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Family Sharing in iOS 26.4 No Longer Forces Adults to Share a Payment Method
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Mitthrawnuruodo
Moderator emeritus
This is good news. Mrs. M and I actually stopped Family sharing a while back because it was a (minor, but still a) hassle to have an account with just my card attached to it. (We don't have any joint cards.)
Now we can potentially start sharing again... 🙂
Now we can potentially start sharing again... 🙂
Thank goodness. This has been a huge annoyance, for years.
While what you’re saying is true, most people don’t have families greater than 5 people living in a single household and it’s a fair limitation that probably covers most Apple customers.
Cristim74
macrumors 6502
I do wonder if both have to have iOS 26.4 for this to work? I’m wondering what happens if someone has an iPhone 8 with iOS 16 (if this is on the organizer side or both)?
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goobot
macrumors 604
Finally, I honestly thought it would never happen
FlyingToasterStrudel
macrumors member
This change is a legit “Finally”.
But in what sense, exactly, is it tied to an OS point update? Why can’t this policy apply to any current users who have Family Sharing set up?
Do all members of the “Family” have to be running 26.4 for this to work? Why? (Maybe just the organizer(s)?)
And does it have to be on every one of each Family member’s Apple devices?
Maybe it will roll out to users of older OS versions too? I don’t see why not.
But in what sense, exactly, is it tied to an OS point update? Why can’t this policy apply to any current users who have Family Sharing set up?
Do all members of the “Family” have to be running 26.4 for this to work? Why? (Maybe just the organizer(s)?)
And does it have to be on every one of each Family member’s Apple devices?
Maybe it will roll out to users of older OS versions too? I don’t see why not.
Hopefully, MR can do a useful article verifying this.
tgwaste
macrumors 68000
"Family Sharing accounts for children will continue to use the organizer's payment method for any purchases."
So... still broke and useless then.
So... still broke and useless then.
Most children do not have their own credit card. Who else would pay for their purchases?
indychris
macrumors 6502a
"small but useful"??? Apple has been absolutely idiotic about this for years! It's 'small' in the same sense that my contractor put switches on the wall to give us the option to turn lights on and off. It SHOULD have been small eons ago, but their ridiculous approach has now made this monumental!
I send my children (now 14 and 12) cash on Apple Cash. With the change a while back to use Visa and expose the card numbers, it has been a beautiful thing and I don’t need to feed them cash. They could also have allowed them to do the same using that, or those GreenLight cards specifically made for kids. I’m sure there’s even more options, but that’s an easy 2.
Too bad that the same sharing doesn't allow family members in different countries, so I had to kick my daughter out when she went to university.
Dear Mr Cook, Europe has a lot of small countries. It's perfectly normal for family members to live across borders.
Dear Mr Cook, Europe has a lot of small countries. It's perfectly normal for family members to live across borders.
You can turn that off for anyone in the family sharing I believe. It was all or nothing.
FoxyKaye
macrumors 68000
AYUP! If I wasn't already forced to upgrade to iOS 26 for my AirPods Pro 3s, this would finally do it.
It’s about time honestly. The old system made no sense in my view. However, such change requiring an OS update is kinda bonkers if you ask me.
I will say, you didn't have to do that, the way we dealt with this problem was anytime someone was going to make a purchase they would message me, and I would go into settings on my phone and click and drag the preferred credit card to the top of the payment options, that would switch the card to use, send me an annoying email telling me about it, they would make the purchase, then I would go back into settings and switch the cards back, get another email. So annoying but it at least allowed me to manually choose which card would be used before a purchase. I am so happy this update is finally fixing this huge annoyance.
Phaseangle
macrumors member
Good now I can put the same details in for my wife and it might actually allow her to purchase things like the adult account she has. This has been broken for a long time and has lots of complaints on Apple's Forums, most people give up and find some PITA workaround.
SidricTheViking
macrumors 6502
Sadly, this is a nuisance for many regions with ‘open’ borders. One workaround is to keep the child/teen on the same store/country as the parent, which will still work while they’re living elsewhere.
