iTunes Match with Family Sharing IOS 8

Hello brookefromaptos,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

iTunes Match songs cannot be shared with Family Sharing. Below you can see the information which purchased content can be shared with Family Sharing.

If you turned on Share My Purchases, you can share most content that's also available in iTunes in the Cloud. You can share Music, Movies, and TV shows that you downloaded from the iTunes Store. You can also share Books that you downloaded from the iBooks Store. The availability of each content type depends on your country.

There are a few things that you can't share:

• Songs added to iTunes Match from outside the iTunes Store
• In-App Purchases
• Items that are no longer available on the iTunes Store
• Items that were hidden
• Apps that aren't shareable

If you're on an Apple TV, you can't access shared music.

Take care,

Alex H.

Alex_h1

While I don't like the information, thats not your fault.

But you answered the main question that brought me here re: iTunes Match.

I was hoping that you could share that with family members too.

I'm wondering with the addition of family sharing.... whether there is a better way to share libraries.... my current setup creates separate user profiles on the computer....

Family sharing was a great addition, but the lack of being able to share stuff from iTunes match is a big disappointment. We started using iTunes match when it first came out so we could all share music without having to connect to a computer. At this point it looks like we will be forced to use the same iTunes account so we can all have access to our music, or download the entire music library to the computer and just leave iTunes match until Apple makes sharing between the two possible. Two great products should work together like everything else Apple has working together.

I agree... I paid the 25.00 for the convenience of not having to download everything to my ipad/iphone and being able to access it from the cloud but I refuse to pay 25.00 per person for my family to be able to access music that I already own. I was really looking forward to the family share since it's a pain to have to stop face time and messenger from spamming across all devices using the same account. Looks like if I want to use family share that I will need to look at other cloud players to perform what I use iTunes match for. The quality might not be as good but 25.00 for an app that everyone can use versus the 100.00 to get everyone an iTunes match account is worth the loss of song quality.

Actually there's a solution that allows you to share all your purchases, including iTunes Match, in-app purchases etc. It's based on the fact that you can configure one account for purchases (let's call it the iTunes Account) and one for iCloud, FaceTime, Messages (let's call it the iCloud Account). I've been using this approach for years without any issue. I can share all purchases and iTunes Match among all family members' devices, while keeping separate communications (iCloud, FaceTime, Messages, Calendars etc).

The link below provides details on how to do this. Just bear in mind that it's dated from 2013, so some config locations might not be exactly the same in the current iOS version.

http://getmegeeky.com/2013/04/solve-a-great-icloud-mystery-dealing-with-multiple -apple-ids-across-apple-devices/

I've been doing this since iCloud came out, but that is *not a solution*. You cannot separate iTunes match from your purchase account, which means you can't use Family Sharing at all for purchases.

I am so sick of sharing my Apple ID account (and password) with my other family members. This is only going to get worse when Photos for Mac comes out, because the same trick won't even work. One person will have access to all photos, and nobody else will.

It's likely a rights issue of not being able to share iTunes Match content. If you didn't buy it from Apple, it's probably not legal for Apple to facilitate you sharing that content with others.

Apple could easily decide to charge $25 per family instead of per account for enabling iTunes Match, and leave it up to you how you first get the content onto each phone.

I believe you could get the content on your phone either by switching to one iTunes (original/shared) account on your phone, downloading the iTunes match music, and then switching to the other (personal) iTunes account (with match enabled) and then removing selected music from your phone (if you want to reclaim the space and have it in the cloud only).

Or you could connect to iTunes desktop and transfer the music from there.

Both of these would have the advantage of allowing each family member to maintain their own music library (not sharing all content).

I haven't tried either of these options yet, because I don't want to pay $25 times 6 ($150!) for iTunes Match for the family.

I the meantime, I'm using separate iCloud accounts for each family member, and a shared iTunes account (used for iTunes only), thus a family of 5 results in having 6 apple IDs.

I'd like to add that iTunes Match was the one feature that finally encouraged me to switch the whole family to the Apple ecosystem (5 iPhones (mom, dad, 3 kids), 2 iPads (mom + dad), 1 Macbook Pro (dad)). $25/year was a steal to get all our music library on the cloud on all devices. It's disappointing to see this feature come into conflict with Family Sharing.

I would be happy to pay slightly more (maybe £45 per year) to get itunes match family but i think £25 per person for a child that may only use once a year is a little expensive.

God, what a waste.....I thought family sharing was a great idea. But what is the point if you can't enable itunes match on your kids devices????

Who creates these services? What a bunch of idiots. Maybe it is finally time to switch to Google / Samsung, etc.

Sure wish Mr. Jobs were still around.....

Not that it adds much to this thread but that is just one of the many issues/bugs with family sharing. Another one in my opinion is the inability to set accounts to require authorization before purchase. I understand the kids accounts, however I would love to make that work for both my wife and my mother who could charge $20 bucks in a game or in the case of my mother whatever she clicks on that prompts for the password she will key in. That worked great before when we used my account and they didn't know the password, now that I have created their own accounts with their own passwords (much easier for the aforementioned pain in the butt settings of iCloud accounts for iMessage and FaceTime) however it allows them the ability to just randomly order items where I would still like to have bit of control over that for certain users before my account was charged. I think it would make 100% sense to have the ability to set the require approval before purchase on any family sharing account, just like you can set the ability to approve for any adult account. Hopefully Apple has this in the works for a future release in addition to the iTunes Match/Radio updates for family sharing.

@edelbug - you've got an easy situation for managing the finance part of your iTunes issue. I know it's a pain, but, utilize the allowance feature in iTunes etc.

See the link here: http://www.macworld.com/article/1150432/itunes_allowance.html

Agree with everyone else. Big miss here, Apple. Our family loves music and iTunes Match was an awesome way for us to all have access to the same music in the cloud. Now if I want to take advantage of family sharing and finally get away from sharing my un/pw with my wife and children, I have to give up iTunes Match. This truly does not make sense.

We were sharing a master account (mine) so Apple can't claim that it is a rights issue or that the usage / bandwidth would explode due to all family members being able to use Match.

This needs addressed. Family sharing isn't worth it if we cannot share our music library in the cloud.

Lack of support for iTunes Match in Family Sharing makes Family Sharing a non-starter for me.

Just adding another weigh in here for the Apple PMs... Love the idea of the feature, but we have about 300 CDs I have added to iTunes in addition to the music we buy digitally. We use iTunes match heavily on our devices.

Make it easy for me, please.

For now, I'll keep sharing one iTunes account, and use separate iCloud accounts for other stuff. I just loved the idea of being able to approve purchases for my 9-year old without having to have the iPad in my hands to type in the password. (Not giving that to him!)

Agree that this is a travesty. I signed up for Family Share to share music and apps. Now I have to choose: do I sign into my phone with my account so I can use Family Share for apps, or do I sign into my phone with my wife's account so I can use her iTunes Match? What a bad move by Apple, this completely defeats the purpose.