iTunes Match and Apple Music with Family Sharing Help Needed

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Level 1

31 points

iTunes Match and Apple Music with Family Sharing Help Needed

I have reviewed a lot of help pages and have hit a brick wall. For the life of me I can't figure out how to give my wife access to our iTunes Match songs without making her phone use my Apple ID (which controls our Family Sharing plan) to log into the iTunes & App Store. This means that now we have to stare at each others playlists, recent downloads, etc. This is unacceptable to me (and her). Am I doing something wrong or is this the way it works? What a shame that the promise of iTunes Match and Family Sharing can't be realized.

iPhone XS, iOS 12

Posted on May 31, 2019 8:39 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

264,009 points

May 31, 2019 9:54 PM in response to JoeCNM

Your post is quite confusing to me. Here's why:

You heavily reference two different Apple subscription mechanisms:

iTunes Match. This particular feature has absolutely nothing to do with Family Sharing, sharing playlists, etc.
Apple Music. Hopefully you do subscribe to this (it's not clear to me from your post that you do). Apple Music Family Sharing is the way to get what you seem to be looking for .

Assuming you have set up an Apple Music Family Subscription:

Get an Apple Music Family subscription - Apple Support

Here is how you would set up the Family Sharing as I think you would like:

See what friends are listening to in Apple Music - Apple Support

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Answer 2

sberman

Level 10

264,009 points

Jun 1, 2019 1:14 PM in response to JoeCNM

I will add another spin to turingtest2’s excellent response.

I strongly suggest you separately consider the interactions of Apple Music with Family Sharing, versus the interactions of iTunes Match with Family Sharing.

Apple Music interacts with Family Sharing as both turingtest2 and the article you referenced have described. Once you have established an Apple Music Family Subscription, you can share playlists, etc. with family members.

Here is exactly how iTunes Match interacts with Family Sharing: Not at all! Whatever you do with iTunes Match regarding anything - matching, downloading, playlists, etc. is seen only by your Apple ID and not shared.

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Answer 3

JoeCNM Author

Level 1

31 points

Jun 1, 2019 7:05 AM in response to sberman

Sorry for the confusion. I appreciate the attempt at helping me.

iTunes Match (see here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204146) does work with family sharing. On the previous referenced page you will find If you have an Apple Music membership, you get all of the benefits of iTunes Match, plus access to the entire Apple Music catalog. You can also get a Family Membership to share the catalog with your family members. Learn more about joining Apple Music.

I have an Apple Music Family membership but the only way to get a family member to see the music that was matched is by having them log into "iTunes & App Store" under Settings/Apple ID on their phone using the Apple ID that was used to set up iTunes Match. Unfortunately, this means sharing the same playlists, viewing the same recently played music etc. for all of the accounts using the "Store" AppleID. It does not allow a unique experience with Apple Music on any Apple ID sharing the matched music.

Does that help explain my dilemma?

Any help would be appreciated.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,795 points

Jun 1, 2019 7:14 AM in response to JoeCNM

Signing in with your Apple ID gives access to past purchases to stream or download on other computers or devices.

If you have iTunes Match with your Apple ID you can match or upload non-store music and access it as above.

With Apple Music you can add other content from the iTunes Store to your iCloud Music Library and use it the same way.

If you have an Apple Music Family Subscription each Apple ID in the family gets the benefits of Apple Music. The iCloud Music Libraries of each user are independent. You can physically copy content from one library to another. The iCloud Music Library may exclude content known to be purchased with a different Apple ID.

tt2

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Answer 5

JoeCNM Author

Level 1

31 points

Jun 1, 2019 6:28 PM in response to sberman

Yes, turingtest2 is spot on as usual.

I spent some time on the phone with Apple Support and they were baffled as well. I didn't want to create another instance of iTunes with my wife's Apple ID (to do the matching, etc.) but that is what I have to do if I want to keep separate playlists.

Thanks to you and turingtest2 for the help!

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Answer 6

sberman

Level 10

264,009 points

Jun 1, 2019 6:40 PM in response to JoeCNM

Yes, another instance of iTunes sounds like a very logical part of the process to me. It allows you and your wife to keep your own personal data separate, yet share what you would like to share using Family Sharing.

Glad your question is answered. Enjoy your Apple gear!

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iTunes Match and Apple Music with Family Sharing Help Needed

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