Family Sharing when having different accounts for purchasing and iCloud

JavaGeek, thanks for the clarity that Apple will not let you share the same purchase account as the organizer when someone joins your Family Sharing group. That is what I wanted to do (share purchasing IDs) since it is just my spouse and I. Not sure why Apple is blocking that option but certainly if you had kids you would probably not want to share the same purchase iDs with them.

It seems confusing that Apple would leave your old purchase ID on the kid's phone after joining Family Sharing though. I wonder what would have happened if you didn't log out of your kids iTunes account that was left after your joined Family Sharing and manually set it to the kid's iCloud ID?

It sounds like Family Sharing is a good thing for families that have purchases spread over several Apple IDs as it gives everyone access to everyone else's purchases. And as you said you don't really want to see your kid's gaming apps that you might never use.

But for those that have manually kept separate iCloud and iTunes purchase account separate and shared the same iTunes purchase account across all their devices then Family Sharing will actually start spreading purchases across multiple IDs now instead of keeping everything neatly in one account. That is why I wanted to be able to share the same iTunes account for all family members.

So in my case I will probably stick with my current setup and forgo the shared calendar, photos and location features in order to keep all our purchases under one Apple ID.

jessefromwaikoaloa,

i agree with you that it seems that I will just stay with my setup where all my devices use my iTunes Apple ID for purchases and have an iCloud account setup for find my iPhone which they can not use anyway. My issue was allowing them to ask to purchase items and all I had to do was accept or deny it from my iPhone with out havone to download it first so they have access to it. The rest of the features really do not matter to me as they can share what they want via text messages anyway. Plus my way I can turn on the photo stream so all their photos go to that account so they can delete the ones they don't want on there phones but there accessed via their macs.

Family sharing done right:

iTunes purchases from one Apple ID account

approved or denied by account own via their device

shared photo stream if wanted or picked after taken

find my device with administrative controls by own

share location per device settings

Setup purchase limits per device via account owner/administrator

calendars can can be shared from administrator

Just some ideas on how i see this service working. Great try but no need to create all new iCloud accounts for just these features because they still have to be setup by an administrator if it is to work the way you want it.

Hello people think we have a bit of confusion over what Family Sharing is, and how it is supposed to work, there are a lot of people here who have current workarounds and we all expect it to work differently. What we need to understand is how it actually works. From my setup so far it works as advertised.

SO I am main organiser, I created the Family and added my icloud account as organiser, and then my Purchase account as my longstanding account.

I also shared all my purchased content after first hiding all purchases (in iTunes) that were rubbish or I dont one want others to see.

Then I invited my wife to the family. She accepted and during setup when asked for purchase account used her itunes store account (which happened to be same as her icloud addy.

she then shared her content.

in the App Store or iTunes store I can see all her purchase and she can see mine.

any future purchases she makes will be charged to my iTunes account. We can both download them.

AS an adult it appears that I have no control over her spending so an element of trust is required.

If family member is a child I can set up ask to buy control, I don't know what happens if they didn't have an iTunes account before.

Yes, I can confirm the following as well:

- Set up Family Sharing with your "newer" iCloud account

- Then set up the "old" iTunes Account for sharing what you have bought.

The same can even be done for the spouse (two Apple IDs)

somehow when I setup my wife's device I was able to set her purchasing Apple ID to mine. (Which is what we had setup previously under AppStore/iTunes.) She 's still logged in with her own AppleId for iCloud. When I tried to do this on my kids devices i got a prompt stating my AppleId was already used for another member in the family.

This sure is confusing. I have a similar situation I'm trying to figure out.

I have my own apple ID that's been used as the itunes account on a couple of different devices previously. I purchased Plex on my apple ID well before family sharing existed.

My wife set up a family share using her apple ID and invited me and my kids and we all accepted and show up on her phone in the family share.

After reading through this thread, on her phone, I changed the purchasing account for the family share to my apple ID.

On the my wife's and kids' phones, who are all now logged into itunes with their own apple IDs that are all in the family share, Plex shows up as a $4.99 purchase.

How can they download Plex for free?

Also, my account has a gift card credit balance. If it's the purchasing account under icloud on the organizers device, will future purchases come out of that balance?

