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The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.
You can continue to find trusted guidance and support on the official Apple Support site.
We want to thank the community members who have contributed their time and expertise to help others with their Apple products.
I have a subscription to Paramount + but when I signed into my iCloud account on my wife’s MacBook, I was charged for an episode of Castle that should have been covered by my account. How can I avoid this in future?
MacBook Air (M3, 2024)
Apple Family Sharing is not available for many third party streaming services; same for Paramount+ through the Paramount+ app. (For some services, Family Sharing requires changing the subscription plan to a higher tier.)
As Mac doesn’t have an Paramount+ app, you would be using web access instead — but only if you subscribed with Paramount+ directly. Paramount+ app subscriptions can be billed through Apple (through your Apple ID), or can be billed through Paramount+ directly, depending on how you signed up.
Apple Family Sharing should be available for Apple TV app in-app Channels. Such would list as “[service X] tv channel” in your subscriptions overview. Access the in-app Channels through the listed activated/added channels in the sidebar of the TV app on Mac. “Connected apps” do not apply to the Mac edition of the TV app; that only applies to iPhone, iPad, Apple TV box, where those separate apps are available.
Finding TV shows through Search may lead to the Store (buy) version instead.
I can’t check if Paramount+ offers their service as in-app channel in the UK at this time.
How can I avoid this in future?
When the app prompts you to pay for content, and you agree to that, then expect the resulting billing. Not sure why you expected a different outcome. In-app channels that are shared wouldn’t prompt you for a payment.
Apple Family Sharing is not available for many third party streaming services; same for Paramount+ through the Paramount+ app. (For some services, Family Sharing requires changing the subscription plan to a higher tier.)
As Mac doesn’t have an Paramount+ app, you would be using web access instead — but only if you subscribed with Paramount+ directly. Paramount+ app subscriptions can be billed through Apple (through your Apple ID), or can be billed through Paramount+ directly, depending on how you signed up.
Apple Family Sharing should be available for Apple TV app in-app Channels. Such would list as “[service X] tv channel” in your subscriptions overview. Access the in-app Channels through the listed activated/added channels in the sidebar of the TV app on Mac. “Connected apps” do not apply to the Mac edition of the TV app; that only applies to iPhone, iPad, Apple TV box, where those separate apps are available.
Finding TV shows through Search may lead to the Store (buy) version instead.
I can’t check if Paramount+ offers their service as in-app channel in the UK at this time.
How can I avoid this in future?
When the app prompts you to pay for content, and you agree to that, then expect the resulting billing. Not sure why you expected a different outcome. In-app channels that are shared wouldn’t prompt you for a payment.
Don’t buy episodes of tv shows.
Stream them through the service they are available from.
Also, Family sharing has nothing to do with non-Apple services like Paramount+.
Castle is available through Hulu, which also isn’t available in family sharing.
Thanks, but I’m in the UK. Most of what I want to watch isn’t available to stream. Hulu isn’t available here. According to Paramount, family sharing is supposed to work. It doesn’t.
It’s an in-app channel, but I’m finding your confrontational replies unhelpful, so I’ve lost interest.
Charged for a show shared on Family Sharing
