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shandyman

Suspended
Original poster
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
I've got an Apple TV, I'm moving in with some friends and I want them to be able to watch what I've purchased in iTunes. The problem is, I don't want them to be able to purchase things on my account. Unless I'm missing something, I don't think that's possible. Am I wrong?
 
Set the AppleTV to not remember your password when you 1st log into your iTunes account, and don't share your password with anyone.
 
If you have a computer that can always be on, just put it all in iTunes and turn on home sharing. The AppleTV will be able to watch everything through the "Computers" menu. But the iTunes Store stuff can be left alone.
 
If you have a computer that can always be on, just put it all in iTunes and turn on home sharing. The AppleTV will be able to watch everything through the "Computers" menu. But the iTunes Store stuff can be left alone.

I know that, but it's not practical, which is why I was asking about the way I wanted to do it.
 
You can setup Family Sharing and create a Child Account (like 15 years old) and then set that account to require permission to purchase. I have limited experience with it and the only problem I found when testing is you can not use two Account ID's where they belong to two different Family Accounts. Again, the account is kind of a DUMMY for this purpose.
 
I've got an Apple TV, I'm moving in with some friends and I want them to be able to watch what I've purchased in iTunes. The problem is, I don't want them to be able to purchase things on my account. Unless I'm missing something, I don't think that's possible. Am I wrong?

Why is everyone making it so hard - you'd think nobody had ever demanded that Apple prevent the kids from making purchases!

Just set your password preference for Purchases to "Always Require."

Changing that preference requires you enter the password, so just keep you password to yourself, and all will be fine.
 
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Why is everyone making it so hard - you'd think nobody had ever demanded that Apple prevent the kids from making purchases!

Just set your password preference for Purchases to "Always Require."

Changing that preference requires you enter the password, so just keep you password to yourself, and all will be fine.

No one is making it hard. People are just offering different solutions, including the one you gave.
 
That will work for accessing purchased ones and not purchasing any new ones?
I'm not sure, but I think if you don't have the password stored, it seems like it would require the password to access your purchases. Try it and see...
 
I'm not sure, but I think if you don't have the password stored, it seems like it would require the password to access your purchases. Try it and see...
No, I decided to try it. Still works fine. I had forgot about that setting. My Family Share idea is more for two sites where you don't enter the credentials.
The option suggested is a good idea for the OP. It simply says you need a Password for "Purchase and In-App Purchase". This should solve the problem easily.
 
No one is making it hard. People are just offering different solutions, including the one you gave.

Setting up Family Sharing is a whole lot more complex, and doesn't really solve the problem posed. First off, under Family Sharing, the organizer of the sharing account takes financial responsibility for the purchases made on other accounts. So, one must still make those other accounts incapable of making purchases in order to achieve the desired goal. One could create a Child account for the "house," but the only real benefit in this case is "Ask to Buy" control over that account - if there's no intention to allow buying, why be (potentially) barraged with requests to approve purchases?
 
The other idea was better for the OP. But, with Family Share you give them their own login if needed. Which is probably not needed unless he was out of town and a problem was needed to login and he obviously did not want to share his primary password.
 
As long as the other members within that Family Sharing group top up their own accounts via iTunes vouchers/codes then funds will be deducted from their credit balance before it takes funds from the organisers account.
Just make everyone aware of what to they need to do and that if you see any charges made to yourself from anything they've bought then you'll remove them from Family Sharing.
 
Here's a crazy idea...

"Hey guys, you're welcome to watch my stuff, but please don't use my account to buy stuff, because that's, you know, dickish."
 
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Here's a crazy idea...

"Hey guys, you're welcome to watch my stuff, but please don't use my account to buy stuff, because that's, you know, dickish."

When sharing with some randoms, there can be a lack of trust to start. A mate had one housemate buy 5 films, because they came home drunk and wanted to watch some other films.
 
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