Which Apple ID do I use in Settings for access to Family Sharing?

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Which Apple ID do I use in Settings for access to Family Sharing?

I’m the organizer for Family Sharing and we have Apple One subscription - family access to all services. My dear, Luddite spouse has never used any services (except iCloud backup) on his iPhone. He’s up to date on iOS 15.5.

To welcome him to the 2020s, we gave him AirPods and are introducing him to Apple Music. He couldn’t see our family subscription so I followed this on his iPhone: If you can't find your family's shared content - Apple Support

However, I’m unsure what Apple ID to use. He had been setup by me for Media & Purchases a long time ago with my Apple ID. When I tried to set it to his ID, I got an alarming message that changing this would essentially destroy all sharing for the family! Will it? Or can I use his ID for his phone (so I don’t get his recommendations!)? He is setup and shows as a member of our Family.

Thanks!

iPhone SE (Gen 3)

Posted on Jun 15, 2022 10:17 AM

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Answer 1

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Phil0124

Community+ 2024

Level 10

206,159 points

Jun 15, 2022 10:49 AM in response to CountryMama

Each person should always use their own Apple ID. Apple IDs should never be shared for any reason whatsoever.
If you have not added his own Apple ID to family sharing, then he won't be able to share anything. You need to invite his Apple ID to the Family Sharing group. Link-> Set up Family Sharing - Invite Family Members - Apple Support
Yes, if you sign out of your own Apple ID which is part of family sharing, family sharing will stop working, until you sign in again with a different Apple ID that is also part of the Family sharing group.
You should always use the Apple ID of the person the device belongs to and is used by,

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Answer 2

Jun 15, 2022 3:06 PM in response to CountryMama

CountryMama wrote:

So as long as I’m signed in to my phone, when I sign him in to his, it won’t blow up family sharing?

It should not. Worst that can happen is that he has no access to Family sharing if his Apple ID was not inited to your Family Sharing group.

Beyond that, it's not going to cause Family sharing to cease working or never be usable again. It will just not be available to him on his device if his Apple ID has not been invited to Family Sharing.

If he is invited then Family sharing will be available.

Family Sharing works specifically across different Apple IDs. If you are using the same Apple ID, then Family sharing is entirely negated since the Apple ID has access to all its purchased contents and subscriptions already.

the only reason why his phone had my I’d for purchases and some services is because we’ve been on iOS since its first gen and there was no other way.

Yes, it did not use to be possible to share purchases, Still sharing an apple ID was always a bad idea as it shared and shares a bunch of other things too.

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Answer 3

CountryMama Author

Level 1

107 points

Jun 15, 2022 11:57 AM in response to Phil0124

So as long as I’m signed in to my phone, when I sign him in to his, it won’t blow up family sharing?

the only reason why his phone had my I’d for purchases and some services is because we’ve been on iOS since its first gen and there was no other way.

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Answer 4

CountryMama Author

Level 1

107 points

Jun 21, 2022 7:55 AM in response to Phil0124

Thanks. I recently added a personal Amazon.com account since we cam (somewhat) share with family members. In general, my family uses any of my retail accounts. I’m looking forward to the new MacOS and iOS changes around photo as well. It’s a pain to regularly have to move photos to our Family shared folder. I’m grateful for the many additions Apple has made for family sharing especially Apple One.

it is frustrating to have to choose which Apple ID to use in multiple places. Not sure why that’s the case now.

I tried this and it worked. Very happy that

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