SOLVED! Change Google Play Account for In-App Purchases

It’s natural for Android users to have several Google Play accounts on a single device so how to change Google Play account for in-app purchases catches the interest of many. There is nothing special about the process and everyone could do it in a blink of an eye. Read to the end to master the steps and use whatever account for in-app purchases.

Google Play Account and Your Apps

Suppose you have two Gmail accounts logged into your smartphone – personal Gmail and business Gmail accounts. As mentioned, once you logged into these accounts, they will automatically be added as accounts in your Google Play. Likewise, you can also add more accounts in your Google Play app by simply tapping the Add Another Account option.

For example, you download Mobile Legends on your smartphone, but it happens that the Gmail account active upon your download is your business Gmail. You need to level up, thereby, invest real money in the game. Yet, you can don’t so because every time you attempt to make purchases, the email that’ll pop up is your business email — and there’s seems to be no way to change it. But there is!

To summarize, even if you don’t intend to make your Gmail account as your Google Play account, it’ll be automatically added there. You can switch from one account to another without any problem. Likewise, you can download any app from different Google Play account and it won’t make any difference.

Each of these Google Play accounts has a list of the apps you downloaded/used using that certain account. In the example given above, since the game app you downloaded is already associated with your business Gmail account, it can’t be moved to other accounts. You need to uninstall and install it using the Google Play (Gmail account) you prefer to use.

What Is In-App Purchase?

Before going into the solution to this common, yet a very simple issue, it’s important to know what’s in-app purchase mean. In-app purchase is any fee you need to pay which isn’t part of the original cost of the app you’re using.

For example, you can download the Mobile Legends game app for free. However, if you check in Google Play Store, it has in its description, “In-app purchases.” This simply means you can use real money to level up or to acquire new skills and upgrades to have an advantage over your opponents.

When you set up your Google Play account with a Credit Card or PayPal account, this could be a danger. If you happen to agree to in-app purchases by accident, it’ll automatically be debited from the card associated with that account. And, worst case, if you’ve used incorrect Google Play account.

Change Google Play Account for In-App Purchases

Now that you are aware of in-app purchases and how cunning they seem, ensure that you are using the appropriate Google Play account. Or, if your child is also using your phone, keep out the Gmail accounts associated with your Credit Card from the Google Play Store. Otherwise, you’ll surely waste a lot of money.

Uninstall and Reinstall

This is the most common way to fix this issue. However, if you don’t pay attention to your log-in details or you’re playing as a guest, you won’t save your progress. You’re willing to take the risk? Do the following steps.

  1. Uninstall the app from your phone.
  2. Go to Google Play Store app.
  3. Tap the profile picture of the current account to reveal all the Google Play accounts active on your phone.
  4. Select the appropriate account with the credit card you want to use for the in-app purchases.
  5. Now, search the app you want to reinstall.
  6. Download and install like other apps.
  7. You can now make in-app purchases using the right account.

Access Google Play in Your Web Browser

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of switching from one Google Account to another, access the web version of your Google Play using the Gmail account you should have used.

  1. Uninstall the app from your phone, just like the first method.
  2. Download the app and install it as usual.
  3. Login with your details (in the game). You should start from where you left before you uninstall.
  4. Make the necessary in-app purchases with the right account.

Remove Google Play Accounts

You can remove unnecessary Google Play accounts registered on your phone. To do this, go to Settings>Users. Tap and select the account you don’t need to be in Google Play Store. Tap Remove and the account will no longer be in your Google Play app.

With this, you might not need to uninstall the app you want to have in-app purchases if you fear that your progress won’t be saved. Try to do the in-app purchase again and you can see that the options have changed and you can now choose the account you prefer.

Control In-App Purchases

Unlike iOS, there’s no option to turn off in-app purchases on your Android mobile. If you don’t want to pay unnecessary expenses because of such purchases, put additional authentication on your Google Play app. Tap the hamburger (three lines) at the upper left of Google Play and go to Settings. You must choose the “For all purchases through Google Play on this device.” Under the “Require authentication” setting. This will give you control over your in-app purchases and you can select the right Google Play account.

 

The Final Say

Google Play Store allows you to get free apps with the option to do in-app purchases when the need arises. In addition, you can set up more than one Google Play accounts which can be easily switched from one to the other. Every Gmail account that you add to your phone will automatically be an additional account in your Google Play.

This setup won’t make any difference when you download and install apps since you can do so from different accounts. But, when you do in-app purchases, you must use the right account. If you have a problem to change Google Play account for in-app purchases, this article has laid out everything you need to know and do. Let us know if you have any other solution to this problem.