With so many Apple services, third-party apps, books, songs, and movies you can subscribe to or buy on iPhone and Mac, using Apple Family Sharing can help your entire family save a lot of money in the long run. In this post, let’s talk about a few things you may not know about using Apple Family Sharing efficiently.
Despite its greatness, Apple Family Sharing comes with a few nuances and ingredients that you may not be aware of. For example, did you know that you can only change family groups once a year?
So whether you’re an organizer, a guardian, or a member of an Apple Family Sharing group (or if you’re about to create or join a group), here are ten things you need to know. Lets start.
1. You Can Only Join One Family Group at a Time
To prevent abuse, Apple limits you from organizing or joining only one Family Sharing group at a time.
If you want to create or connect with another group, you must disband or leave the existing group. And then again, Apple prevents you from leaving and creating/joining multiple groups within a year.
2. You Can Share Past Purchases
Purchase Sharing is a key feature in Apple Family Sharing that allows members of a family group to share purchases with other members. This also includes past purchases. Specifically, those purchased by a member before joining the group.
So the next time someone joins a group, be sure to check the Purchased list (in the App Store, iTunes, Books app, etc.) for new items to be downloaded immediately.
3. You Cannot Share In-App Purchases and Some Apps
Unfortunately, Purchase Sharing is not available for in-app purchases. Therefore, members may wish to purchase the full version of an app (if available) directly from the App Store to circumvent this restriction.
Also, some apps are not compatible with Family Sharing. You can find out if an app supports the feature by visiting the App Store page and then going to the Supports section.
4. The Family Organizer Pays for Everything
One of the biggest drawbacks of Purchase Sharing is that the organizer pays for everything. This is because the family organizer’s payment method (card) automatically becomes the family payment source. All purchases made by family members (App Store, iTunes, etc.) are owned by the organizer. Yes, even those made by any adult in the group.
An extra option that allows members to pay for their own purchases and then decide if they want to share them with others would be a great solution to this problem. But don’t expect Apple to do something in this direction anytime soon.
5. Asking To Buy Doesn’t Work For Everyone
The organizer can avoid charging for just about anything by turning on a feature called Ask to Buy. This notifies the organizer (or guardian) to allow when a member tries to make a purchase. The family organizer can then allow or deny the purchase.
But the point is, organizers and guardians can only enable this feature for members under 18. So don’t expect to use it to control the spending habits of any adults in the group.
6. Screen Time Provides Additional Control
Apple Family Sharing also comes with a feature called Screen Time. In addition to remotely setting time limits for apps and services, organizers and guardians can use it to complement Ask to Buy with more restrictions on iTunes and App Store purchases. Make sure you have a good effect.
Screen Time can be accessed via iPhone/iPad Settings > Screen Time. Also available on Macs running macOS Catalina or later (go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Screen Time). See our Screen Time guide for more details.
7. Subscriptions Work Outside of Purchase Sharing
Subscriptions to Apple services (Music, TV, iCloud, etc.) work outside of Purchase Sharing. This means the organizer can turn off Purchase Sharing and only share subscriptions and prevent them from paying for any purchases.
However, disabling Purchase Sharing also means that members can no longer share their purchases with each other.
8. You Can Hide Your Purchases From Others
To protect privacy, organizers, parents and other members can always choose to hide purchased items (apps, books, movies, etc.). For example, in the App Store it’s a simple matter of accessing the Purchased list, swiping an item left, then selecting Hide.
This will prevent the rest of the group from downloading purchased content to Apple devices. Subsequent downloads will be restricted, but will not affect downloads made before hiding an item.
9. iCloud Storage Is Shared With Others
Family Sharing allows organizers to subscribe to 200GB and 2TB iCloud storage tiers and share them with other members. However, not every family member has a separate storage quota to work with. Although the files are kept private, the storage quota is literally ‘shared’ between the group. In a maxed out family group, expect the 200GB plan to dwindle in record time.
Fortunately, members can also choose to keep their already subscribed paid storage plans before joining a group.
10. You Keep Your Purchases If You Leave
Apple Family Sharing allows members to leave a family group at any time. Members lose access to downloads from others, including any subscribed Apple services they enjoyed. However, even if the organizer pays for it, they can continue with the purchases they started directly.
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Apple Family Sharing has a lot of room for improvement. The fact that the organizer pays for everything with limited control over purchases made by family members (especially adults) spoils the taste. Yes—it is possible to avoid this by disabling Purchase Sharing, but this also limits many of the other key benefits of joining a family group. That said, Apple Family Sharing is still a great feature that could work in the right context for many families.
Next: Ever wondered how things are on the other side of the fence with Google Family Groups? Click the link below to learn all about it.
