My son went to college and we took him off family sharing so he could make his own purchases. He had Procreate on his iPad and now he gets the message saying that it is off family sharing, but he can’t purchase it in the store because it shows open instead of purchase. We tried offloading (because he has tons of art and doesn’t want to delete) but it didn’t work. Thanks in advance.
iPad Pro 12.9-inch, 3rd Gen, Wi-Fi
Attempting offload of the App was (technically) the correct approach - but something has clearly gone wrong.
First, lets try to save/preserve the data that remains...
As for preserving the data, you need a backup. It may not be too late - and may already exist. I assume you son is using his “free” 5GB iCloud and that iCloud backup is already enabled? If not, do so now:
Settings > [Name / AppleID] > iCloud > iCloud Backup - set to ON
Settings > [Name / AppleID] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups > [This iPad] - scroll down the list of Apps, ensuring that App data for everything that needs to be included in the backup (such as Procreate) is included in the backup.
If these settings are already correct, good, you’re in a better place if the fault ultimately requires a system restore. If not already set-up, and the dataset still exists, it may be possible to save it.
If your Son’s Procreate art is valuable to you (or him), if the 5GB “free” allowance is insufficient, use a “paid” iCloud storage tier - if only as a temporary measure. You need to ensure that you always have a backup of anything that is important to you prior to having an unforeseen crisis or problem - this being applicable to both you and your son!
Now, lets try to resolve the App purchase and installation issue...
Does you son have more than one device - such as iPhone? If so, he might instead attempt making the Procreate App purchase from a device that doesn’t have the Procreate App/data; the only caveat is that he must obviously be signed-in to the Apple App Store with his own AppleID. This will hopefully work-around the problem.
Once the App is purchased against his the AppleID account, if should be downloadable to his iPad.
If this the App remain stubbornly out of reach, assuming the data is successfully backed-up, you can move onto more invasive measures to fix the problem. For now, I’ll leave it at that - and worry about other steps only if needed.
I hope this guidance proves to be helpful in resolving the problem. Please let us know how you get on.
Attempting offload of the App was (technically) the correct approach - but something has clearly gone wrong.
First, lets try to save/preserve the data that remains...
As for preserving the data, you need a backup. It may not be too late - and may already exist. I assume you son is using his “free” 5GB iCloud and that iCloud backup is already enabled? If not, do so now:
Settings > [Name / AppleID] > iCloud > iCloud Backup - set to ON
Settings > [Name / AppleID] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups > [This iPad] - scroll down the list of Apps, ensuring that App data for everything that needs to be included in the backup (such as Procreate) is included in the backup.
If these settings are already correct, good, you’re in a better place if the fault ultimately requires a system restore. If not already set-up, and the dataset still exists, it may be possible to save it.
If your Son’s Procreate art is valuable to you (or him), if the 5GB “free” allowance is insufficient, use a “paid” iCloud storage tier - if only as a temporary measure. You need to ensure that you always have a backup of anything that is important to you prior to having an unforeseen crisis or problem - this being applicable to both you and your son!
Now, lets try to resolve the App purchase and installation issue...
Does you son have more than one device - such as iPhone? If so, he might instead attempt making the Procreate App purchase from a device that doesn’t have the Procreate App/data; the only caveat is that he must obviously be signed-in to the Apple App Store with his own AppleID. This will hopefully work-around the problem.
Once the App is purchased against his the AppleID account, if should be downloadable to his iPad.
If this the App remain stubbornly out of reach, assuming the data is successfully backed-up, you can move onto more invasive measures to fix the problem. For now, I’ll leave it at that - and worry about other steps only if needed.
I hope this guidance proves to be helpful in resolving the problem. Please let us know how you get on.
Hello!
Can you try backing up the device and then deleting the app? Afterwards, see if you can purchase it from the App Store again. Also, I am pretty sure that Procreate is a free app. I don't know why you would have to purchase it.
Also, you can actually turn off purchase sharing/Ask to Buy for your children on the Family Sharing Menu. If you add him back to the family, that might also solve the problem.
Here is a link for general Family Sharing/Purchase Sharing information: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201085
Hopefully this helped!
MrAwesomeness
Thanks for the response. Procreate is not a free app and I don’t want to risk loosing the work that he has on the device. It is about 10 gig worth of art that took hundreds of hours to create. We should have backed the data up but I was not thinking about the app not letting him re-purchase it and now there is no option since he cannot access the app. You would think this would be a fairly easy thing to do, but it is very frustrating.
Thanks for the suggestions. None of them worked for us but my son suggested gifting the app to him and that did the trick. They NEED to make this easier. If they can tell us that the app is not available due to family sharing being terminated, they can make an option to purchase the app.
It’s good to hear that the problem is now resolved.
You might wish to offer constructive feedback, to Apple, via the appropriate product feedback page:
Purchasing apps that were in family sharing
