So this looks good outside of one frequent scenario that is confusing to me.
My daughter gets a $20 iTunes card as a gift. She wants to apply it to her account and spend $11.99 right now and saving the $8.01 to use later. Can she apply it just to her account or only the family shared account? If she applies it to the family account her little sister will use the rest for gold coins in some stupid game lol.
Sometimes credits need to be kept separate. Is that possible?
The parent can always authorise any spending, as far as I know.
Myt family shares an Apple ID / account for all music / iBooks/ app purchases. Everyone curates their own devices. This account is also our iTunes Match account. Not sure how this differed from an family account. What would I gain from turning this into a Family Sharing account?
The issue of individual gift cards is interesting - we have come across this problem. Does a Family Account resolve those?
The problemfor me is that the main library (iCloud) contains a lot of redundant junk which I would love to be able to eliminate. Is it possible to purge content from one's account?
Although you can use iTunes the way you describe, it's obviously not how Apple envisioned it. Presumably, you all trust each other enough to have access to everyone's email, messages, photos etc. because that's the result of having a single ID. And if your tastes are different, it doesn't sound ideal to have to wade through someone else's media.
I hadn't realized how confusing this all is until I starting poking around in the settings. There are at least 4 places where one sets an Apple ID (iCloud, iTunes, Game Center, Home Sharing). It's very un-Apple-like to have this mess. Hopefully family sharing will provide a way forward. Or else, we'll just be upset because we lose stuff during this transition. My wife will not be pleased if she loses her game progress as a result of this.
You should have had separate IDs in the first place. You know that you can still share apps, music etc. even with different IDs. You simply turn on Home Sharing or Sharing and copy over the apps—that's presuming you have a Mac.
You should have had separate IDs in the first place. You know that you can still share apps, music etc. even with different IDs. You simply turn on Home Sharing or Sharing and copy over the apps—that's presuming you have a Mac.
What do you mean? Before family sharing how was this possible? Suppose I have an iPhone 5s set up with my account and my wife has an iPhone 5c with her account. I buy a $5 app on my phone and she buys a $3 app on her phone, there was no way to have both apps on both phones was there?
Or is the issue that there are 3 different accounts on each device (the iCloud account, the iTunes account, and the Game Center account)? So as long as they share the iTunes account, they have have different iCloud and Game Centers account? Was that your point? (No that I understood this until today.)
Or is the issue that there are 3 different accounts on each device (the iCloud account, the iTunes account, and the Game Center account)? So as long as they share the iTunes account, they have have different iCloud and Game Centers account? Was that your point? (No that I understood this until today.)
That's it exactly. (and yet different accounts for FaceTime if you desire)
Although you can use iTunes the way you describe, it's obviously not how Apple envisioned it. Presumably, you all trust each other enough to have access to everyone's email, messages, photos etc. because that's the result of having a single ID. And if your tastes are different, it doesn't sound ideal to have to wade through someone else's media.
As mentioned above, you could use a single ID for iTunes (so you can share purchased apps, songs and video), but each have different ID's for iCloud, and yet another (if you desire) for FaceTime.
Family Share works good for me so far. What is a deal killer though is not having iTunes Match. Makes the music sharing portion nearly useless since half of my library is music I bought on CD's.
You should have had separate IDs in the first place. You know that you can still share apps, music etc. even with different IDs. You simply turn on Home Sharing or Sharing and copy over the apps—that's presuming you have a Mac.
What do you mean? Before family sharing how was this possible? Suppose I have an iPhone 5s set up with my account and my wife has an iPhone 5c with her account. I buy a $5 app on my phone and she buys a $3 app on her phone, there was no way to have both apps on both phones was there?
Or is the issue that there are 3 different accounts on each device (the iCloud account, the iTunes account, and the Game Center account)? So as long as they share the iTunes account, they have have different iCloud and Game Centers account? Was that your point? (No that I understood this until today.)
Yes, in a word. Believe it or not, your wife and you could have shared all your apps. In other words, there was no need to buy everything twice. You simply copy over any apps you both use. You can also do this on iDevices. Simply sign in as the other person on the App Store and you can download the app. I think you need to authorise each other's devices. It's quicker to copy apps en masse on a Mac.
