bryans83

Q: Convert existing Apple ID to Child Apple ID

Hello Everyone,

 

Due to the number of Apple devices in our home, and being personalized to each other my children (both under 13) have their own Apple devices.  Because my wife and I did not want them to have access to our accounts,   I created separate Apple IDs with their names and my date of birth, but I manage (They don't know passwords, etc). so that they could use facetime and iMessage with their grandparents from their own devices.  As they have gotten older, they have also developed their own taste in music and apps and have used the different Apple IDs with iTunes cards they get for gifts sometimes and as rewards.


With the roll out of iOS and Family sharing I now have a situation where it would be nice to share some (not all) of the purchases spread across 4 accounts but when I add my children's accounts under family sharing it shows them as adults , Appleid.apple.com wont allow me to modify the birthdays for my kids to the correct dates. 

 

I know for a fact I am not the only one in this situation, so I'm asking the following

 

 

Is there a way to convert my kid's existing Apple IDs to the new Child Apple ID accounts so that I can approve iTunes purchases if I link them through family sharing?

iPhone 5, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Sep 17, 2014 12:45 PM

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Q: Convert existing Apple ID to Child Apple ID

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  • by Roddy Barros,

    Roddy Barros Roddy Barros Sep 27, 2014 6:28 AM in response to Csound1
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    Sep 27, 2014 6:28 AM in response to Csound1

    I don't know what exactly you're trying to accomplish here, but you're not helping.

     

    It's a rather simple issue. Apple has created Family accounts. Parents want to adequate their children to the new form. I'm trying and can't do it. My boy is 8 and I can't change his profile to his proper age in order to get the full benefits of the new account mode. I'd like Apple to offer an option.

  • by wifinomad,

    wifinomad wifinomad Sep 28, 2014 3:41 AM in response to bryans83
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    Sep 28, 2014 3:41 AM in response to bryans83

    I agree.  This is a daft oversight on Apple's part. I've decided just to ignore Family Sharing for now and keep using our old system where all purchases need proactive parental approval and password to be applied.  Given the frankly asinine and pointless comments made by one particular commentator to this thread, I hope Apple at least has an ounce more common sense to help users resolve this.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Sep 28, 2014 3:49 AM in response to wifinomad
    Level 9 (50,831 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 28, 2014 3:49 AM in response to wifinomad

    If you wish to falsify the age of your child that is up to you, but why do you expect Apple to assist?

  • by CUbuffsCSA,

    CUbuffsCSA CUbuffsCSA Sep 29, 2014 9:20 PM in response to phemale12
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 29, 2014 9:20 PM in response to phemale12

    I love it....solving problems!  I could use a few more people like you at my company :-)

  • by reu214,

    reu214 reu214 Sep 30, 2014 10:04 AM in response to bryans83
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 10:04 AM in response to bryans83

    I don't care about all the ethical questions you guys have brought up.  My kids were setup properly as far as I'm aware and I have no need to lie about their age as they are under 13.  But when I setup families, they were listed as adults.  Is there a way to correct this or not?

  • by adamloveshismacbookair,

    adamloveshismacbookair adamloveshismacbookair Sep 30, 2014 11:57 AM in response to reu214
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 11:57 AM in response to reu214

    Yes, just log in to Apple ID, edit their birthday so they are 13. And you are done. It's a stupid work around but it works.

  • by Roddy Barros,

    Roddy Barros Roddy Barros Sep 30, 2014 12:32 PM in response to adamloveshismacbookair
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    Sep 30, 2014 12:32 PM in response to adamloveshismacbookair

    That's not working for everybody. I haven't been able to make it work for my boy.

  • by reu2,

    reu2 reu2 Sep 30, 2014 1:03 PM in response to bryans83
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    Sep 30, 2014 1:03 PM in response to bryans83

    That doesn't work if the child is under 13.  You just get an error stating that you can not change the birthday at this time.

     

    I just spent some time with Apple Support and while they didn't give me a solution, I figured out the answer.