Ok this is the problem. Apple wants every family member to have there own iCloud account that is linked to the family account so the purchases run thru the organizers account. But as I have seen with this process is that two different systems are not working together as planned. I have one Apple ID setup for iTunes/App store purchasing and my iCloud account is setup as the sole account for all my devices. One account where all the purchases happen and all other users that are signed into that iTunes/App store account have access to all the content in the library. After setting up Family share and having to have iCloud accounts for every family member just for this service is not worth the headache when those member won't use those iCloud accounts anyway. So the only way I see this happening is to have a serup as followed:

1. Have an Apple ID for your iTunes/App Store accounts

2. Have an iCloud account that is different for the organizier

3. Setup the iTunes/App Store account on all devices

4. Each member of the family setups a new iCloud account per device

5. Setup the organizier account with the iCloud account

6. Send invitations to each family member to join

7. All purchases will be linked to one iTunes/App Store account and all members will have access to that content.

Hope that helps as content in iTunes can not be interchanged from account to account.

FYI - Apple ID's are for shopping and iCloud accounts are for cloud services.

FYI - Apple ID's are for shopping and iCloud accounts are for cloud services.

??..

Except when when you have multiple Apple ID's that were used for purchases And want to centralize everything...including iCloud services...under one ID to eliminate having to continually log in and out to update or simply keep track of things. No kids to worry about or other family members in this case - just me.

I Can't be really sure of what's been explained, as smokefortyaday's .png images won't show up on my iPad Air. But in my case, I have an ancient Apple ID email address that was used for important purchases - and it was bought out by Yahoo years ago, semi phased out, and finally (as of last week) it's at the point where I cannot receive emails, log into it or use it at all; a second "me" ID later assigned by Apple and made the iCloud address; and a gmail address I use for literally everything. 3 ID's, one of which is dead but still locked into expensive Apple purchases; one I don't want but apparently am required to have that's now locked as my iCloud ID/address; and one I use for everything, including App Store purchases, that I can't change to my iCloud ID BECAUSE it's already an ID.

It sounds like Family Share might be a workaround to Apple's idiotic, unexplained refusal to allow even a one-time combining of Apple ID's (or elimination of redundant ones without loss of purchases), but HOW to do it seems to consist of about 20 conflicting explanations with no examples similar to my situation (which oddly is shared by a dozen or so friends who would also like ONE ID - their primary email address.).

FWIW. I have years of experience with networks, website creation and such, yet this is completely baffling. I really feel the pain of those with little experience other than as a "user".

So is there ONE sure-fire way to take my three ID's and be able to neatly wrap them together? One thing in IOS 8 & Yosemite that would really help me (due to medical issues) would be sending/replying to SMS text messages to my phone number using my iPad or iMac - but it seems some people not using Macs initiate those with my gmail address, yet they get to my iPhone. If that feature is tied to iCloud, though, I won't be able to use it...or so it appears, and I've learned the hard way that experimenting is a bad idea (apparent here with some folks' examples of a 1-year lockout of an address from family sharing).

I Don't want to try it, have it NOTwork - and have to wait a year to try again, and I don't want to create a new email address and reinvent the wheel.

The multiple Apple ID issue has been a hassle for me for a long time - but now, with the recent "death" of one important email address and Apple's introduction of several new features happening concurrently I could really use some help!

thanks-

I started my own thread, but, then I saw your response in this thread. You lead me to believe that what I am asking is possible. My wife and I would like to continue to use our original "shared iTunes account" while utilizing Family Sharing with the rest our family. My wife would be the organizer with myself and the children as "invitees". How is it working out for you? This is what I asked in the other thread:

"My wife and I share an iTunes account but have separate iCloud accounts. Can my wife and I continue to share the same iTunes account with same login when we set up Family Sharing amongst ourselves and our children - or - does one of us now have to create our own iTunes account? The children have their own iTunes accounts."

Can anyone else confirm

As of yesterday (9/22/14), the restriction from joining Family Share until next year was apparently "reset" or removed. I was able to successfully setup Family Sharing using smokefortyaday recommendations.

