Whenever you buy something from Google Play store or from any app that makes use of the Google Play services for the payments, you have to verify that it is actually you who is making the purchase. This verification could be through fingerprint verification or by entering your Google account credentials depending on how you have configured your Android phone. This verification also prevents accidental purchases made by you yourself or by some badly designed apps. You can configure the purchase authentication settings in Android to suit your needs.
Here is how you can configure purchase authentication in Google Play store on your Android smartphone:
- Launch Google Play store app on your Android smartphone.
- Tap on your user profile icon near top-right corner to open the app menu.
- From the menu, select Settings. This will take you to the Google Play store settings.
- From the Settings, select Authentication and then Require Authentication for Purchases.
- You have three options – Never ask for authentication, ask every 30 minutes or ask for every single purchase made through Google Play on this device. By default the it asks for authentication for every single purchase but, you can either make it ask every 30 minutes or never.
If you make only a few purchases through Google Play store or through apps installed on your device that use Google Play services for transactions, then you should make it ask authentication for every single purchase. But if you are going to make many purchases in a short duration, then it is a good idea to either turn it off temporarily or make it ask every 30 minutes.
It is not recommended to turn it off (by selecting Never) for longer periods of time. This poses a risk that anyone can take your phone and make a purchase using the payment methods (such as credit cards or debit cards) stored in the Google account.