     

    Apple doesn't allow anyone under the age of 13 to create their own Apple ID.  For Family sharing they created a sub-set ID system to allow an adult to create a minor iCloud ID for the child.

     

    In short, you have to create a new ID via Family Sharing, an option on your iPhone at the bottom of the Family settings "Create an Apple ID for a child".  If you had a pre-Family Sharing child account, in which you had to make up a birthday of 13 or older (like I did but had forgotten), you must abandon it.  There is not way to convert it.  I'm hoping I can delete it, and then add the address as an alias in the new child account.

     

    It *****, but it's currently the only way.  Please do as I did and submit feedback, expressing your aggravation to Apple here https://www.apple.com/feedback/

  • by Roddy Barros,

    Roddy Barros Roddy Barros Sep 30, 2014 1:07 PM in response to reu2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 1:07 PM in response to reu2

    Bummer. Well, I'm not deleting his account, he already has a lot of stuff in there. Guess that's it then.

     

    But hey, thanks for your help.

  • by reu2,

    reu2 reu2 Sep 30, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Roddy Barros
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 30, 2014 1:11 PM in response to Roddy Barros

    Not a great answer, especially if you've made purchases on the account already (Fortunately we didn't, we only used them for FaceTime and Lego email).  I've heard that you can do a one-time merge of two apple IDs, but don't know for sure.  That may have only been for legacy accounts.  You could try creating a second account and calling support to try and merge them.  Let us know what happens;)

  • by travismetcalf,

    travismetcalf travismetcalf Oct 13, 2014 7:55 PM in response to Roddy Barros
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 13, 2014 7:55 PM in response to Roddy Barros

    I was having issues when changing the date. I finally got it to work by only changing the year and NOT the month and date. I left the month and day as is and modified the year to 2001. This made the "Ask to Buy" option appear within the Family Sharing options on my phone.

  • by jmvdkolk,

    jmvdkolk jmvdkolk Oct 22, 2014 1:24 AM in response to Csound1
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    Oct 22, 2014 1:24 AM in response to Csound1

    Please help me understand how we could be honest before? I could have been honest. This would have meant that my son had a nice and shiny iPod Touch but not being able to use it. When I created his Apple ID, I was required to enter a birth date, and this birth date was required to be for a 13 year old or older. I could have used my own Apple ID instead, but that would have given my son access to buying unlimited apps. Not really realistic. I could also have created a new Apple ID in my own name, just for his iPod Touch. None of these options are really good. We really want him to buy his own Apps and other content. But we don't want him to lose all the content in the future. Both alternatives would have resulted in him losing his content at some point in time. This basically means that the only alternative to specifying an incorrect birth date, was to not buy an iPod Touch.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 22, 2014 1:50 AM in response to jmvdkolk
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    Oct 22, 2014 1:50 AM in response to jmvdkolk

    jmvdkolk wrote:

     

    Please help me understand how we could be honest before? I could have been honest.

    You be honest by not telling lies, and not teaching children that it is an acceptable way to get something.

     

    You chose to lie.

  • by jmvdkolk,

    jmvdkolk jmvdkolk Oct 22, 2014 2:20 AM in response to Csound1
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    Oct 22, 2014 2:20 AM in response to Csound1

    Correct. I chose to have my son use an Apple device that he was not allowed to use without lying. Sue me. But the issue really is that Apple does not say that you cannot use their hardware below the age of 13. Apparently it is acceptable that Apple sells their hardware to kids below the age of 13, and does not actually allow them to use the hardware without lying. So we should all have returned our Apple hardware? Did you? Or are you in this discussion without having ever having been in this situation? How old are your kids?

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Oct 22, 2014 2:48 AM in response to jmvdkolk
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    Oct 22, 2014 2:48 AM in response to jmvdkolk

    Why would I sue you?, it makes no difference to me what you do to gain an advantage for your child.

     

    But your question was

    Please help me understand how we could be honest before?

    And the answer is, you could have told the truth.

     

    And the ages of my children is hardly any business of strangers.

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