Family Sharing

We are a big Apple Family -- two parents and four kids -- with four iMacs, one MacBook, two iPads, two iTouchs, three iPhones and four or five iPods, all living in one house. We currently have five different iTunes accounts, and I am continually frustrated by having multiple family members buy the same music, movies, books, apps, etc. Is there a good way to consolidate our individual large libraries? Would we be better off all using a single iTunes account to make our purchases and, if so, can we consolidate our existing libraries so that we can all use them?
Any suggestions would be welcome. I get more and more concerned with each great Apple product released (and consumed in my house)! Thanks.

Hello RoulaGK,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
It seems like you are using Family Sharing, but you are being prompted to enter your Apple ID on your son's iPad, and not receiving Ask to Buy notifications on your iPhone.
You may want to double check your Family Sharing settings first. You can refer to this link to make sure it's set up with your Apple ID as the organizer, and your son is added as a family member:
Apple - iCloud - Family Sharing
To get started, one adult in your household — the organizer — invites up to five additional family members and agrees to pay for any iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases they initiate while part of the family group. Once family members join, the features of Family Sharing are set up on everyone’s devices automatically.
Now kids under 13 can have their own Apple IDs. As a parent or legal guardian, the organizer creates the child’s Apple ID and adds the child to the family group. Ask to Buy is turned on by default, and the organizer can also limit the content kids have access to on their devices through Restrictions on an iOS device or parental controls in OS X and iTunes.
If Family Sharing is set up, you can find some additional help with Ask to Buy at this link:
Get help using Ask to Buy in the iTunes Store - Apple Support
All the best,
Jeremy

Similar Messages

How can I Migrate/Split itunes/icloud account for a large family now that they have family sharing

Ok, now that Apple has finally come out with family sharing I need to get things sorted out and I think it is going to be a mess. I have 6 family members (my spouse and 4 children) all sharing/using one itunes account. For parental reasons this made perfect sense. Now with the the advent of family sharing and such we have alot of sorting and migrating to do and I am very unsure how to go about it. Here is what we have.
Myself - I have a 64GB iPad 3 and a 64GB iPhone 5
Spouse - 64GB iPhone 5
Children - x4 16GB iPhone 5C (pink, blue, green, and a yellow)
We have had one itunes account now for several years, we used to have x4 16GB iphone 4's and a 16GB iPod touch 4 so we needed it to be shared at the time. We all have different Game Center ID's and Facetime/iMessages are all setup to the phone numbers (aside from mine which also uses the itunes e-mail). We currently have 1 upgraded icloud account with 200GB of storage on it (love the new tiers). So here are the questions.
1) How do I go about using and isolating all the devices so they can all use the iCloud storage? Right now if I try and setup backups by device under the what to backup there is no simple "Full Backup" option, they have all the categories separated. I cannot backup my daughters contacts without forcing a merging of them and so on. Same thing with Documents and Data. Would I need to setup a different iCloud account for each device now?
2) iTunes Music/App purchases. Now that they have a family sharing function I am assuming it would be a good time to separate all the devices (aside from my personal iPad/iPhone). If I understand correctly we need to setup a new itunes account for each and link them with family sharing, does this then allow us to disperse/move items from a singular to the multiple account (at least a one time option to move around) or would it simply be shared off the original account? My daughter for example will be 18 next summer and as such no longer under our care. How do we move her items to her account? She has a lot of purchased Music. Now keep in mind I am talking about an account for someone who was 12 when she had her first device and as such needed to be under her parents.
I just want to state that repurchasing things is NOT an option, and to be frank, according to Canadian laws pertaining to *licensing* we actually own the product if we paid for it and have the right to transfer the ownership thereof. This issue went through the courts regarding used copies of OEM editions of Microsoft Windows several years ago and they closed the legal *license* vs ownership separation.

Go to appleid.apple.com to manage the ID, sign in and select to the Name, ID and Email Addresses section, then change the birth date on the bottom right. At the present time you may not be able to enter the correct birth date, but others have had success changing the year to 2000, or the date to 1/1/2001, both of which will have child ID status.

How do you add an iTunes Gift Card so that all purchases of any members of a Family Sharing Group can use the credit?

