Why can I see purchase history of family members but not non-shared subscriptions?

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Why can I see purchase history of family members but not non-shared subscriptions?

My son is on my family account and needs approval for purchases. My wife is listed as parent/guardian and can approve purchases. A couple of weeks ago, my wife accidentally approved a request from our son for a weekly subscription to a VPN service that had a free week trial (not realizing it was a subscription that would pick up the following week).

I received notice that my shared card was billed. I can see the purchase on my son’s purchase history. But I had no idea it was a subscription because when I go to family subscription it doesn’t appear there. So I thought he was making these purchases piecemeal. It wasn’t until I went on his phone and accessed subscriptions from THERE that I saw the subscription and was able to cancel it.

I understand why this wouldn’t show under family subscriptions but I was baffled that for a subscription being made to MY card (because it’s listed under Shared Purchases) that I have no control over this subscription after the fact!

Am I missing something here or is this expected behavior?

iPhone 11

Posted on May 15, 2023 10:26 AM

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Answer 1

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judysings

Community Specialist

May 17, 2023 3:34 PM in response to TomK21

Hello TomK21,

Yes, this is how Family Sharing, and more directly, Purchase Sharing works. With Purchase Sharing enabled, the family shares purchases, but only the family organizer is billed: How to share purchases with your family

"When Purchase Sharing is turned on, everyone's purchases bill to the family organizer's payment method.* If there's an issue with the payment method, the family organizer can update their payment method or add a new one."

"If you're the family organizer and you don't want to share a payment method with your family, turn off purchase sharing. When purchase sharing is turned off, you can continue to share subscriptions like Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. When Purchase Sharing is turned off, everyone must use their own payment method."

The exception to this, is to have your child redeem a gift card to their Apple ID. This will allow the purchase to pull from the gift card amount first. If they use that up, then your card will be charged. Some parents give $100 on the child account, but you need to make sure you ask the child if they have remaining balance before approving an app, otherwise it will still charge your account. Or just turn off purchase sharing.

Have the child account request a refund and cancel the subscription, since all purchases are tied to the Apple ID used to make it:

If you want to cancel a subscription from Apple - Apple Support

Request a refund for apps or content that you bought from Apple - Apple Support

Thanks.

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Why can I see purchase history of family members but not non-shared subscriptions?

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