Google Play adding another family payment option with new Purchase Requests

Abner Li | Dec 20 2022 - 1:42 pm PT

The Play Store already lets parents approve or decline purchases made by kids in their family, and Google is now adding “Purchase Requests” for accounts without a family payment method.

It involves a child account making the Purchase Request “directly to the family manager,” which then receives “important information about the app or in-app purchase” on their device. These notifications are sent in real-time, “but you can also view it in an approval request queue to decide later” from within Google Play.

Requests can be made for paid apps and in-app purchases (IAPs), but not Play Books, Google TV, or subscription purchases.

If approved, “you can use your own stored payment methods, including Google Play gift cards” to fund the purchase. Google says “transactions completed via Purchase Requests will all be available in your Order History.” Both parties will get a purchase confirmation email.

Purchase approval settings, including purchase confirmation emails, apply to purchases made through Google Play’s billing system.

Other nuances to Google Play Purchase Requests include:

Purchase approvals without a family payment method will not be available for family groups who have a family payment method added.
Children will not have the ability to view or use the family manager’s payment method without permission from the family manager.
Purchase approvals without a family payment method will be available for family groups where the family manager has an Android phone.