There's no need to make any new accounts. You simply have separate accounts.
The only proviso is that when an app is updated, you will need to enter the password for your wife and vice versa each time. That may get tedious.
Great idea poorly executed. I was able to successfully get everything set up for my family, but have since gone back to the old way of doing things - one Apple ID for all purchases.
My kids have had their own Apple IDs for years so that they could use iMessage and FaceTime on their iPod Touches and iPad Minis, as well as keep all of their own contacts.
I was excited about the opportunity of them being able to keep all of the credit for the iTunes gift cards they get for birthdays and Christmas, without other family members using it all in one fell swoop them to buy books or movies. This feature was confirmed by Apple Care.
There doesn't seem to be much "sharing" for family sharing. I was specifically told by Apple Care that iTunes Match was NOT supported in Family Sharing. I read the post on the support site, but as others mentioned, it doesn't work. A little bit of a disconnect here that needs to be clarified. When I opened the Music app on my kids iPad Minis, I only saw the music they had downloaded to the device already and the free U2 songs available for download. In order to see any other music, I actually had to go to the "Home" sharing feature available in iTunes, but even then, could only stream, not download. Nothing that wasn't purchased from iTunes was available. All of my iTunes Match music was missing. There was no practical way for me to get that music on to their devices. What I would have had to do was download it to a computer and side load it onto their devices.
Our kids have been great about asking before purchasing anything, we've never had any problems there, so asking permission for a purchase isn't that big of a value for us. Them being able to keep all of their iTunes store credit, that was big, but without access to all of the other content we've compiled over the years in iTunes Match, I don't see us using this feature.
Sadly, the problem with Family Sharing (and I'm already noticing this with a couple of apps) is that more developers are going to move to the "freemium" pricing model. On the surface, it makes them look good by allowing Family Sharing, as well as having a "free" app. To get around all the money lost on "shared" purchases, most of the functionality is going to be an in-app purchase, which is not shared.
After updating our five family phones. We realized we had to each have our own accounts for iTunes and iCloud. What we ran into was when one person bought an app the others did not get it even though we had family sharing on. After a call to the iTunes Store support we could not figure out how to fix this. So I played with the phones for awhile and then signed them all into the same ITunes Store but their own iCloud and that fixed the problem. Now if one buys or downloads an app we all can get it. Plus if you have children they still need permission to download an app.
Check the Apple support forums. Family Sharing is not working for a lot of users (me included). And, people are accidentally locking themselves out of it for 364 days.
This coupled with the pulling of HealthKit apps and the fact that the update takes 5 times the download size free on the device to install is showing that iOS 8 is full of FAIL!
doom! apple makes mistakes! DOOOOM!!!
get real. the real the installer takes more space than the download itself is very simple -- the download is a compressed package, the installer needs to uncompress it.
Store credits can be applied to an individual account, and used before the account organizers credit card. Credits applied to the organizer account can be used by anyone in the family.
Is there any way you can share contacts between apple accounts? In our family everyone has their own apple ids for imessage and itunes, but we share a master id for contacts calendars and keychain password. In ios 8 there is a new share my location tab under icloud. This now logs everyone into share my location as the same person.
In your other device which is not the Organiser's,
1. Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store, take note of the apple id used (this must be the other device owner's apple id)
2. Next, go to Settings > iCloud > Family, select the assigned device owner name (marked as "Me"), then under the 'FAMILY PURCHASE' check that the apple id is the same as the iTunes & App Store apple id. If not the same, change it to the same account. (Caution: seems you are only allowed to change once. the next change is only allowed after 90 days. so be careful.)
Is there any way you can share contacts between apple accounts? In our family everyone has their own apple ids for imessage and itunes, but we share a master id for contacts calendars and keychain password. In ios 8 there is a new share my location tab under icloud. This now logs everyone into share my location as the same person.
You should be able to add your former "master" account to Internet Account settings in iOS and OS X as another account and turn on Contacts for that account. This should allow you to have shared contacts on devices that have individual iCloud IDs set up as primary iCloud accounts. You can also turn on email under this formerly master" account to have a family email account. There's no need to keep Calendar or reminders enabled under that account anymore because those are now part of the Family account, but you can enable them temporarily to move events and reminders to the new shared family calendar and reminders under Family shareing account.
