wgkrueger

Q: How do I setup Family Sharing with a Shared iTunes account

Sorry about the rant that follows, the question I want to ask is at the end.

 

I've read a number of posts from this forum and I still am a but confused about some of the specifics for Family Sharing. I called the other day and that person seemed to know, from experience and training, how it works. I wasn't ready to go forward until tonight and called back.   It was clear that the the Apple Support rep  I talked to the second time didn't know what Family sharing was and I have to say this is the worst experience I've had from Apple since I've been using their products.

 

My simple question of what Apple ID should be used for the invited family member for purchases was met with a vague "Apple doesn't support sharing iTunes Apple id's" and "it can be any Apple ID I want".

 

She then said she tried to send me the doc on setting up Family Sharing but it had already been sent, which was true. But that doc seemed to leave certain questions unanswered like "After you choose and confirm your Apple ID you can share purchases from that account” but I asked her what "that Account" meant, the organizer ID or the iTunes ID? Sigh. She didn't know so read from script. I was hoping that being put on hold would get someone that knew something about Family Sharing. Eventually. after I kept asking what ID I needed to answer, she hung up, saying she didn't want to argue with me. Sigh...

 

I am running the latest iOS and OS/X and iTunes releases and want to setup Family Sharing for my wife and myself. Does anyone know what ID the invitee need to enter for purchases when accepting the invite? Is it the Organizer ID or the shared iTunes ID we've been using for purchases up to this point?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

Posted on Jul 13, 2015 7:15 PM

Close

Q: How do I setup Family Sharing with a Shared iTunes account

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Jul 14, 2015 2:09 AM in response to wgkrueger
    Level 10 (103,708 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 14, 2015 2:09 AM in response to wgkrueger

    If you are already sharing an Apple ID (not a good idea) then you can't set up family sharing with your wife because effectively she is you.

     

    Ideally each of you should have your own Apple ID (this is why the second rep said ID sharing isn't supported), you can then use your ID to set up family sharing, you can invite your wife by sending an invitation to her ID and when she gets it, she can accept it using her details.

  • by wgkrueger,

    wgkrueger wgkrueger Jul 14, 2015 8:41 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2015 8:41 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    Winston,

     

    Thanks for the reply. As with all things (including the concepts embodied with Family Sharing) it's the details that are not well explained to my satisfaction so when I get to a point where I need to enter an Apple ID I don't know what to enter. In our case (and the case of many, as I have read) my wife and I have separate Apple ID's. Simple so far. But we share the Apple ID (which by the way was created outside the Apple email addresses by restrictions Apple had for initial setup). So

     

    MyAppleId - my iCloud id

    WifeAppleId - Wife's iCloud id

    iTunesAppleId - used as the purchasing id for both my wife and myself, stated very clearly at Set up your Apple ID for iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support

     

    Setting up Family sharing seems simple for the "Organizer" ID which, on the second screen asked what ID is to be used for purchases. (btw, I said "seems" simple as another setup would be to attach a credit card to MyAppleId and use it for purchases and invite the iTunesAppleId to participate in the Family. See? Maybe it's not as simple as the Apple doc's convey).

     

    My question is, when I invite my Wife's Apple ID into the Family, what ID do I use for her ID for iTunes purchases? Is it MyAppId or iTunesAppleId?

     

    This question is not unique to my family but I have yet to see this question answered as the "Definitive Answer".

     

    Thanks again,

     

    Bill

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Jul 14, 2015 9:34 AM in response to wgkrueger
    Level 10 (103,708 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 14, 2015 9:34 AM in response to wgkrueger

    Unless your wife wants to change the ID she uses for the iTunes & App stores to “WifeAppleID” then you can't invite her, since you would be using “iTunesAppleID” as the organiser and she would be using “iTunesAppleID” as the invited party and you can't invite yourself.

     

    If she wishes to use “WifeAppleID” for iTunes instead of “iTunesAppleID”, she needs to sign out of iTunes and back in again with the “WifeAppleID” ID and then you can invite her, when she receives her invitation she needs to enter the details for “WifeAppleID”

  • by wgkrueger,

    wgkrueger wgkrueger Jul 14, 2015 2:31 PM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2015 2:31 PM in response to Winston Churchill

    Winston,

     

    Thanks for your continued replies. What I'm trying to accomplish is to have one account used for the purchases for all family members as it states here: Family purchases and payments - Apple Support. I guess my questions point out that I don't know what the invited person needs to do when they accept the invite, nor how do they setup their iTunes accounts. If, like you say, my wife uses her iCloud account for iTunes, does that not imply that her purchases go against that ID and not the family ID?

     

    I'll keep reading and researching (and bugging Apple).

     

    Thanks again,

     

    Bill

  • by wgkrueger,

    wgkrueger wgkrueger Jul 14, 2015 3:33 PM in response to wgkrueger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2015 3:33 PM in response to wgkrueger

    I've just chatted with an Apple rep and I think I have one more piece of the puzzle.

     

    In my scenario, my wife has a separate iCloud Apple ID signed into iCloud and a different Apple ID signed into iTunes.

     

    According to the rep, for her to be invited she needs both those ID's to be signed into the iCloud ID, or more importantly, she needs to not be signed in to the ID that I will be using for iTunes purchases as that would be "sharing".

     

    (<sigh>... I'm guessing that this is due to Apple having to juggle both the need for me to have an ID assigned for access and for restrictions on that ID for the Owners of the media to feel safe that I'm not misusing the purchase. The sad part is that I'm very willing to pay for my use of the media, in fact the very reason I want Family Sharing is to signup and pay for Apple Music and keep my music choices separate form my wife's choices </sigh>)

     

    It also occurs to me that I'm hung up on what ID is used for iCloud and what ID is used for iTunes and that Apple sees the Apple ID as something simpler and it doesn't matter what it's used for. The only problem with the Apple way of thinking is, if you get it wrong, the ID that you use for purchases could be denied access to the device you want to use for a rather long period of time. So, if I mess this up, I could loose access to the App's, music, books, movies, etc. until that period of time is up. So, it is important to me to get this right.

     

    Bill