My main account was always the primary account for both purchases and my iCloud account. (Same email address)

Under my iCloud settings I'm setup as the Family Share organizer usIng the same account. (Same email for iCloud and purchases)

My wife was able to join the family group using her own AppleID/iCloud account and set my AppleID/iCloud account as her purchasing account.

In her app/iTunes Store settings she's using my AppleId/iCloud.

When I tried to do the same for my kids (they are all set as being 13 years old since their accounts were created prior to ios8. This was the only way I could get them join the family as a child) I got a promot stating that the purchasing account I entered is already used for another family member (something like that).

I am however still able to set my kids app/iTunes Store account settings to my account. This however makes a message display under itunes stating there's another iTunes purchasing account specified in the iCloud settings. (My kids AppleId since I couldn't specify mine)

i still have to try some different config options for my kids account since I don't like that my 5 year old has to enter her iTunes password every time she wants to download/purchase anything even though she has no CC info under her account and she still has to Ask Permission. (IMO There should be an option to save their password if they don't have any CC info and have to ask permission)

JohnnyG76,

It sounds like the following setup might be possible with Family Sharing although it sounded like some folks were getting the "already used" error when trying to share the same iTunes account across family members.

You can do the following without Family Sharing on 3 separate iDevices and all purchases and ownership end up on the iTunes0 account. Can you do this under Family Sharing or will you get a message that the purchasing account is already used for the 2 invitees when you try to enter iTunes0?

Organizer/iDevice 1:

iCloud Account: iCloud1

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Adult Invitee/iDevice 2:

Cloud Account: iCloud2

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Child Invitee/iDevice 3:

Cloud Account: iCloud3

iTunes Account: iTunes0

If this is allowed then what happens when the adult or child purchase a new app? I understand the iTunes0 account will pay for it but which Apple ID will "own" it for future downloads? I would like the "owner" to be iTunes0 but I think it is going to end up on the iCloud2 and iCloud3 accounts with Family Sharing.

jessefromwaikoloa,

Thanks for your post. You summarized pretty much what I want to do, with some minor tweeks. Only my wife and I want to share the iTunes Account and the children each have their own iTunes account per below:

Organizer/iDevice 1:

iCloud Account: iCloud1

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Adult Invitee/iDevice 2:

Cloud Account: iCloud2

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Child Invitee/iDevice 3:

Cloud Account: iCloud3

iTunes Account: iTunes1

Child Invitee/iDevice 4:

Cloud Account: iCloud3

iTunes Account: iTunes2

I think the reason why it is a good idea that the children at least have their own iTunes account is that they will eventually grow up and want their own account. From what I have read, iTunes purchases go in to/belong to the iTunes account associated with the iCloud account that initiated the purchase. So, if the children have the same iTunes0 account as both parents, anything that anyone in your family buys will go into iTunes0. When they finally grow up and get a new iTunes account, they will have nothing in that account.

This his is what I think from what I have read. However, I could be completely wrong.

What you described here is how I have my family share setup. I don't know if it's fluke that I got it working like that or not, but I'm not even going to attempt changing anything at this time until Apple irons out the bugs.

iTunes Match currently doesn't work with Family Share. I'm hoping they change this in the near future. In the meantime I have all the iOS devices setup with my AppleId for the App/iTunes Store (pretty much how I had everything setup prior to ios8). This way my entire family can still see all my purchases including iTunes Match content. I set restrictions on my kids devices so they can't play/download non-age-appropriate content. (Like R rated movies or music with explicit lyrics)

Bruce Ciccone,

Excellent point about the kids having their own iTunes account.

Now does Family Share really work that way where both adults' purchases end up being "owned" by the same iTunes0 account and each kid's iTunes1 and iTunes2 accounts "own" their purchases. It seems clear that the iTunes0 account will be billed and pay for all purchases. It makes sense but Apple may not have implemented it that way. It is which Apple ID gets ownership and whether Family Sharing allows the same iTunes account on multiple family member accounts.

If you try this configuration let us know what happens.

I am not sure the benefits are great enough for me to start fighting issues with content not being available because it doesn't support Family Sharing or like JohnnyG76's comment about iTunes Match not working under Family Sharing (along with being locked out for a year if you join more than twice) that have me afraid to try it until I am positive I understand how it works.