Family Sharing when having different accounts for purchasing and iCloud

The situation where you share one iTunes account for purchases between devices but each device has its own unique iCloud account for sharing contacts, calendars, etc. seems to be allowed with Family Sharing as you can specify which iTunes account to use for purchases BUT it doesn't appear to me to be the same situation as before in a subtle way.

In fact, it appears to me that all Apple has done here is separate which Apple ID has "ownership" of a purchase from the Apple ID that actually "purchased" the content. Prior to Family Sharing the Apple ID that purchased the content "owned" the content.

So the Family Sharing solution has a place but it is subtly different from the old setup where you shared an iTunes purchase Apple ID between devices. In fact, this new Family Sharing feature (if I understand it correctly) is NOT what most users that were sharing iTunes IDs really desire because now the "ownership" of the content will be spread over multiple iCloud IDs even though they were "purchased" with the same shared iTunes ID. I think most people that were sharing iTunes purchase IDs want the purchase AND ownership to belong to the same Apple ID and just "share" the purchases with other family members.

The way it seems to work though is now each family member with "own" whatever they purchase even though only one shared Apple ID will pay for the content. This will spread your purchases across all your families Apple IDs going forward!

Under Family Sharing you end up owning content even though you didn't purchase it and the organizer that purchases the content does not own it! Granted, this will only start to become a potential issue once you disconnect from your Family Sharing group but is something to be fully aware of when you go into Family Sharing (if I am correct in how this works).

Read this paragraph carefully from the following link and see if I am interpreting this correctly on what happens when you disable Family Sharing: I have not tested this so could be wrong and it will not be easy to test because of the risk of getting locked out for a year after more than 2 join attempts. Yikes!

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht201079

Under Making Purchases:

"Once paid for, a purchased item is added to the account of the family

member who initiated the purchase. In other words, the content belongs

to them, much as it would if you were buying them a book or a DVD. If

Family Sharing is ever disabled, each member will keep the purchases

they initiated, even though they were paid for by the family organizer."

Ok here goes

In Settings under iCloud, click on Family Sharing

The page will look something like this:

As you can see I am the organiser and the payment method is shown below.

If you click on your name as Organiser you will see the following:

As you can hopefully see (apart from the bits I have blurred) my AppleID as Family Organiser is my @me.com address.

The Family Purchases line is my AppleID for iTunes purchases, if you click on this ID it is changeable, so for example if you have by mistake used your iCloud address but you have another iTunes account, you should change the ID under Family Purchases to your normal iTunes store ID.

Now i could do this when i initially setup the Family Sharing, once i had told it i wanted to use my @me.com address as organiser when i went to next page i could choose the Account to use for Family Purchases, at that point i entered my AppleID and password for iTunes Store purchases.

Hopefully that helps those still struggling with this.

STOP! Be careful how you "undo" the family sharing from one account or another. I tried to do this and got "locked out" of being able to join family sharing for 364 days. I have (as many other people do) a support case opened right now to have this restriction removed.

See this thread here : Locked out of Family Sharing for 364 days

Apparently you are limited to leaving or joining a family group only twice in one year.

Yeah, it would seem a better fit under the iTunes Store section, especially for those of us that have different IDs for iCloud and iTunes but I suspect we are a minority and most users use the same ID for iCloud and iTunes. That is the Apple default setup if you go with the flow during the initial setup of your device.

Here is more information that implies Apple expects the iCloud ID to be the "master" ID and you select an iTunes Store ID to go with it. You can only change the iTunes ID once every 90 days though.

Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201085

What is not clear to me though is which ID is used for purchases made by family members? The family member's iCloud ID or the iTunes ID they selected when they joined the Family Share?

If it is the iTunes ID then I may be ok if each family members can select the SAME iTunes ID when they join the Family Share. That way no matter which family member purchases something everything will still be attached to the same iTunes ID and not be spread over several iCloud IDs. Can someone confirm this will work?