How can all family members of a Family Sharing Group use a gift card that has been been applied to the iTunes master account? I added a gift card to our master iTunes account for my grandson, and even though he's a family sharing group member, none of the purchases I have approved from his requests have used the gift card credit. A search of the iTunes support site failed to turn up anything that even remotely addresses this topic. It would seem reasonable to assume that any purchase made by any family member should be able to use the gift card credit since all purchases go through the master account, but this does not appear to be the case.

Regarding your statement about the gift card balance being used if redeemed to the organizers account - http://www.apple.com/feedback.
Regarding redeeming the gift card to the child's account, it is the same as redeeming to yours. You have to be signed in to the iTunes store using the child's apple ID, then redeem the gift card there. If you already redeemed the card on your ID, you won't be able to redeem it again.
Redeem and use iTunes Gift Cards and content codes - Apple Support

How do I set up family sharing if all my family members emails are already associated with my iTunes account?

I want to set up family sharing but it won't let me because all the emails are already associated with the one iTunes account we have. I am afraid to delete because my children use that email address for text messaging. How do I set up family sharing if all my family members emails are already associated with my iTunes account?

Hey Wendaroski,
I am not quite sure what you mean by "my family members emails are already associated with my iTunes account" but what you need for each family member is an Apple ID. Yours would be the one for your iTunes account.
If the other members of the family already have an Apple ID you can invite them to join the family group. If not they will need to create one, using their email address. This article shows how -
Set up an Apple ID in iTunes - Apple Support
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Be well,
Brett L

Family Sharing - Your Family Is Managed By Alternate Apple ID

All,
I asked this in the iCloud Forum, but, now I think my problem needs to be discussed here based on on what I have discovered......
I just got a new iPhone 6 Plus. I set it up as new rather than restore from backup of my old iPhone. I signed into my own iCloud account for iTunes/Apps, Family Sharing and etc. I am a parent/guardian and NOT the organizer.
The issue is when I go to the App Store>Purchased on the 6 Plus, I notice the following message:
"This iTunes account is setup to use Family Sharing with a different iCloud account than 'Organizer's Primary Apple ID'. Learn More"
I do see my other family members and their purchases. I am also able to download their purchases as well. So Family Sharing on the App Store appears to be functioning properly with the exception of the message. iTunes and iBooks do not show the message.
My old iPhone and my iPad also do not display this message when I go to the App Store.
This is what I have noticed on my iPhone when I go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > Apple ID: My ID > View Apple ID > Family Sharing
"You are part of a Family. The payment method for your Family is managed by 'Organizer's ALTERNATE Apple ID'......."
The organizer has only signed into iTunes, iCloud and set up Family Sharing using the Primary Apple ID, so I do not understand why the Alternate Apple ID appears to be used in the background to manage our Family. I think this is what is causing the above error message.
Any ideas deals on how to fix?
Thank you

Yeah - not sure why that is happening only for Apps. Might be best for you to give Apple Support a call. You are still within your 90-day period, so the support will be free of charge. Here's the link - just follow the prompts and it will take you to a page where you can set up a call:
https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action
Sorry I couldn't be of more help
GB

Can I use family sharing without a credit card

I want to set up family sharing in iCloud between my account and my dad's since we have separate accounts. Problem is, one of them needs a credit card and my sister tends to make purchases from iTunes cards that weren't for her. Can I set up family sharing without using a credit card? I have a friend who used his parents credit card and one day, they got a $500 bill from iTunes on purchases they didn't make. The account was hacked somehow and the last thing my parents need is to have one of their cards hijacked again.

Apple suggests that in this case you add with a credit card then switch back: Start or join a family group using Family Sharing - Apple Support
"When you create an account for a child, you must use a credit card as the payment method as part of providing your parental consent. After you create the child's Apple ID, you can change your payment method if you choose."
Annoying, but presumably there are technical constraints that make this difficult. I hope they'll fix at some point but this at least means I can set it up. I don't use a credit card but I have one around that I can use to at least set up the accounts.

Can I use two different iTunes accounts on one computer without using Family sharing

So my wife made the mistake of logging into her iTunes account on my computer to purchase some music and she also (without knowing what she was doing) turned on family sharing at some point.
This is irritating for multiple reasons:
Now I have hundreds of artists added to my iTunes match, all of who I care nothing about and don't want the clutter in my artist list, but I can't figure out how to permanently delete them off of my account. Also, now if I login to my account on iTunes I can't play any of my music for 90 days.
Is there ANY way for me to re-organize my music, delete her junk, and get myself back to where I can play my purchased music on my iTunes account? Any time I try to organize or delete her music it shows back up next time I open it.
I almost feel like I need to download all of my music off of the cloud, delete my iTunes account, and then open another one AFTER organizing my music while offline and then enable match again. Everything is so cluttered and frustrating. Looking for some advice.

