General Family Sharing with a 'Mature' Family

[LERsince1991]

So how exactly do the details of family sharing work?

- what exactly does it share?

- My family we all have our own apple ID's (of course!)
- I want to use it just to share app purchases
- We are all over 18 and pay for our own apps
- But we don't want to duplicate lots of purchases all the time

- But then I want to share my purchases with my long term girlfriend
- so do I add her to my family sharing
- but about if her family sharing is set up

- can't be in more than one family? But in reality 'family' can be vague and changes through life

So where's the line, what exactly does it share and how can I make it work for us?

 

[BrettDS]

So how exactly do the details of family sharing work?

- what exactly does it share?

- My family we all have our own apple ID's (of course!)
- I want to use it just to share app purchases
- We are all over 18 and pay for our own apps
- But we don't want to duplicate lots of purchases all the time

- But then I want to share my purchases with my long term girlfriend
- so do I add her to my family sharing
- but about if her family sharing is set up

- can't be in more than one family? But in reality 'family' can be vague and changes through life

So where's the line, what exactly does it share and how can I make it work for us?

I think family sharing is really designed for more immediate families than extended families like you're talking about. With family sharing everyone shares one credit card, so that in itself may be a deal breaker for you. You can also only join one family groups, so your girlfriend couldn't be in one with her family and one with you.

As far as what it shares, you can share app and music purchases (although app developers can opt out of family sharing and everyone would still need to purchase their own copy of the app in that case. It doesn't seem like too many people have opted out though. I've seen it on one or two apps that my wife and I use) You also get a shared calendar, a shared photostream (although you need to put photos in there... it doesn't automatically share all your photos), and shared reminders.

 

[LERsince1991]

So this isn't going to work for me then. BUT I've found that I can share an app over to another account, download it on that device, then delete the family sharing and the app stays (so I added all the iWork programs to my dads iPad. They may or may not update though, who knows

 

[dhlizard]

As I understand it, you can allow anyone you chose to access your iTunes account via Family Sharing (enable share purchases). Send the invitation, then the other party must accept it.

If you don't want certain people to have access to your purchases/credit card, then don't invite them.

This setup is really no different than before where different persons could all enter the same AppleID in their AppStore settings, just a different setup now.

Of course along with purchases, Family Sharing makes it easier to share Calendars, Photos and other items (like Reminders)

 

[BrettDS]

Family Sharing with a 'Mature' Family

So this isn't going to work for me then. BUT I've found that I can share an app over to another account, download it on that device, then delete the family sharing and the app stays (so I added all the iWork programs to my dads iPad. They may or may not update though, who knows

Apparently you can only join a family sharing group twice a year, after which you will be locked out of family sharing for a year, so this probably isn't a good plan. There's another thread on here with a few people stuck in this situation.

However, if you do want to share an app that you have with someone else you can log into the App Store with your account, download the app to their device, then log out and they can log in again and the app will stay. The only caveat is that if they backup and restore their phone then they will need your password to redownload any apps that were originally downloaded with your account.