Budget Your Google Play Spending With This New in-App Setting
One of the benefits of apps is their availability. Often, mobile apps can do what desktop or web programs and services can do, but for a fraction of the cost. Even in-app purchases and monthly premium subscriptions for some apps are usually negligible – often no more than a cup of coffee.
However, such low prices can be misleading and impulse purchases add up. You can easily find yourself spending more than you planned if you are not vigilant.
To help users avoid cost overruns, Google is rolling out a new Google Play Store tweak that allows users to set budgets and track how much they spend . Here’s how to set it up (according to Android Police ):
- To apply this setting, open the Google Play Store app .
- Tap the menu icon in the upper left corner, then go to Account> Purchase History. Note. This new setting still applies to all users. If you see Order History instead of Purchase History, then the budget setting has not yet reached you. We can’t say with certainty when it will be available as it depends on Google servers and not the app, but most users will have it soon.
- On the Purchase History tab, click Set Budget.
- Enter the monthly budget you want to set for yourself. Once added, you will see a progress bar that will fill up with every purchase. Below is a chronological purchase history so you can see which recent orders are contributing to your current monthly amount.
This will be useful for those with strict spending limits , but there is one major catch: Google won’t prevent over budgeting. In fact, the feedback seems to be minimal if you exceed your limit or even start to approach it. You can always see the progress in the settings, and when you buy something after overspending purchases, a yellow warning will be displayed, but this is the maximum you will get. The only way to stop spending if you are over budget is to cancel the transaction.
However, for people trying to be honest about their spending habits, it’s a useful feature and a good visual budgeting tool that will at least prevent reckless shopping.