Q: Family Sharing when having different accounts for purchasing and iCloud

Thank you for the reply.

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.

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?

====

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.

Bruce Ciccone,

You are very correct in your thinking and that does make since for future purposes.

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 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.

Any result of the problem? Have faced the same mistake.

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!