1. Give her a separate user account on your computer. If you have a backup copy of the library, you can restore it.
2. If you encounter a 90-day waiting period, click here and ask the iTunes Store staff if they'll remove it.
(125941)

How can I use family sharing, but allow my daughter to purchase with her iTunes allowance without asking permission?

I love the idea of iTunes family sharing, but I don't think it currently supports my situation.
My daughter's iTunes account gets a monthly allowance (plus occasional gift cards), and does not have a credit card tied to it. That way, she can buy whatever she wants, but only with her existing account balance.
I'd like to tie her account to mine via family sharing, but want to keep her spending limited to just her allowance balance. Also, I don't need to grant permission each time she wants to buy something when using her balance. Ideally, she would be permitted to buy exactly as she does now (no permission necessary, no credit card on the account, and only using allowance funds), but also be tied my family account to listen to music I've already bought.
It appears that my 3 options are:
Do not do family sharing and keep the accounts separate.
Tie the accounts together, put "ask to buy" on her account, and then get bugged for permission each time she wants to get something (as well as keep track myself of her going over her allowance and dipping into my credit card).
Tie the accounts together, don't use "ask to buy", and keep my fingers crossed that she doesn't spend more than her allowance amount (because iTunes would permit spending more than that and charge my card).
Options 2 and 3 don't work for me, and option 1 doesn't take advantage of family sharing.
Can I have a family sharing account that *doesn't* charge to my credit card?

Hello jeffchr,
Thanks for the question. Based on what you stated, it seems like you don't want to be billed for a family members purchases. I would recommend that you read these articles, they explain the features options.
Family Sharing
All new iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases initiated by family members will be billed to the family organizer’s account.
Family purchases and payments
Making purchases
After you set up your family, any time a family member initiates a new purchase it will be billed directly to your account unless that family member has gift or store credit. First, their store credit will be used to pay the partial or total bill. The remainder will bill to the family organizer's card.
How iTunes Store purchases are billed
Which payment methods will be used first?
When you make a purchase, content credits are used first, followed by Gift Certificate, iTunes Card, or Allowance Account credits. Your credit card or PayPal account is then charged for any remaining balance.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Mario

How To Use Family Sharing on one Apple ID ?

OK....I like the new family sharing but I got around this in past in creative way.
I have one AppleID that whole family uses.....no iCloud, only use ITunes to Sync, and on each iPhone or iPad for Text & Facetime I disable in settings all but that phone # and/or email for that user. Obviously all the emails for the family are loaded/verified in my Apple ID.
For payment I had no Credit Card on account but bought the kids iTunes gift cards.
I'm trying to avoid having to setup a bunch of Apple ID accounts.
I'm hoping I can get best of both worlds........but have not upgraded any device to iOS8 yet so have not tried.
I'd like to keep the single AppleID, load in Credit Card info, go to Share and invite the other family members, set restrictions, etc.
However, my question is will/how does the "invite" work if all members are listed under same Apple ID ?
Thx.

See this page : Leave Family Sharing.

One Apple ID that the whole family uses it, is ther a better way to use family sharing?

My wife and I share the same apple ID on all of our apple devices (Mac-running Yosemite, Iphone 4s, Ipad), and my sons no have their own ipods and I want them to use the ID as well, but I am having trouble because I am getting txts and other messages when my sons send message to their friends.
My sons are 9 & 6 so getting them and Apple Id is not appropriate at this time (or allowed). Is there a way that I can set up a child account under our Apple ID?

Hi Mdbarnharts,
Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like your family members are using the same Apple ID to share purchases, and now you're receiving messages sent and received by your kids.
You can set up and manage Apple IDs for your children through the Family Sharing feature.
You can find more information about Family Sharing and setting up an Apple ID for your kids at these resources:
Start or join a family group using Family Sharing - Apple Support
Family Sharing and Apple IDs for kids - Apple Support
All the best,
Jeremy

How can my family member use their iTunes credit for a purchase when part of family sharing

I've set up family sharing with my husband and children. They all have iTunes gift cards with credit on their accounts. I am wondering how they are able to make purchases in the app store using this credit rather than the family share credit card.

