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Family sharing has taken over payment methods on my wifes iphone

We're a familiy of three. We set up Family Sharing in ICloud many years ago, to share some game apps between the three of us (two adults , one child).

It's been a while since I found out that my credit card is paying for my wife's Icloud storage subscription (and mine).

Now, my wife wanted to purchase an app on App Store, but she was shown MY credit card as a payment method, and was completely unable to delete it or add her own credit card.

I have tried to take her out of the Family group, and effectively removed the Familiy group - but App Store insists on only giving her MY (unconfirmed) credit card as a payment method.

How can we fix these issues?

iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 12:30 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 16, 2023 9:50 AM

There was no options anywhere to turn off Purchase Sharing.

We tried everything possible to us, on our iphone 13s (with newest IOS) but the only way we found was to stop Familiy Sharing all together.

That was not easy either - because during the process we met several "server errors" and we were led into a process to log us out of ICloud, just stopping short of removing all cloud-stored photos from the device.

It was really a labyrinth - and nothing that Apple should be very proud of. Normally, when your iphone works, everything is smooth, but when it doesn't, there is zero transparency to what is going on and how to solve it.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 16, 2023 9:50 AM in response to Sheree_P

There was no options anywhere to turn off Purchase Sharing.

We tried everything possible to us, on our iphone 13s (with newest IOS) but the only way we found was to stop Familiy Sharing all together.

That was not easy either - because during the process we met several "server errors" and we were led into a process to log us out of ICloud, just stopping short of removing all cloud-stored photos from the device.

It was really a labyrinth - and nothing that Apple should be very proud of. Normally, when your iphone works, everything is smooth, but when it doesn't, there is zero transparency to what is going on and how to solve it.

Mar 10, 2023 2:39 PM in response to NilsAndreas


Hey NilsAndreas,


Welcome to Apple Support Communities.


With Family Sharing, every purchase made by family members are billed to the organizer's payment method. If you do not want to share your payment method you can turn off Purchase Sharing. With Purchase Sharing off, each member would need to use their own payment method.


All members will still be able to share subscriptions. This article provides additional information about how Purchase Sharing works: How to share purchases with your family.


If you would prefer to keep Purchase Sharing on, your wife can add money to her Apple ID balance. Her Apple ID balance will be used for her purchases. This only works if there's an Apple ID balance. If she needs assistance with adding money to her Apple ID balance, the steps below shows how on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

1. Open the App Store app.
2. Tap your photo, initials, or the sign-in button  at the top of the screen.
3. Tap "Add Money to Account."
4. To add funds instantly, tap the amount that you want to add. Or to automatically add to your balance in the future, tap Set Up Auto Reload. What's auto reload?
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the purchase. Some payment methods might prompt you to verify your purchase with a text message or other method.

If you need steps for a Mac or PC, scroll to the section labeled "Add funds to your Apple Account Balance on Mac or PC here: Add money to your Apple Account balance


Hope this helps. Take care.

Family sharing has taken over payment methods on my wifes iphone

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