Q: When we purchase from iTunes the balance is not coming off of the gift cards. We have family sharing on but when my kids purchase songs they are credited to our credit card and not the gift card that is already in their account. What's wrong?

I have this same problem which *****. I have an $75 credit on my iTunes card of which I bought but every time I buy something it still charges my credit card. ***? When I try to remove my credit card it does not allow me to do so and asks me to input credit card number (again ***?)

This works, and thank you for finding this answer.  This seems to mean however that I need to know whether my family member has sufficient balance on their separate account to cover the purchase.  Otherwise, I have no idea when I approve whether my credit card is going to be charged.

Does anyone know if there is a way to see the balances of family members linked to their accounts (without knowing their passwords and logging into their accounts individually that is)?

I am not using family plan and cannot use iTunes credit.  It charges my card.  I just turned off the credit card in my account settings and purchased a song from my iPod a few hours ago.  The Apple balance did not go down accordingly, but maybe the charge hasn't cleared yet.  We'll see.  iTunes only gives me the choice to purchase music as a gift (on my Mac).  iTunes credit cant be used for gifts.  It seems to be set up so you cant actually redeem the gift cards, at least not easily.  I will not be purchasing iTunes gift cards any more and will be telling others not to use them.  They should be as easy to use as they are to buy.  SCAM

Thanks. Now I know to put the itunes card credit into my son's account, instead of mine. So the transaction is taken off the itunes card and not my credit cards for his purchases.

Yes They supposed to change that to let sharing credits instead of products purchased only on main account ...

Really, why did Apple have to make this so difficult when the solution is so simple?

Ask to buy should only appear on the organiser's account if that account is going to have money deducted from it.

In other words, if a family member has credit and/or the app being purchased is free, there should be no ask to buy on the organiser's account.

Apple really needs to make store credit available to anyone on the family share plan. If they can share my credit card, then they can share the credit on the account. My child was using my account log in before family share existed. All of her iTunes gift cards were redeemed on my account so she could access it. Once she got older and family share became an option, we set her up with her own account with my account as the organizer. There is a balance on my account (from all of her gift cards through the years) yet she isn't able to use it. This is a huge flaw in the family share system. It is her money from her gifts. When she received these gift cards she was too young for her own account and accessed it through me. Now she is a teenager and should have access to the balance on the account. It is a "shared" account. She has been making purchases today and rather than use the store credit balance it is charging my credit card. It makes no sense why it is ok for us to share the credit card, but not the store credit. And the balance is not allowed to be transferred to her. This is a big flaw Apple. I'm stuck with a balance that I won't really use and my teenager either has to be logged in on my account or have me make purchases for her in order to access her gift card credits. It's ridiculous.

I completely agree with your justified disappointment.  Apparently, iTunes gift cards are no longer worth anything if you are a Family Share user.  My kids are in elementary school and each has their own iPad.  It really made sense to use Family Sharing.  But since iTunes gift cards are not accepted as payment for purchases in a Family Share environment, I have $150+ in credits trapped in my account.

This is an exceptionally short-sighted policy, Apple, and not the first time I have been incredibly displeased with your draconian policies.  I think the lesson here is for us to start planning our exit from the restrictive Apple ecosystem.  I love the software, I like the hardware, but I abhor the oppressive policies.  So consider us just another future former customer.

All our current iPhones are coming off contract this month and our iPads are started to get dated so it might be time to fully commit to the exodus.  We've long since outgrown our iPods, we already replaced the Apple TVs with Google Chromecasts, our iMacs and MacBooks have a number of years left on them and aren't married to the iTunes store in the same way as mobile devices, and we have zero appetite for that ridiculous Apple Watch.

You lost a fanboy, Apple, and I've been with you for a great number of years and, as a technophile, have swayed many households to make the switch to Apple.  Now I'll be helping people to switch away.