If they have credit in their individual accounts, that credit will be used before the organizer's credit card is charged.

How can I move my wife's account under my apple ID to a new Apple ID for her and switch to family sharing?

I have 4 devices under my apple ID. 1 iPAD is used by my wife and has her own mail account setup. With family sharing, I would like to move that account to an Apple ID of her own and add her to the family list. How do I do that?

Hello Godde
Lets start with checking out the articles below for setting up Family Sharing and more information about Apple ID’s. I will say that you will not be able to transfer any purchases to a different Apple ID, but you can rename the Apple ID. If you want to use Family Sharing, then you will need to just create a new iCloud account and then follow the steps in the second article to start sharing content between you to.
Using your Apple ID for Apple services
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895
Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201085
Regards,
-Norm G.

How does my family stream (not download) content using family sharing

Hi,
Our family previously used Home Sharing with an iTunes account on an iMac. We could pick up our family iPad and stream a movie from the iTunes shared library. How do I now do this with Family Sharing in ios8? - I can still stream like before as my apple id previously purchased all content, but not my other family members now. I don't want my 7 year old to have to wait hours while the movie they wanted to watch on the iPad downloads on to the device - I just want it to start streaming like it used to .... any help appreciated!
Thanks

As far as I know, family sharing should not affect home sharing and as long as Apple id is the same on ipad
in settings - videos (for movies) settings music( for music)
and on computer under home sharing - it should still work the same way.
Apologize in advance if I am wrong, I do not use family sharing and reason for that I feel it is a step back, not forward.

How can a parent restrict a child's access to a PARENT'S PRE-EXSISTING iTunes account via iCloud's Family Sharing Program?

How can a parent restrict a child's access to a PARENT'S PRE-EXSISTING iTunes account via iCloud's Family Sharing Program? To explain further... I have a young son who is on my iCloud family sharing program... I am excited to be able to share SOME of my music in my iTunes library, but there are some songs and music videos that are not age appropriate for him and currently there is no way to restrict him from viewing and downloading anything off of my iTunes library. Yes, I suppose I can delete the songs he shouldn't have access to, but I don't think I should have to do that... I paid for them and still like them and listen to them while I work out or am without my kids. Is there a way for me to personally select which songs/videos I would like to "hide" from my children in an effort to shield them from inappropriate content?

Hello ggg39,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand that you have some content in your iTunes library that you would like to restrict access for the child set up on Family Sharing with you. To do this, you can set restrictions on the child’s device as described in the attached article.
Family Sharing - Apple Support
Now kids under 13 can have their own Apple IDs. As a parent or legal guardian, the family organizer can create an Apple ID for a child and add the child to the family group automatically. Ask to Buy is turned on by default, and the organizer can also limit the content kids have access to on their devices through Restrictions on an iOS device or parental controls in OS X and iTunes.
For more information on restrictions and how to set them up, please reference the next attached article.
About Restrictions (parental controls) on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support
Have a great day,
Joe

A method to convert an existing iCloud account to a Child iCloud Account for Family Sharing

I do not see any method by which to convert an existing iCloud account (we have three set up for our kids, all their birthdays are set later than their actual birthdays so we could grab their actual names before they were all gone years ago) to a new Child iCloud Account for use with Family Sharing (namely to be able to take advantage of the new features: Family Calendar, Photostream, 'Ask to Buy' on the Stores, etc. on their own iPad minis.
If this is just not possible under the current scheme, please oh please Apple make this an option - there are probably thousands of others in this same boat, and I refuse to give up my kids' iCloud accounts!

I've read every string and workaround solution on these forums (to date). There's really no good options here.
USER STORY: My kid (age 7) has an iPad 2. I created an email address for him (which he doesn't know about). I created an apple ID for him (which he also doesn't know or care about) and I set up his Apple ID with my credit card. In addition I've set up parental controls on the iPad to lock it down and make it more age appropriate. Over the past year or so it's worked out fine, he sees something he might like, brings the iPad to me and if I approve, I enter the Apple ID Password and approve the purchase. After a year of doing this, he has a nice little collection of apps, kid songs, a few movies, etc. I would like to move my kid over to a legitimate kid account now that Apple has released features that support this. Currently the ability to convert an account does not exist. Seems like it should be easy to change a birthday, etc.
Almost seems like Apple is penalizing us for getting our kid an iPad last year.
Apple - Please consider my user story for your upcoming feature enhancements.

Family Sharing

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