Add a family member button doesn't exist on my devices

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Level 1

52 points

Add a family member button doesn't exist on my devices

I have a family plan. There are two of us on the plan. I would like to add another person. On my Mac, and on my iPhone, there is no "just simply" click "Add a member" button. The only thing I can think of is I have sent a request to a friend at least three times and he's ignored them (he's 85 and really isn't too tech savvy). He never clicked on the invites ... could those be clogging me up? Since we're only allowed five? There are no other people on the plan.

Mac mini, macOS 14.4

Posted on May 10, 2024 12:48 PM

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Answer 1

May 11, 2024 6:10 AM in response to TuckerdogAVL

I have a family plan. There are two of us on the plan.

One of you two is the formal ‘organizer’. Only the organizer can do the invites. Invites have to be done to the Apple ID account of the prospect member. Users without an Apple ID account, will have to create one first.

On my Mac, and on my iPhone, there is no "just simply" click "Add a member" button.

See: Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support

On iPhone, there is an icon in the upper right corner for adding members, not in text.

The only thing I can think of is I have sent a request to a friend at least three times and he's ignored them (he's 85 and really isn't too tech savvy). He never clicked on the invites ... could those be clogging me up?

I doubt it. Only users that have accepted the invite count towards the total of group members.

If you want this person in the group, then you could have him enter his Apple ID credentials (with password) on the organizer’s Apple device, e.g. while visiting. (Invite in Person option).

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Answer 2

May 12, 2024 5:34 PM in response to TuckerdogAVL

1. I looked into bundling, but the bundle I want is News, AppleTV and the Cloud. To get to news it's actually more expensive because I don't care about Apple Music. So, News and Apple TV are me; Cloud is him; He's the organizer. And I didn't want to share the Cloud with anyone else than us, so there's that.

There’s only one bundle offering of subscriptions: Apple One, even though that comes in 3 tiers: Apple One Individual, Apple One Family, Apple One Premier (the last one includes News+ and Fitness+).

If that is not an advantage for you, then instead get the individual component subscription(s) that you want.

2. No matter what I do, I cannot get the "faces" for the family to show up correctly on the left-hand side. On this side, me, the organizer under family are just images of me. The image for my profile is also me. All three are different photos as I've tried to correct by trying to figure out from what contact list, address list, "on my mac" list or "iCloud list" the photos are coming from. However, I have changed everything to be the same photo. However, they show correctly on the right side of the screen under family, when you click on them individually, with the correct user name (emails). But not the left side.

For Family Sharing: I was under the impression that it should take the profile images from the other user’s Apple IDs, regardless of your Contacts list, if they have set a user image for their Apple ID, else you would get initials (one or two capital letters). I.e. I think it wouldn’t be up to you how others are represented. Not sure why it is different for you.

For Mail: Not sure how that works for images that represent users.

4. Checking email ids, the second person (whom is my spouse and we have sent emails back and forth for many, many years) now doesn't show up in "previous recepients" in the email

5. I have had to add back the email credentials and remove and add them numerous times, even using a share .vcf.

6. When I add back the email, the mail program will add back old phone numbers, info that is unchecked, no matter what I do.

Please ask questions about Mail.app or Contacts.app in the appropriate forum for better expertise. The users here focus on Apple TV primarily.

Other Apple Applications and Services - Apple Community

or perhaps in the forums for your macOS version or your chosen device.

[ Site Map - Apple Community ]

8. I really would rather not "stop sharing," and "logging out" since I get these messages that I lose everything, or it's now all on the computer instead of the cloud, etc.

Stopping sharing would impact other Family Sharing members for the sharable services from you. It would be restored when sharing again.

Logging out for your account on any device, should only impact that device. Logging in again should load the account related settings again.

9. So, for now, I'm done. I'lll check later to see if mail is actually synched now (it used to be), before I tried to "just simply" add someone to Apple TV.

Good luck!

Else try: Contact Apple for support and service - Official Apple Support

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Answer 3

TuckerdogAVL Author

Level 1

52 points

May 11, 2024 10:12 AM in response to Urquhart1244

Thanks for all your insight. There are so many squirrelly things going on I can't even figure it out.

First, the mac mini, iPad, two iPhones and MacBook are all on the same network, all with the same DNS, and the router is set for all to be on the same network.

Yes, I discovered that even though I am the person that is sharing the Apple TV with person #2, person #2 is the official organizer. So, he would be inviting others to the "family" even though I pay the Apple TV separately. I looked into bundling, but the bundle I want is News, AppleTV and the Cloud. To get to news it's actually more expensive because I don't care about Apple Music. So, News and Apple TV are me; Cloud is him; He's the organizer. And I didn't want to share the Cloud with anyone else than us, so there's that.
No matter what I do, I cannot get the "faces" for the family to show up correctly on the left-hand side. On this side, me, the organizer under family are just images of me. The image for my profile is also me. All three are different photos as I've tried to correct by trying to figure out from what contact list, address list, "on my mac" list or "iCloud list" the photos are coming from. However, I have changed everything to be the same photo. However, they show correctly on the right side of the screen under family, when you click on them individually, with the correct user name (emails). But not the left side.
However, this is different for the iPad. The images on the left side show the organizer's Initials on the left side, and now on the right side as well. I haven't checked yet, but believe that the iPad and the MacMini are no longer synced. This is because I started to try and figure out if there was a networking, dns/tcp/ setting issue as to why no two devices are showing the same thing.
Checking email ids, the second person (whom is my spouse and we have sent emails back and forth for many, many years) now doesn't show up in "previous recepients" in the email
I have had to add back the email credentials and remove and add them numerous times, even using a share .vcf.
When I add back the email, the mail program will add back old phone numbers, info that is unchecked, no matter what I do.
All devices have been rebooted numerous times.
I really would rather not "stop sharing," and "logging out" since I get these messages that I lose everything, or it's now all on the computer instead of the cloud, etc.
So, for now, I'm done. I'lll check later to see if mail is actually synched now (it used to be), before I tried to "just simply" add someone to Apple TV.

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Answer 4

TuckerdogAVL Author

Level 1

52 points

May 13, 2024 9:06 AM in response to Urquhart1244

Thanks for the thoughtful answers and help. What I finally did was have an aha! moment ... and basically Step #2. I got up out of my chair and went into the den and checked on the contact IDS in HIS computer... and lo and behold, it wasn't set up with the profile photo I was looking for. Once I corrected that, everything started to seemingly fall into place. I do seem to be having issues with iPad syncing; I connected it to the computer and attempted sync there since it wasn't happening via wifi. Got a "error, sorry" message saying it couldn't sync. So, I unchecked "contacts" on one of the three email account/calendars, and tried again, and it worked. I think it was the personal calendar vs main calendar, but not important as I'm not doing tons of scheduling, etc. All good at the moment.

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