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"Games like Candy Crush will soon be losing their \"free\" label in the Google Play Store.\nGoogle agreed that it will change the way it labels apps in Google Play so that games with in-app purchases will no longer be listed as \"free.\" The change is in response to meetings with the European Commission, which has expressed concerns over how Google and Apple represent freemium apps to consumers. \nSee also: 25 Best Free Android Apps\nThe EU Commissions said in a statement it \"had made real progress\" in its efforts to address its concerns over how in-app purchases are handled. \nThe commission revealed that Google will be making \"a number of changes,\" including removing the word \"free\" from games that use in-app purchases, setting out guidelines discouraging developers from marketing directly to children and changing its default settings so each in-app purchase must be individually approved. The changes will go into effect by the end of September.\nEU officials met with Apple and Google earlier this year to ask the two companies to crack down on freemium apps. EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding previously said the EU Commission  had concerns over whether freemium games were misleading to consumers and whether the developers behind these games were targeting children in their use of in-app purchases.\nWhile the commission praised Google for its efforts, Apple, however, seems to have been less cooperative. The commission expressed regrets that the Cupertino-based company had made \"no firm commitment\" to make similar changes.\nAlthough, regrettably, no concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorisation, Apple has proposed to address those concerns. However, no firm commitment and no timing have been provided for the implementation of such possible future changes. \nBoth Apple and Google have encountered legal trouble over their handling of in-app purchases. Apple added in-app purchase warnings to iOS 7, following a $32.5 million settlement with the FTC in which Apple agreed to refund accidental in-app purchases made by children. \nGoogle was hit with a similar class-action lawsuit earlier this year from parents of children who had made unauthorized purchases.\n\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/18/google-freemium-not-free/>