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Remove or at least turn off Game Center

I can't stand it that I HAVE to have Game Center. It's absolutely frustrating that I cannot completely disable it. I do not care what my score is compared to anyone, and if don't log in, I end up having to wait for it to load just so I can click cancel. Absolutely ridiculous. Poor setup, poor customer service with this issue. Allow full user controls on this. Why force a user to have to use an app? Not acceptable.

iPad, iOS 4

Posted on Apr 12, 2011 2:52 PM

Reply
71 replies

Apr 13, 2011 7:53 AM in response to HereIsTom

Actually it's not completely harmless. My 4 year old, who can't read english, tapped on it, "purchased" a free app. and racked up over $100 worth of trinkets. I foolishly thought that my password was required on all purchases but Apple left that little tidbit out. Of course, I now know there is a place to restrict this but being the male that I am, I didn't read the instruction manual first.

Apr 13, 2011 7:58 AM in response to Stewart Holmes

Stewart Holmes wrote:
Actually it's not completely harmless. My 4 year old, who can't read english, tapped on it, "purchased" a free app. and racked up over $100 worth of trinkets.


You can't purchase anything through Game Center. So that's not how your child ran up the bill. In Settings > Restrictions, you can turn off In Game purchases to prevent your child from making purchases from with in +game applications+.

It sounds as if you're kind of new to the whole iPad thing. I'd suggest that you read through the manual. It's available as a free download through iBooks or it's bookmarked for you in Safari on your iPad. If you're going to let your child use it, you definitely want to read up on setting the proper restrictions.

Best of luck.

Oct 13, 2011 4:54 PM in response to GoLightLady

I completely agree with you.


If Apple wanted the iPad to really be useful, they would let you customize it as you see fit and not "force" it on you the way they want. Unfortunately, there are plenty of Apple fans who can find no fault with the company or its products and those are the responses you'll get here.


Game center is a marketing ploy pure and simple. While some may like it, the rest of us don't. It would be simple to allow you to turn it off but that would make it tougher to collect all your valuable information.


It reminds me of when they changed the rotate lock to mute only...after enough complaints they put it back. Hopefully there will be enough complaints. Just google your question and you'll see you are not alone. Sigh...

Aug 5, 2012 1:42 PM in response to lovemyusedipad

I cannot believe that there are people that DON'T ALLOW "their kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings, friends or whomever to play with their iPads". That's a computer only, not too good an object of emotional affection. Errors happen to everyone, especially if the design supports the errors. Apple is interested in just one element here - that people pay, pay, and pay. If expensive mishap happens "on the daily basis" it is just a sign of conscious design by Apple in background - cash flow is everything here. What about user experience? There will be allways Apple fanatics - like yourselves - who will say that its users' own fault if they did anything incorrect (e.g. not tightening default security settings) - and that Apple cannot be blamed for anything.

Remove or at least turn off Game Center

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