Family Sharing Verification Code

I believe that this issue is caused by having Apple Pay enabled for the payment method in your account. Prior to iOS 14.3 there was no way to opt out of this; If Apple Pay was available for your card and region, Apple enabled it automatically.

In iOS 14.3 you now have to manually link your card to Apple Pay. If you don't do this then you should avoid the verification issue.

If your card is already linked to Apple Pay then you will need unlink it:

1. Upgrade to iOS 14.3
2. Add some other payment method to your account; PayPal, another card, even a friend or family member's card if you don't have another card
3. Remove your original card
4. Re-add your original card and do not link it to Apple Pay
5. Remove the payment method you added in step 2

Update: changing my wife from "Adult" to "Parent/Guardian" solved the issue immediately. On her first purchase after making the change, the verification was requested one more time. Since then it has worked as expected and has not asked for verification again.

For us, it is the Apple Card.

If I switch to a credit card with both our names it verifies once only.

The issue only came up when I set up the Apple Card.

I just spent an hour with Apple Support and Goldman Sachs on this and here is what I gathered:

1. Apple Card can only belong to one person and that is why it must verify every time (Goldman Sachs).
2. with Shared Purchases enable in Family Sharing, all family members will use same payment method.
3. Adding an Apple Card makes it the default payment method with Apple for that Apple ID and there is no way to change it.
4. This means that now all family members can only make payments through Apple Card and must be verified every time.

TL;DR is that Apple Card and Family Sharing do not go together. It is designed for non family single user accounts.

Totally broken.

Hello JennGallo,

We would like to see how we can help with your Family Sharing accounts verification codes. Please go to the Settings app > Tap your name > Family Sharing > Ask to Buy > Your wifes name. Make sure it has been switched off here.

For more information about Family Sharing visit: Approve what kids buy with Ask to Buy

Cheers!

I changed my wife’s account from an “Adult” to a “parent/guardian” account and it seems to have worked. It asked for one more verification but it seems to have stopped now.

Quick follow up: I just discovered the following article which shows you how to change the default payment method from Apple Card to something else: https://www.imore.com/apple-card-still-saying-its-set-your-default-payment-apple-pay-heres-fix

I can update to say that I’ve switched my family’s payment method from my AppleCard to my personal bank card which is a credit/debit card and since then the issue has not seemed to persist. I don’t know if it’s something strictly with credit cards or if we’re just lucky but hope this helps someone.

I may have a solution to this annoying issue:

From Apple web page:

Which payment method is charged for family members' purchases?

One adult in the family—the family organizer—pays for most purchases that family members make. But if you're a family member and you have your own Apple ID balance, your purchases bill to your personal Apple ID balance. Some purchases, including gifts, can't be billed to Apple ID balance and will be charged to the family organizer's payment method.

So go into the app store, tap the id icon at top right. Tap Add Funds to Apple ID. You will need to get the verification code from the owner of family sharing to get the money. If what apple says is correct, then future purchases will not require verification code because they will be using the money on the member's Apple ID. Until that money runs out. My Ex wife hasn't tried the purchase part yet, but I'm actually expecting this to work.

I agree that it definitely doesn’t have anything to do with AppleCard. I have the problem and I don’t even have the AppleCard. It has been happening to me with my American Express card that I had on file forever.

My experience is that it has something to do with Apple Pay. The AMEX card that I was using was also tied to Apple Pay so I switched the auto payment method to a Visa card (advice that I read on another forum). Anecdotally that seemed to stop the verification issue. However it also changed the default payment method to a card that I didn’t want to be using. So that was a workaround of sorts but it makes it so the payment methods are split which I don’t like either. Granted this is first world problems, but it’s still super frustrating.

For what it is worth I am having the same issue. I am prompted to provide a code to my wife every time she wants to make a purchase. I have an American Express card on file as our payment method, so I can at least prove it isn't limited to the Apple Card credit card. I have also jumped through all of the hoops as far as checking to make sure "ask to buy" is off, removing and re-adding her to the family, etc.

The claims that are popping up that this has something to do with AppleCard are totally invalid, whether they're coming from Apple support, the AppleCard bank, or anybody else. If anybody "official" is giving you that answer then they're making up stuff cause they don't know, and, like most people, they can't bring themselves to say "I don't know."

My wife and I have been fighting this issue for several weeks (maybe months, I've lost track of time). We've only very recently (the last few of days) started using the AppleCard. Before that I was using my Costco Citi credit card for family purchases. Before that I was using a USAA credit card for family purchases. She has had the same "verification" requirement, as described in the original post, with each card that I've kept on file.

I don't have the answer. We've just now tried to change my wife's status to "Parent/Guardian" from "Adult." It asked for a verification again, but we'll see if it happens again next time she buys something (that shouldn't take too long).

In any case, can we please stop this false rumor that is has something to do with AppleCard right here and now?

I have the same issue. I tried going to ask to buy, and it just ask me if I want to setup an account for a child, which I dint want to do. It doesn’t show any options for my wife’s account.

I’m having the same issue. Any update on this?

It looks like I spoke too soon

my payment method has changed back to Apple Pay and I didn’t link it myself. As soon as that happened it started asking for approval codes again 😡