Family Sharing when having different accounts for purchasing and iCloud

I really screwed things up here.

Somehow I was playing around on my wife's phone and in there family sharing settings, I changed the family purchases ID to my apple ID. So now it's her icloud account, her itunes account, but my id for the family purchases. Now, when she tries to go into purchases, it says something about the account being wrong and doesn't show any purchases.

If I try to change the family purchases ID back to her, it says cannot change account for 90 days.

Is there any way to get her ID back for family purchases without waiting 90 days?

Anyone have any ideas about this?

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I really screwed things up here.

Somehow I was playing around on my wife's phone and in there family sharing settings, I changed the family purchases ID to my apple ID. So now it's her icloud account, her itunes account, but my id for the family purchases. Now, when she tries to go into purchases, it says something about the account being wrong and doesn't show any purchases.

If I try to change the family purchases ID back to her, it says cannot change account for 90 days.

Is there any way to get her ID back for family purchases without waiting 90 days?

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I think I finally get what Apple is doing here but it still falls short. The fact that the originator account pays for the purchase but the share account keeps the purchase may work for some, but as one user already pointed out, this will spread purchases across multiple IDs. Bruce's idea sounds a little better, but for me I was hoping that what Family Sharing was really going to offer was a better way for families to manage the purchases of their children. The whole "Ask To Buy" thing was what I was looking for but now as I understand it, that purchase ends up belonging to them and it asks for absolutely everything. I just wanted a way to better manage my kids' purchases without giving them the password to the main iTunes purchase account and to control better what they can see and do.

I really don't understand in today's digital age why companies just don't get the whole parental control thing. They want to treat 13 year olds as adults (because we all know that 13 year olds are soooo responsible), they balk at implementing good restrictions and neuter the ones that seem to get halfway there. A really good implementation would be enhance family share with options and restrictions much like the built in Restrictions options in the iOS but that required me to be right there to enter the parental pin for my child. Now I essentially have to go back to using the main iTunes account method. At least they gave me a way to properly be able to find their location without having to log into their individual iCloud account.

I think I finally get what Apple is doing here but it still falls short. The fact that the originator account pays for the purchase but the share account keeps the purchase may work for some, but as one user already pointed out, this will spread purchases across multiple IDs. Bruce's idea sounds a little better, but for me I was hoping that what Family Sharing was really going to offer was a better way for families to manage the purchases of their children. The whole "Ask To Buy" thing was what I was looking for but now as I understand it, that purchase ends up belonging to them and it asks for absolutely everything. I just wanted a way to better manage my kids' purchases without giving them the password to the main iTunes purchase account and to control better what they can see and do.

The ask to buy option for free content is going to be annoying. There really should be an option to turn this off as there is a perfectly good restrictions mechanism for the parent to set up what kind of content they want the child to have access to.

However, I do agree with the principle about the purchased item belonging to the person in question. A little like giving a gift as Apple went to some pains to explain.

There is a really neat way around purchases that the organiser would like to own. Deny the purchase. Purchase through the organisers account and inform the child requesting that the app is now available through family sharing.

So, by what I'm reading, there is no way to use Family Sharing for my wife and I without one of us being the sole payment source. We can't use Family Sharing and still make purchases with different credits cards? Well, I guess we won't be using this "feature".

OK. Here's what I'm trying to get done. I had a family share account set up for me, my son and my gf but then stopped family sharing because I wanted my gf's purchases for music and apps to be paid from her own card and we weren't having any luck with that option.

I since restarted the family share and have only added my son. Can I and how do I add the third member but have her pay for her own purchases while we can still share the family calendar, pics, etc?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

Great setup summary for a potentially confusing structure for many.

Same boat as many here going into this: have been using individual iCloud accounts plus one master purchase account that has been in use for years and has a ton of purchases on it.

Questions I haven't resolved from reading elsewhere:

1) If I setup family sharing using my iCloud account as the organizer, then associate the old purchase account for purchases going forward - do all of those purchases now become associated to my iCloud account or do they stay with the purchase account?

2) What about new purchases? I understand they are associated with the person purchasing - how does this affect my account as organizer? Are all future purchases associated with my iCloud account or the purchase account? I realize for the others, purchases are associated with their iCloud accounts which I'm good with.

Overall, I think I can deal with the few disadvantages to gain the advantages of this setup (primarily driven as the only way to get the Apple Music family plan)

Thanks.

