Ask to buy notifications not appearing

I have set up family sharing on 2 9th Gen iPads running iOS16 however I (as the organiser) am not receiving the Ask to Buy notifications on my iPhone 12 Pro (also running iOS16). The Ask To Buy prompt appears on the iPads and when clicked it disappears and the app status returns to "Get".


I've been through the troubleshooting guide here but still no joy so any other thoughts would be much appreciated.

iPhone 12 Pro, iOS 16

Posted on Dec 15, 2022 12:47 AM

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Posted on Dec 15, 2022 3:52 AM

In case anyone comes across this thread with the same issue I had, I've just resolved the issue thanks to a random thread I found elsewhere - simply changing the name of my iPhone has resolved the issue (Settings > General > About > Name).


No idea why this would fix this issue but it has

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Question marked as Best reply

Dec 15, 2022 3:52 AM in response to Raicya

In case anyone comes across this thread with the same issue I had, I've just resolved the issue thanks to a random thread I found elsewhere - simply changing the name of my iPhone has resolved the issue (Settings > General > About > Name).


No idea why this would fix this issue but it has

Jan 25, 2023 7:48 AM in response to wiggy001

And if wiggy001’s suggestion above doesn’t work (to rename the parent’s IPhone), on your kid’s device (the one where you want to purchase/install an app), go to Settings, click your kid’s name at the the top (AppleId, iCloud+, etc), then click “Media & Purchases” and select sign out. Now open the Apple App Store, click the user blue user logo on the top right of the main screen (you will notice it’s the generic blue user logo instead of your kid’s picture) and sign back in. Now attempt a purchase and the Ask to Buy should flow through your phone for approval.

Mar 15, 2023 7:43 PM in response to wiggy001

I've been troubleshooting this for months with many wasted, unsatisfying hours. Finally jumped on the Apple Support chat and they were very helpful. Just like wiggy001 who replied back in December - they advised that I change the name of my phone (Settings>General>About>Name) as well as changed the name of my kids' phones and now everything is syncing up again. It may not be enough to change the name just on one device - do it for all of them who have Family Sharing set up. It worked right away but they said it could take up to 24 hours to reset. I recall that I did change my phone's name a few months back, and if I put 2 and 2 together...it's when the Ask to Buy request suddenly stopped working. Hope this helps!


Ask to buy notifications not appearing

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