How do I add credit to a Family Share kid's account?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How do I add credit to a Family Share kid's account?

Situation: Family Share is setup with an Organizer account, two adult accounts and two kids accounts. The Organizer account has a credit card and $28 App Store / iTunes credit. On my desk there is another $30 of gift cards. One kid has an iPad, the other an iPhone, both locked with Screen Time.

Problem: Anything purchased by the kids on their devices goes on the credit card and does not use the credit available on the Organizer account.

Questions:

Can the accounts be setup to use the Organizer's App Store credit when the kids make purchases?
Alternatively, how do I redeem a gift card to the kid's accounts for use on their iPad or iPhone?

Cheers.

iPad 2, iOS 9

Posted on Jul 13, 2021 6:44 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

K.A Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 13, 2021 4:19 PM in response to K.A

After much filtering, searching, gnashing and reading of other articles I found the answer to both questions:

No. Credit is applied to each Family account separately. The credit card is shared across all Family Share accounts.
For those on MacOS (and this was Mojave):
1. Open iTunes.
2. Under the Account menu sign out of the Family Organizer and sign in as the kid account.
3. Under the Account menu select Redeem and add the credit to the kid's account.
4. Once completed sign out and back in again as the Family Organizer.

@Apple - Could you please make this a little easier and obvious for parents?

Reply

Answer 2

Niel

Community+ 2026

Level 10

745,569 points

Jul 13, 2021 6:53 AM in response to K.A

1. No.

2. The same way you redeemed it into yours, except that it needs to be done when logged into their accounts.

(201582)

Reply

How do I add credit to a Family Share kid's account?

Similar questions