There's power in numbers, and that's especially true with Apple's Family Sharing. Family Sharing lets you and up to five other family members (or friends) share access to Apple subscriptions, iTunes purchases, apps, and more, potentially representing big savings on products like Apple One. In this guide, we'll look at what exactly you can share with Apple Family Sharing and dig into the fine print to tell you just what's possible.
What can I share with Apple Family Sharing?
You can share a whole lot of stuff through Apple Family Sharing:
- Apple Subscriptions - All Apple subscriptions are shared by default
- iCloud storage - If you're paying for extra iCloud storage, you can share this with the rest of your family. While you share an overall storage allowance, your files and backups aren't shared with the rest of your family
- App Store Subscriptions - If you've subscribed to other services through the App Store, many of these can be shared with Family Sharing
- Purchases - App Store and iTunes purchases can be shared with the rest of the family. For example, if you've bought an app, a book, or a movie, the rest of your family will be able to access it without needing to buy it again
- Location - You can let other family members see your location via Family Sharing. This is off by default.
- Screen Time - You can let other family members see how much you're using your devices. This is also off by default.
Apple Family Sharing works across iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and Mac.
Why use Apple Family Sharing?
Apple Family Sharing makes a lot of sense if you're subscribing to Apple services and want to share them with the rest of your family (or your friends) to save money. Each service allowing Family Sharing will let you share with up to five other family members. This means the more people you share them with, the better value they become.
Take a look at how much each service costs below:
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Apple Arcade
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Apple TV
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Apple News Plus
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Apple Music Family
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Note that the Apple Music price shown above is a specific family plan. An individual Apple Music subscription is billed at $12.99 per month.
Family Sharing also makes Apple One plans even better value. The top tier - Apple One Premier - goes for $49.95 per month, and includes every single Apple service: Music, TV Plus, Arcade, News Plus, Fitness Plus, and 2TB of iCloud storage. That's $92.94 per month worth of value. Split with even one other person, Apple One Premier is a solid deal.
Family Sharing also lets you share purchases you've made with other members of your group. Not only does this work with iPhone and iPad apps, many Mac apps available via the Mac App Store also support Family Sharing. Even Final Cut Pro - a $499.99 purchase - can be shared via Family Sharing. If everyone in your family loves to edit video (and who doesn't), that's a big saving.
Can I use Apple Family Sharing with friends?
They say family is what you make it, and that's 100% the case with Apple Family Sharing. While services like Netflix and Spotify stipulate that anyone using the account should reside at the same address, Apple Family Sharing doesn't have any such clause.
In fact, the only two clauses in Apple's terms of service are that every member of your Apple family needs to reside in the same country, and that if you’ve got a child under 13 in the group, their parent or legal guardian also needs to be a part of it. There's nothing stopping you from using Apple Family Sharing with your mates rather than your flesh and blood.
After all, if a group of friends trying to save money on Apple services isn't a family, I don't know what is. The millennial experience supports an expansive view of the concept.
There is one catch to be aware of. While sharing subscriptions with friends is easy via Apple Family Sharing, that's not quite the case with purchases. If you turn on purchase sharing, all future app purchases are billed to the family organiser. Other family members can't use their own payment method.
If purchase sharing is turned on and I'm the family organiser, I'm the one who gets billed if one of my mates decides to buy an app or rent a movie through iTunes. With the right group of friends, this might not be an issue, but it could definitely cause conflict in others.
Are there any restrictions around Apple Family Sharing?
There are a few other Apple Family Sharing restrictions worth noting. The most important are that you can only belong to one family at a time, and that you can only swap family twice per year. Essentially, you can't just jump around from family to family at will. You're stuck with the family you were given or the family you've chosen for a good chunk of the year at the least.
If a family member does leave or is removed from the group, other members will no longer be able to access the former member's content, including anything purchased with the family organiser's payment method
There are also a whole bunch of restrictions worth noting around children under 13. You can't remove a child from your family group until turn 13 or you move them to a different family, unless you delete their account entirely. Despite not having children, I've learnt this the hard way.
How to turn on Family Sharing
Family Sharing is easy to turn on. Follow these steps on your iPhone or iPad:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap your name
- Tap Family Sharing and then Set Up Your Family
- Follow the on-screen prompts
After you've invited individuals to your family, they'll be sent a text or email asking them to join. They'll need to accept this to join your family.
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