So our household is in the same boat as many previous posters - we've been using one Apple ID for all our devices, with purchases restricted on the kids. Each of our devices is set up with different email accounts, etc, so we are only sharing apps and music. The kids don't have email accounts at all. We've been doing this since my wife and I merged our music and photo libraries - all our stuff has been forever under a single Apple ID. Is there a 'migration guide' for situations like ours?
From what I can tell, I'll have to create a new Apple ID for my wife and each device (the kids share devices, ie we only have one ipad, etc), and then go through and curate our apps and about 15,000 songs within each device. Does that sound correct? How does itunes match play into family sharing?
Most of our music is ripped from CDs, probably 10% purchased from itunes. Most of it was found within iTunes match, so only a small amount of 'custom' audio tracks go through that cloud service.
It sounds like Family Sharing will help us, as we are always bumping against the 5GB icloud backup limit with all the devices backing up to icloud. I often have to turn photos off from icloud backup.
I look forward to separation of apps, the stuff the kids use I just don't need showing up on my phone. (it doesn't now, I have automatic app downloads turned off), but the other stuff is still a little... cloudy...
Comments
The parent can always authorise any spending, as far as I know.
Although you can use iTunes the way you describe, it's obviously not how Apple envisioned it. Presumably, you all trust each other enough to have access to everyone's email, messages, photos etc. because that's the result of having a single ID. And if your tastes are different, it doesn't sound ideal to have to wade through someone else's media.
You should have had separate IDs in the first place. You know that you can still share apps, music etc. even with different IDs. You simply turn on Home Sharing or Sharing and copy over the apps—that's presuming you have a Mac.
You should have had separate IDs in the first place. You know that you can still share apps, music etc. even with different IDs. You simply turn on Home Sharing or Sharing and copy over the apps—that's presuming you have a Mac.
What do you mean? Before family sharing how was this possible? Suppose I have an iPhone 5s set up with my account and my wife has an iPhone 5c with her account. I buy a $5 app on my phone and she buys a $3 app on her phone, there was no way to have both apps on both phones was there?
Or is the issue that there are 3 different accounts on each device (the iCloud account, the iTunes account, and the Game Center account)? So as long as they share the iTunes account, they have have different iCloud and Game Centers account? Was that your point? (No that I understood this until today.)
Or is the issue that there are 3 different accounts on each device (the iCloud account, the iTunes account, and the Game Center account)? So as long as they share the iTunes account, they have have different iCloud and Game Centers account? Was that your point? (No that I understood this until today.)
That's it exactly. (and yet different accounts for FaceTime if you desire)
Although you can use iTunes the way you describe, it's obviously not how Apple envisioned it. Presumably, you all trust each other enough to have access to everyone's email, messages, photos etc. because that's the result of having a single ID. And if your tastes are different, it doesn't sound ideal to have to wade through someone else's media.
As mentioned above, you could use a single ID for iTunes (so you can share purchased apps, songs and video), but each have different ID's for iCloud, and yet another (if you desire) for FaceTime.
Family Share works good for me so far. What is a deal killer though is not having iTunes Match. Makes the music sharing portion nearly useless since half of my library is music I bought on CD's.
Yes, in a word. Believe it or not, your wife and you could have shared all your apps. In other words, there was no need to buy everything twice. You simply copy over any apps you both use. You can also do this on iDevices. Simply sign in as the other person on the App Store and you can download the app. I think you need to authorise each other's devices. It's quicker to copy apps en masse on a Mac.
There's no need to make any new accounts. You simply have separate accounts.
The only proviso is that when an app is updated, you will need to enter the password for your wife and vice versa each time. That may get tedious.
My kids have had their own Apple IDs for years so that they could use iMessage and FaceTime on their iPod Touches and iPad Minis, as well as keep all of their own contacts.
I was excited about the opportunity of them being able to keep all of the credit for the iTunes gift cards they get for birthdays and Christmas, without other family members using it all in one fell swoop them to buy books or movies. This feature was confirmed by Apple Care.
