HT201454 I systemically tried every suggestion on Apple's "If you don't see your family's shared content" help page. None worked. Does anyone have a solution?

Question

My wife and I are set up for family sharing, but neither OS X nor iOS app store purchases appear to be sharing (i.e. the App doesn't just say "Get" for the other person after it is bought by the partner). Apple's suggestions did not work. Does anyone have a solution to this?

Answer 1

I solved my own problem but I don't think this is how Family Sharing is meant to work. On my Mac, I purchased an app. On my wife's mac, when I search for that app in the store, it has a button with a price on it (not a cloud symbol or anything that would indicate it had already been purchased by someone in Family Sharing). HOWEVER, when I click on the "Purchases" button at the top of the app store, use the pull down menu to change to the other member of the family, then all the apps can be installed.
I thought sharing would mean that the apps would be free from their normal site in the app store. If you have to go to purchases to see apps purchased by the family, then you might miss that fact and double pay. Perhaps Apple did this on purpose to help its app developers make more money despite Family Sharing.