If you’ve ever wished to share an in-app purchase with your family, you might be in luck. Today, Apple announced subscriptions and one-time in-app purchases can now be shared between families. If you buy consumables like coins in a game, you’re still the only one who can use them, but unlock an ad-free or pro version An app may be eligible for the new Family Sharing program.
Apple announced this change in June Along with Big Sur, but eventually allowing developers to flip the switch to allow subscriptions and purchases to be shared.
App developer PSA: It is now possible to enable Family Sharing for IAPs and subscriptions, but you must turn it on in App Store Connect. Below the deadline for subscriptions… pic.twitter.com/Hj3NBRN3L0
— Steve Harris (@steveharris) December 3, 2020
Developers will have to flip this switch as a subscription or purchase allows for Family Sharing. is a manual option. Currently, only one of my subscriptions, calorie tracking app FoodNomsallows its subscription to be shared, but other big names such as Ulysses writing app It also announced that it supports the feature. However, the functionality seems to be spreading slowly. I asked my sister if she could access a subscription I shared, she couldn’t.
If you’re the one buying the subscriptions in the family, it’s easy to check which ones have the option to share by going to the address below. Settings, then click your name. From there, tap . subscriptions.
At the top of the screen, you’ll see a switch labeled Share New Subscriptions. Setting it to On gives your family members automatic access to any eligible in-app subscriptions you’ve signed up for. If you’re planning on signing up for embarrassing subscriptions that you think might be shared with your mom and dad, you might want to turn it off for now.
Below that, you will see a list of your current subscriptions. Tapping one takes you to the Edit Subscription screen, where you’ll see the Share with Family switch if the developer has decided to allow it. Turning it on gives your family access to the subscription as if they had bought it themselves!
MacRumors reported The process for sharing one-time in-app purchases is different. For example, Working Copy’s Pro version unlock is via in-app payment. For a family member to access it, go to the App Store, click the account button in the upper right corner, Purchasedand then select the family member who purchased the lock. They will then need to download the app from that screen. Depending on how the app was set up, they may need to click the Restore Purchased button. This process is much more involved, so I’d love to see some tweaks down the road.
If your favorite app doesn’t support subscription sharing yet, it might be worth checking back on the Subscription screen from time to time. There are user reports receive notification when one of their subscriptions became available for Family Sharing, but I haven’t received it yet. As I can’t currently share my budget app subscription with my wife, I’ll definitely check the Subscription screen every now and then to see if my favorite apps are adopting the model.