Even so this Family Sharing business apparently is different in some way behind the scenes. See this article about having to re-encode some old iTunes media to make it compatible with Family Sharing use:

http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/19/apple-has-a-war-room-to-monitor-ios-8-problems-as -they-emerge/

jessefromwaikoloa wrote:

Yeah, it would seem a better fit under the iTunes Store section, especially for those of us that have different IDs for iCloud and iTunes but I suspect we are a minority and most users use the same ID for iCloud and iTunes. That is the Apple default setup if you go with the flow during the initial setup of your device.

Here is more information that implies Apple expects the iCloud ID to be the "master" ID and you select an iTunes Store ID to go with it. You can only change the iTunes ID once every 90 days though.

Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201085

…...

Even so this Family Sharing business apparently is different in some way behind the scenes. See this article about having to re-encode some old iTunes media to make it compatible with Family Sharing use:

http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/19/apple-has-a-war-room-to-monitor-ios-8-problems-as -they-emerge/

Thanks for those links.

What is not clear to me though is which ID is used for purchases made by family members? The family member's iCloud ID or the iTunes ID they selected when they joined the Family Share?

If it is the iTunes ID then I may be ok if each family members can select the SAME iTunes ID when they join the Family Share. That way no matter which family member purchases something everything will still be attached to the same iTunes ID and not be spread over several iCloud IDs. Can someone confirm this will work?

My concern too - if purchases are made with my credit card they should get linked to my ID but having said that as children get older they might buy things they'd want linked to their own AppleID in future not to mine.

HI good folks of internet. Id like to ask for some help and share my ideas.

in general, idea for FS is great, execution fails though.

my wife and I share CONTACTS which has been tremendously useful. i also used my main apple Id on my and her iphones for find my iPhone service (didn't want several accounts for all of our devices). As to contacts, I used main ID on my iPhone with all services on, and also as iCloud main id on her iphone but only for contacts AND BACKUP. Of course, I had biggest storage plan to accommodate few device backups. We are a family of 4 kids 2 parents. Sometime in future I see us having about 12 mobile devices (ipad and iphones). You can see my problem now.

It seems I'm punished a bit (I will feedback apple with birth certificates just for fun though).

With new family sharing I can see. Family through find my friends, which is cool. I can't see find my iPhone through it though, which in case of loosing/theft is bothersome - I'll need to log to specific account owning it. That, I can live with.

My main issue is that presently, I don't see how can I backup all devices to one iCloud (that automatic nightly backup was fantastic and saved the day several times already). Contacts sharing not being in family capability to share with of course administrative ability for main account is also stupid but I can set it as additional account of iCloud used only for contacts on her iphone so I can live with that too.

But,

I want the purchases overseen for whole family, not only kids - and that is not even an option!!! Only for underage Kids?

Also, purchases should be approved to go to main account if main account wants that and not to go to family member account.

I wonder if family members can download previous main account's purchases as well as how will the updates work for those...

EDIT: Please, get your objections to apple icloud feedback in order to fix it.

https://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html

It sounds like you hit the "can only change the Apple ID you wish to share once every 90 days".

See the information in this link:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT201085

I think you are frozen for the next 3 months...

jessfromwaikola,

This is the worst thing I have ever heard. The purchasing iCloud account is the own of the content but the organizer is the one paying for it. What is the point of that Apple? Unless they change this to have all family members use the same iTunes/Apple ID for purchases but must get approval from the organizer I will not be using this service.

I currently have my iTunes/Apple ID on all my devices so my family has access to my library so I don't have to worry about organizing all those accounts. The best thing about family share is "find my device" being accessed from one Apple ID, the organizer, so you do not have to remember all the iCloud account login's and passwords.

follow this link: Family purchases and payments

Making purchases

After you set up your family, any time a family member initiates a new purchase it will be billed directly to your account unless that family member has gift or store credit. First, their store credit will be used to pay the partial or total bill. The remainder will bill to the family organizer. As the family organizer, any receipts generated by the transaction will be sent to you. Learn more about how iTunes Store purchases are billed.