I can confirm what smokefortyaday said works. Apple Care reps advised me to organize Family Sharing the same way. As long as you have a separate account for purchases, these instructions work well. The "purchase account" continues to be somebody's Apple ID of the various Stores. Regarding your questions:

1. Purchases from the master account will always be associated with the Apple ID used to purchase them. They never migrate. Set up the Family from your "iCloud" Apple ID, then use the "purchase account" Apple ID for billing Family Purchases (Settings -> General -> iCloud -> Family -> [our iCloud Apple ID] -> Family Purchases). Then make sure you log into the iTunes Store using the "purchase account". Your wife can use her own Apple ID to sign in everywhere.

2. All future Family purchases will be billed to the "purchase account" Apple ID's credit card (unless the individual account has a credit balance).

- All past purchases from the "purchase account" are available to you in iTunes, etc (because you are logged in to the Store with that ID) and to your wife under Family Purchases.

- Your wife's purchases will be billed to the family account but belong to her Apple ID. They are available to you under Family Purchases.

Let me know if that helps!

Thanks jd2020.

I'm still not clear which account 'owns' future content purchased by the organizer with the following structure. Will future purchases belong to iCloud1 or iTunes0? I understand that all purchases made on iTunes0 before turning on Family Sharing will remain with iTunes0

Organizer:

iCloud Account: iCloud1

iTunes Account: iTunes0

For the family invitees, I also understand the following to be the correct setup which would result in purchases by family members being associated with their own iCloud/iTunes accounts. Many may prefer this fragmented approach, enabling family members to build up their own ownership in content.

Organizer:

iCloud Account: iCloud1

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Family Invitee:

iCloud Account: iCloud2

iTunes Account: iCloud2

What I would like to confirm, is whether the following structure is also accepted. Would this then result in purchases by Family Invitees being associated with the master iTunes account? Effectively this would mimic what a non-Family Sharing setup has today, while adding the few additional benefits brought forth by Family Sharing - or in my case, only interested in setting up purely for Apple Music family accounts.

Organizer:

iCloud Account: iCloud1

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Family Invitee:

iCloud Account: iCloud2

iTunes Account: iTunes0

Will soon get this all straight so I can make the right decision on proceeding with this - shouldn't be so complicated (or perhaps I'm just making it this way)

Cheers.

The Apple ID that "owns" any content is the one that is signed in not the device where it is purchased, even though it may be billed to another account through Family Sharing. So "iTunes 0" and "iCloud 2" in the first example above.

As I understand it, you don't gain any Family Sharing advantage in the proposed setup. If both people use "iTunes 0" as their Store login, you'd already be billing all content to the same account. Family Sharing lets you keep libraries and purchases separate, but gives you access to the purchases of the other Family members. Since you have only two people, you already have that if you both use "iTunes 0,"

The advantage for is is that my wife's books and music don't appear in my library and vice versa (we have different tastes!). But we can still share the things we both want. In my situation, I have iTunes Match and Apple Music on the "iTunes 0" account, which just I use. Meanwhile, my wife can buy books and music on "iCloud 2" that won't show up in my iCloud Libraries.

I think the only disadvantage to having Apple Music subscription on your joint "iTunes 0" account as you describe is that you'll share the same group of Favorite songs, playlists, last played song, and Apple Music will reflect a combination of both of your tastes in music, rather than just one. Whether that's worth +$5/month is up to you!

Let me know if I missed anything.

I'm not sure what you mean "share music." Apple Music allows access to all of Apple's music catalog, not sharing of personal libraries or purchases.

It should be possible to use Apple Music when logged into your iCloud Apple ID, if the Apple ID is part of your Family group. Where are you logging into Apple Music? Apple Music is tied to the ID you're using in the iTunes Store. There could be a limitation that the "purchaser" account must be logged in on some device. Not sure about that.

Did you forget to invite that account to be part of the Family, by chance? Barring that, I'd contact Apple Support, since it's a product you're paying for.

Thanks jd2020, this helps. Note there's actually 4 in my household (2 kids), though all points still apply. Good point re: using the purchase account for iTunes resulting in shared favorites, playlists etc. in Apple Music.

In the end, I don't think fragmenting ownership is a bad thing - the pros appear to outweigh the cons. Only caveat may be with iTunes Match, as I recall there may be some issues, though I haven't decided whether I'll bother on that anyhow. All of my music appears to be in Apple Music anyhow.

You use the same credit card for family sharing:

read here http://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/family-sharing/

Frequently asked questions about Apple ID

It seems you can not merge Apple ID's or transfer purchases from one ID to a new one.

Any update from those trying inviting the icloud accounts from the main purchase account?

I'm in the same situation as the rest of you.