Family Sharing.
Family Sharing lets you and up to five other family members share access to amazing Apple services like Apple Music and Apple Arcade. Your group can also share iTunes, and App Store purchases, an iCloud storage plan, and a family photo album. You can even help locate each other’s missing devices.
Getting set up is simple.
Choose what you want to share, invite your family members to join, and enjoy each other’s digital company.
Get organized.
One adult in your family — the organizer — invites all the other members to join and sets up accounts for anyone under 13.1Once family members join, Family Sharing is set up on everyone’s devices automatically. The group then chooses which services and features they’d like to use and share.
Keep everyone entertained.
From music to games, Apple entertainment services have something for everyone. And with Family Sharing, your whole group can share the same subscriptions. Family members access each service from their own Apple IDs, so they see only their own content, preferences, and recommendations — not the whole family’s.
Share an iCloud storage plan with your family.
Your entire family can share a single iCloud storage plan large enough to store everyone’s photos, videos, and files. Each person’s files and documents remain private, but it’s easy to see how much storage everyone is using. If you need more space, you can upgrade to a larger plan at any time.
All your family’s purchases on all your family’s devices.
When you set up purchase sharing, everyone in the group gets immediate access to the songs, albums, movies, and apps purchased by family members who choose to share them. New purchases appear in the Purchased tab in the App Store or iTunes for each family member. Just select the family member whose collection you’d like to browse, then download or play the content you choose. Other family members can access your collection in the same way. If you want to keep some purchases private, you can choose to hide individual items.
Making purchases is easy. So is setting limits.
When your family sets up purchase sharing, all new App Store purchases will be billed to the organizer’s account. But if Ask to Buy is turned on for children in the family, the organizer can still call the shots. When a child initiates a purchase, an alert is sent to the organizer, who can review the download and approve or decline it right from the organizer’s device. This applies to both purchases and free downloads.
Be more aware of how kids use their devices.
Screen Time can give you a better understanding of how much time your kids spend using apps, visiting websites, and on their devices overall. When you use Screen Time with Family Sharing, you can review your kids’ activity reports and set time limits for specific apps right from your own device. You can also name another family member as a parent/guardian, so that you’re always on the same page when it comes to your kids and their screen time.
Keep track of everyone. And every device.
Find My makes it easy to keep track of one another, whether you’re coordinating a meet-up spot at the mall or you just want to know when the kids get home from school. Simply send an invitation for them to share their locations. And if anyone’s device goes missing, everyone else in the group can help find it, even if it’s offline.
Get your family on the same page.
When you set up your family, a shared album is created automatically in the Photos app on all family members’ devices. Everyone can add photos, videos, and comments to the album whenever they like and get notified when something new is added. Family Sharing also sets up a family calendar where everyone can view, add, or change events and appointments, and get an alert when something changes. And anyone can use the Reminders app to send time or location reminders to the family. So when it’s picture day, pizza night, or just a trip to the beach, everyone’s in the know.