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Sunday 24 September 2023 Dublin: 16°C
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
# Undecided
Don't like that Android app you paid for? Google extends refund window to 2 hours
A fair jump considering the previous time period was 15 minutes.

DESPITE FEWER PEOPLE paying for apps, either directly or through in-app purchases, one of the handier features of Google Play was its return policy.

If you paid for an app but didn’t like it, you could just go back to the store, request a refund and that would be it.

Before now, you had a 15 minute window to decide whether you wanted to keep the app or not, but Google has extended this window to two hours, allowing users to request a refund for an app or game within this period.

If you miss the grace period, then the refund button will be replaced by a uninstall button. Also, if you get a refund the first time around and download the app again, you won’t have the option to request a refund again.

This is good news for users as it allows them to get their money back if an app is buggy or if you downloaded the wrong app by accident (likely since there are many copycats out there).

On the other hand, developers might not feel the same way, especially if the system ends up being abused.

Either way, two hours is a significant amount of time to decide whether you want to keep an app or not.

On the other mobile platforms, Windows Phone app allow you to trial a service first before you purchase while iOS doesn’t provide either option.

Read: Forget bomb shelters, ‘tsunami survival capsules’ could be the new thing in Japan >

Read: So here’s everything we learned from Apple’s press event >

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