. Stores have a specific route for this and treat it seriously, but the windows are short.
How do I stop a child buying things in Injustice?
Require authentication for every purchase in your store settings, enable family controls so purchases need approval, and remove stored payment details. A gift card balance instead of a linked card is the strongest single measure because it creates a hard ceiling.
Why do children spend so much without realising?
Because in-game currency separates the decision from the money. Buying a bundle of credits is one transaction; spending those credits later feels like using a resource rather than spending cash. That gap is the single biggest reason totals grow unnoticed.
Does turning off in-app purchases block everything?
It blocks new purchases of currency and items, which is the part that costs money. It does not remove currency already on the account, and it does not prevent the game presenting offers. Pair the restriction with a conversation so it is understood rather than merely enforced.
What if it happens more than once?
Treat it as a controls problem rather than a behaviour problem. A repeat almost always means a gap somewhere — a remembered password, a second device, a stored card. Audit every device with access, and switch to prepaid balance so the ceiling does not depend on anyone remembering a rule.
Keep reading
Injustice Refund: How In-Game Purchase Refunds Actually Work
Refunds for in-game purchases are handled by the app store, not by the game. What that means in practice, which situations genuinely qualify, how to request one properly, and why a chargeback is far riskier than people assume.
Injustice Spending Limit: Setting One That Actually Holds
Live-service games have no finish line, so the stopping point has to come from you. Why incremental spending escapes notice, how to set a limit before you need one, and the arithmetic most players have never done.
The Injustice Shop for New Players: What to Buy First
The shop is most dangerous in your first week, because new-player offers are timed to when you arrive rather than to what you need. A phased plan for your first thirty days of spending, and the one purchase that is genuinely defensible early.
More on this topic in the injustice shop hub, or browse every guide.