I am thinking of turning on family sharing for my family of four as I understand that is how family accounts will work with Apple Music. My family currently uses my Apple ID for all content purchases (apps,music, etc.) but they each have their own ID for all other purposes. Any tips for switching or reasons I shouldn't do it? I'm thinking I'll have to do it for the family music plan so I might as well start now. Any shared experiences are welcome.
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Switching to Family Sharing
- Thread starter TRICKorDEVICE
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I just did this to get ready for Apple Music.
I still use my iTunes ID from before which is different than my iCloud ID. Everyone used my iTunes ID as there's. Now, my family of 4 each has their own ID for iTunes. In all cases their iCloud and iTunes IDs are the same now.
Random thoughts:
The ask to buy system does not work for me. It works but it doesn't "work". I didn't want to give my kids their password so they would hand me their phone, I would put in the password, then it would ask me to approve the purchase. I turned that off so just like before I put in a password. Difference is in the future the purchase will be theirs to take with them.
You will be asked about sharing location. I see them but they don't see me. It's up to you what to do. I don't track the wife. Just the kids.
Shared calendar is fine but unneeded. We aalready shared a few. The new Family calendar is extra so we will repurpose it in place of one of the others. No big deal.
Shared photo stream is cool I guess except I keep getting messages from the kids adding photos and liking photos etc. I told them to add but stop with the likes. I don't care if they like them. Ha.
Can't think of anything else at the moment but maybe you have questions. Overall it's about like it was before but a little more tied between accounts. Like a family. Ha.
I still use my iTunes ID from before which is different than my iCloud ID. Everyone used my iTunes ID as there's. Now, my family of 4 each has their own ID for iTunes. In all cases their iCloud and iTunes IDs are the same now.
Random thoughts:
The ask to buy system does not work for me. It works but it doesn't "work". I didn't want to give my kids their password so they would hand me their phone, I would put in the password, then it would ask me to approve the purchase. I turned that off so just like before I put in a password. Difference is in the future the purchase will be theirs to take with them.
You will be asked about sharing location. I see them but they don't see me. It's up to you what to do. I don't track the wife. Just the kids.
Shared calendar is fine but unneeded. We aalready shared a few. The new Family calendar is extra so we will repurpose it in place of one of the others. No big deal.
Shared photo stream is cool I guess except I keep getting messages from the kids adding photos and liking photos etc. I told them to add but stop with the likes. I don't care if they like them. Ha.
Can't think of anything else at the moment but maybe you have questions. Overall it's about like it was before but a little more tied between accounts. Like a family. Ha.
Thanks for the info! Did your family's iDevices do anything weird as far as the old app purchases, like did they stop working and you had to re download them? I already use find my friends with my wife. If I say don't share on the new family plan, will it break the find my friends tracking, do you have any experience with that?
Not sharing will break the tracking, its one and the same. Settings, iCloud, Share My Location there is now a Family group listed and this includes a list of people in your family. On each is a line that says Can see your location or Cannot see your location. You can toggle this on and off. During setup of family sharing it will ask you if you want this or not but its adjustable after the fact.
We have not experienced anything strange yet for apps. I did read that purchased apps installed on other devices may not update properly because they were bought on another account but I have not had this problem yet. It might be due to the fact that most paid apps we use are only used by myself and maybe my wife too. The kids don't care enough about the specific apps. Most/all of their apps they like are free.
Alright, I've begun the process of switching the fam over to Family Sharing. Here's my next question: if my son buys an app or in app purchase while signed in to his Apple ID for iTunes/apps/etc. Will I be able to access those things on my device, or is the inverse only true, i.e. my son can use things I've bought, but I can't use things he's bought? It would seem we should all be able to share the purchases that are made with the same card. For example, if we're all family sharing and my wife makes an app purchase on her phone/Apple ID, I should be able to also download that app on my iPhone while logged into my Apple ID - is this how it works???
First thing is Family Sharing in apps. They have to support the feature. If they don't you will have to purchase as well. That feature will be listed in the app description.
You will be able to share your sons purchases if he has the option on in iCloud on his device. Settings-iCloud-Family-his name. I'm not sure but I'm thinking in app purchases won't share. I haven't tested yet.
Everyone in your family sharing family can share all apps everyone purchased.
Also, whenever someone in the family purchases something it is billed directly to the family organizer’s account. The exception to this rule is if that family member already has enough store credit to cover the entire purchase. Other than this exception all purchases are charged to the family organizer.
And in app purchased can not be shared.
Also, whenever someone in the family purchases something it is billed directly to the family organizer’s account. The exception to this rule is if that family member already has enough store credit to cover the entire purchase. Other than this exception all purchases are charged to the family organizer.
And in app purchased can not be shared.
The being charged everything to my account is a deal breaker for me. It should give you a choice. By from the Family Owner, or use your own. I wanted to use this for Apple Music, but the lack of my family being able to make their own purchases is a deal breaker.
Apple probably did this on purpose to make sure it's really for family sharing and not just friend sharing.
Exactly. In addition is aimed at younger families where the children are still financially supported by someone other than themselves or where the house expenses are already shared. If the kids are now gone they are indeed still family but not in the way this system was designed. This system works for me since my children are still dependents.
I do think people focus too much on the negatives. It offers something that wasn't available before. It doesn't support in app purchased which is a bummer, but all apps that had been purchased are now available to all family members. That's huge! Especially with expensive apps. Any cool new app that's purchased is now available to all family members. Again, it isn't perfect, but way better than what was offered before, which was nothing 
I didn't know that. My wife, kids and I have about 10 iOS devices on a single iTunes account and I was considering switching over to a family sharing plan to set up a family Apple Music plan, but there's no way I'm going to do that if we can't share in-app purchases.
You also won't be able to share any apps that someone has "hidden".
Here are a couple of links that you might find useful:
Which purchased content can I share using Family Sharing
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203046
Hide and unhide purchases in the Mac App Store
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202320
Thanks. We don't have any hidden apps, but we do have apps that are no longer sold in the iTunes store (which also cannot be shared). I'll probably stick with the single iTunes account and see what happens. We have a single Beats account on multiple devices and it's only a problem if two people try to use the app at the same time. I'd be happy to pay Apple the $14.99 a month for a family Apple Music plan, but it's just not worth it to activate family sharing from everything I'm reading.
The two main reasons I went ahead with Family Sharing is Apple Music family pricing and one day my kids will be old enough to want their iTunes accounts to themselves. That is not that far away at this point. If you buy everything on your single account its true everyone can share but one day they will leave with nothing but a new empty account. So, either way I pay but most of what they like I may not so it's good for me that they can take the purchases with them in the future.