Once paid for, a purchased item is added to the account of the family member who initiated the purchase. In other words, the content belongs to them, much as it would if you were buying them a book or a DVD. If Family Sharing is ever disabled, each member will keep the purchases they initiated, even though they were paid for by the family organizer.

This is from another website, it seems to suggest that you can use your iCloud email for the family sharing organiser but assign your iTunes buying id to it (like you probably used ios7 with two different usernames, then add family members, hopefully this does work like this otherwise i am in the same boat as the rest of you wondering why Apple won't merge ids!

1. To start the process, you need to go to Settings > iCloud, then tap Set Up Family Sharing...
2. At the next screen, tap Get Started.
3. To continue with the logged in iTunes account, tap continue, or tap theUse a different ID text at the bottom of the screen to change your account.
4. The next screen confirms the details of family sharing, and the screen after that confirms your payment details. Press Continue both times.
5. You can then choose to share your location with a family member. Tap either Share your location, or Not now, depending on your preferences.
6. Next, tap Add family member.
7. Now, enter the family member's email address, and tap Next. Confirm your iTunes ID and tap Continue. This will send an invitation for your family member to join.

I Stand corrected on the purchases.

think I understand the mechanism more now after reading that article linked above:

Share your purchases

When you join a family, you'll be asked to confirm the Apple ID that you regularly use for making iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases. Purchases from this account will be shared with your family members.

On your iOS device, follow these steps to confirm the Apple ID you will use to share purchases:

1. Go to Settings > iCloud > Family, then tap your name.
2. Under Share Purchases, review your account information.
3. If you haven't confirmed this Apple ID yet, enter your password to confirm it. If you prefer to share purchases from a different account, you can enter a different Apple ID and password.

As I read that it indicates that any member of the family will use their iTunes is for purchasing as normal and that all their pre acquired content will be available to me too.

I am not sure how it will handle new family members who haven't got a itunes store account (I wouldn't want my children having my password for my iTunes on their device, I thought that I could allow them to buy using my account but that I could set them a limit (like MS Family Gold used to work).

we will see when I set up the other devices in this house into ios8.

Having read a lot about this recently, it's starting to make sense.

However, a few things and questions remain.

• As the organiser, will future purchases be attributed to my Purchase ID or my iCloud ID?
• How do the family Apple TVs fit into this?
• I am willing to accept the concept that if I buy something for a family member, it belongs to them. However, in some family situations, there are books/apps/music/movies that I would prefer to be attributed to my ID rather than theirs.
• Can they still add credit to their accounts to spent as they like before future purchases require authorisation? Does this work with iTunes allowance? I can't recall if free purchases require authorisation.
• The 18 age limit for restricting purchases is ridiculous. Surely 21 is a more reasonable age as more and more kids are dependent for longer?

can anyone verify what happens to my iTunes library after setting up family share?

My wife and I currently have our own iCloud ID's and we share a joint ID for iTunes purchases.

1. Can both devices still sync to the same iTunes library?
2. If my wife purchases some music and we both have iTunes match, can I add that music to a playlist of mine without having to download it to my phone?

I have a slightly different problem, here we go:

1. AccountX: Used for all purchases, shared with the family.
2. AccountY: My personal account I use for everything else except purchases. Also my personal email address.
3. AccountX: My wife's iTunes account.

I used AccountX to create the family account. I added my wives account fine. But when I go to add my account it says "You can't add yourself to the family account". I guess it picks up that I use AccountY for everything else and thinks I am already added? Not sure. But I would like to fix the problem.

I am in the exact same situation:

• I have a purchaser account that I have been using for years
• I created an iCloud account to separate my contents from the rest of the family

And here is the problem: I have an Apple Music family subscription. Everyone in the family can share the music, except my own iCloud account! To share music, I have to log in to Apple Music using the purchaser account.

Is it possible to allow the iCloud account to share the music too?

BBecause then any purchases she had made on that account were available to me.