There doesn't seem to be much "sharing" for family sharing. I was specifically told by Apple Care that iTunes Match was NOT supported in Family Sharing. I read the post on the support site, but as others mentioned, it doesn't work. A little bit of a disconnect here that needs to be clarified. When I opened the Music app on my kids iPad Minis, I only saw the music they had downloaded to the device already and the free U2 songs available for download. In order to see any other music, I actually had to go to the "Home" sharing feature available in iTunes, but even then, could only stream, not download. Nothing that wasn't purchased from iTunes was available. All of my iTunes Match music was missing. There was no practical way for me to get that music on to their devices. What I would have had to do was download it to a computer and side load it onto their devices.
Our kids have been great about asking before purchasing anything, we've never had any problems there, so asking permission for a purchase isn't that big of a value for us. Them being able to keep all of their iTunes store credit, that was big, but without access to all of the other content we've compiled over the years in iTunes Match, I don't see us using this feature.
Sadly, the problem with Family Sharing (and I'm already noticing this with a couple of apps) is that more developers are going to move to the "freemium" pricing model. On the surface, it makes them look good by allowing Family Sharing, as well as having a "free" app. To get around all the money lost on "shared" purchases, most of the functionality is going to be an in-app purchase, which is not shared.
So I played with the phones for awhile and then signed them all into the same ITunes Store but their own iCloud and that fixed the problem. Now if one buys or downloads an app we all can get it. Plus if you have children they still need permission to download an app.
Check the Apple support forums. Family Sharing is not working for a lot of users (me included). And, people are accidentally locking themselves out of it for 364 days.
This coupled with the pulling of HealthKit apps and the fact that the update takes 5 times the download size free on the device to install is showing that iOS 8 is full of FAIL!
doom! apple makes mistakes! DOOOOM!!!
get real. the real the installer takes more space than the download itself is very simple -- the download is a compressed package, the installer needs to uncompress it.
Interesting, thanks for the info.
Hi, have you tried the following method?
In your other device which is not the Organiser's,
1. Go to Settings > iTunes & App Store, take note of the apple id used (this must be the other device owner's apple id)
2. Next, go to Settings > iCloud > Family, select the assigned device owner name (marked as "Me"), then under the 'FAMILY PURCHASE' check that the apple id is the same as the iTunes & App Store apple id. If not the same, change it to the same account. (Caution: seems you are only allowed to change once. the next change is only allowed after 90 days. so be careful.)
3. Wait for a while for iCloud to synch.
this worked for me. hope it works for you too.
No. Households tend to live in the same country.
You should be able to add your former "master" account to Internet Account settings in iOS and OS X as another account and turn on Contacts for that account. This should allow you to have shared contacts on devices that have individual iCloud IDs set up as primary iCloud accounts. You can also turn on email under this formerly master" account to have a family email account. There's no need to keep Calendar or reminders enabled under that account anymore because those are now part of the Family account, but you can enable them temporarily to move events and reminders to the new shared family calendar and reminders under Family shareing account.
Its really a disappointment for i was expecting more ....this feature is not for my type of persons ..
So our household is in the same boat as many previous posters - we've been using one Apple ID for all our devices, with purchases restricted on the kids. Each of our devices is set up with different email accounts, etc, so we are only sharing apps and music. The kids don't have email accounts at all. We've been doing this since my wife and I merged our music and photo libraries - all our stuff has been forever under a single Apple ID. Is there a 'migration guide' for situations like ours?
From what I can tell, I'll have to create a new Apple ID for my wife and each device (the kids share devices, ie we only have one ipad, etc), and then go through and curate our apps and about 15,000 songs within each device. Does that sound correct? How does itunes match play into family sharing?
Most of our music is ripped from CDs, probably 10% purchased from itunes. Most of it was found within iTunes match, so only a small amount of 'custom' audio tracks go through that cloud service.
It sounds like Family Sharing will help us, as we are always bumping against the 5GB icloud backup limit with all the devices backing up to icloud. I often have to turn photos off from icloud backup.
I look forward to separation of apps, the stuff the kids use I just don't need showing up on my phone. (it doesn't now, I have automatic app downloads turned off), but the other stuff is still a little... cloudy...
Thanks for any helpful tips!