The only way I was able to let my daughter use her gift card balance was to temporarily turn off Ask To Buy in my iCloud preferences on my Mac. I still kept her in the family, she is a good kid :-)  (Family Sharing that is.) Her purchases then debited her Apple ID balance.

HTH,

dave

The only way I was able to let my daughter use her gift card balance was to temporarily turn off Ask To Buy in my iCloud preferences on my Mac. I still kept her in the family, she is a good kid :-)  (Family Sharing that is.) Her purchases then debited her Apple ID balance.

This is the crazy part and I'm still not sure why Apple didn't implement this "correctly".

If a family member has a credit on their account, or the app is free, there should be no need to involve the organiser. The only time the organiser should get involved is if money is going to be debited from the organiser's account.

I would suggest that you let Apple know about this shortcoming. I agree with you that you should not have to turn off "Ask to Buy" in order to have the purchase deducted from a gift card balance on the child's account. The only way it is likely to be evaluated by Apple is if people provide their feedback on the issues with the way it currently works: Apple - Feedback

Cheers,

GB

This should be some very simple if/then programming logic.  IF the user has a gift card THEN charge the gift card AND do not ask to buy.  If something Microsoft created worked this poorly, we would never hear the end of it.

Read the post directly above yours. If you think it is so simple, then why don't you let Apple know at the link provided.

GB

Though this thread is from a year ago, thought I'd answer the reason WHY any purchase (free, or otherwise; or gift card balance available) will request approval by the organizer of the family. Simply, because the "require approval to purchase" is on (Though, this we all realize, I know   ); this  a parental control feature, to give control over children's accounts to the parent, so the child can not simply add any app/ song/ book because it is free or they have a balance available.

i love this feature! I have a (almost) 13yr old, a 8yr, 7yr, & 6yr olds, in my home, regardless if i (or a friend or another family member) gives 1 (or each) a gift card to iTunes, they are not allowed to simply purchase whatever they like. For one reason, it is very likely they would waste money on an app they thought looked cool, w/o reviewing it or verifying if additional in app purchases are required- though this is more w/ my younger kids, my oldest has wanted an app that had poor reviews, has not been updated in yrs, or apps that didn't do what she thought it did. But the main reason is due to the games, apps, music, books that they could purchase, that I wouldn't permit them to play, listen too, or read. Which is the main reason I love this feature.

I'm very particular about what I allow into their minds- violent games, heavy magic/ sorcery games, superficial glam/ materialism/ & the like, as well as much of the popular music put out these days (seems like everything deals w/ rejecting authority, drinking & drugs, how hot or sexy another is, breaking up w/ someone because they were boring, giving your number to a 'hot' boy you just met calling him 'baby', adults are stupid & just don't get (how superior kids intelligence are, the issues they deal w/, blah) 'them'. I also control any & all online group games & social sites, and have learned it is far easier to make sure they are safe when they can only play on the computer or TV game system (Xbox, PS3, wii, etc), which are in the LR. My oldest used to have Graal on her iPad, which is an multi-online player game. It is not moderated for language, discussion topics, etc, which often was highly inappropriate for any civil discussion, let alone a child to read.

This is what parental controls are for.

About Restrictions (parental controls) on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Furthermore, when the request to buy notification appears on the organisers device, there is no reference to the content of the app, or its rating. It's purely a financial authorisation. Which, when referred to the title of this thread, is not coming off the gift card balance.

There isn't even an indication of where the funds are coming from. So, for example a child has a gift card balance and makes a request to purchase something appropriate. The organiser might not wish to pay for, but is happy for the amount to come off a gift card. There is nothing on the notification to indicate who will be billed.

However, it really shouldn't be difficult for Apple to streamline ask to buy to cater nicely for us all with the following three options for family members.

• Ask to buy (All purchases)
• Ask to buy (Organisers account)
• Ask to buy (Off)

Plus the notification should show how much is coming from a gift card balance and how much from the organiser's account.