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"This app is no longer shared with you" message in Family Sharing

My daughter installed Minecraft PE through Family Sharing. When she tries to open it, she gets a warning message "This app is no longer shared with you. To use it, you must buy it from the App Store."


When she views it in the app store, it tells her she can download it for free because a family member has already purchased it. So she downloads it, and the cycle continues.


Any idea how to exit this loop?

iPhone 4S, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 18, 2014 4:19 PM

Reply
115 replies

Feb 16, 2015 8:48 AM in response to wroden

My solution was to sign out my son's Apple ID from the iTunes and App Store within Settings. Next I logged in using my ID, went to one failed app, followed the link to download it again, started the download (tapping the cloud icon) in the App Store. Then I returned to he iTunes and App Store within Settings, logged me out, logged him back in. Done. All of his apps are working again.

Mar 7, 2015 1:13 PM in response to Fort Fun

Have the "Family Organizer" verify there payment method.


To do this go into the App Store, tap "Featured" at the bottom and then scroll down until you can't no more. Tap on the Apple ID & choose "View Apple ID". When you get to the account information page tap on "Payment" then verify the payment method security code and tap "Done" at the top righr corner.


Afterwards make sure all applications are updated on the devices used by the non family organizer.


This works!

Apr 24, 2015 8:34 AM in response to ConstanceSauve86

This might be it, still verifying on other devices, but in the App Store of Family Organizer the Security Code "required" line was red. After updating, it shows in black.


Have the "Family Organizer" verify there payment method.


To do this go into the App Store, tap "Featured" at the bottom and then scroll down until you can't no more. Tap on the Apple ID & choose "View Apple ID". When you get to the account information page tap on "Payment" then verify the payment method security code and tap "Done" at the top righr corner.


Afterwards make sure all applications are updated on the devices used by the non family organizer

Jan 7, 2016 2:30 PM in response to teerts

Yes this issue is STILL happening a year later - infuriatingly (IOS 9.2). I got the 'App is no longer shared with you' message after I had restored a backup from my son's stolen phone onto his replacement phone, when I tried to start a Family Shared paid-for app.


After a couple of wasted hours, including 40 minutes talking to Apple Support, I chanced upon a very simple solution, along the same lines as teerts on Page 4 and others since.


All I did was to download a free app from the list of apps installed by another member of the Family. (App Store => Updates => Purchased). In my case I randomly picked the Ebay app, downloaded it, ran it, and then the problem app suddenly started working.


Kinda embarrassing that it started working while I was on the phone to Apple Support, as at that point I didn't realise what I'd done. Apple Support were helpful in that they spent quite a while with me and treated the problem seriously; but less helpful in that they seemed to have no knowledge of discussions like this on their own forums!


No idea if this will work for others, but hope it helps someone.

Feb 6, 2016 10:10 PM in response to PeterM654

59200 Views, 8 Pages, 108 Replies, 16 months later and Apple still hasn't addressed this issue. They should be ashamed of themselves. These posts and the words written in them don't come close to explaining the hours, days and weekends spent by their loyal customers as we've attempted to solve this ourselves. My wife and I have been working on this for hours upon hours today. It is now 1:00 am and we've gotten nowhere using all the recommended fixes (they worked is some cases which is even more frustrating due to lack of inconsistency). I won't list all the solutions because there are too many to list. Just know that today is one of many days we've spent tacking this issue. This is wrong on so many levels. But probably none more than the lack of support by Apple. A close 2nd is the fact that we had zero issues sharing our apps before we initiated Family Share; tell me that's not ironic? My wife is pushing me hard to bag the iPhones and get Androids. For the first time ever, I'm considering it. If this isn't resolved I'm going to lose over 3 years of journal entry's in my journal app and Apple will be losing 2 loyal customer.

Feb 7, 2016 10:39 AM in response to BraddockMIA

Let me elaborate on my situation and apologize for using these posts more as a rant than a solution. When we started family share everything went haywire. Using multiple solutions that we discovered on this forum I was able to resolve all but one application. Unfortunately it's the only application I care about. It's a journaling app called "Collect". I started it when we found out that we were pregnant with our son. 3 years later I've been using it daily. We jot down everything from first words to first foods. It's accompanied with pics too. I've done the "manual" backup that's provided in app. But since I've been having these issues I don't trust that it will recover as described and I just don't want to take a chance due to the importance of the data. The newest version of Collect added iCloud backup so I took the plunge and purchased iCloud and updated the app. As soon as I updated the app the "no longer shared with you" message has been coming up. It says if I want to use it I have to purchase it from iTunes. When I check iTunes it only gives me the "OPEN" option since I've already purchased it. Funny thing is that I'm pretty sure I'm the one that purchased it in the first place so it doesn't make any sense that it would say it's no longer shared with me. It's hard to say though because when we first purchased our phones we shared my wife's account but I created my own later. I believe that is the root of the problem. Sadly my 4S is on its last leg and I'm about to buy a 6S. I fear that I'm about to lose the 3 years of journaling our son's growth phases. I hate the fact that I'm supporting Apple by buying another one of their products when we've received such poor support. Unfortunately like so many others out there we're locked into to them due to apps & services. But if anyone ever asks me if they should switch it iPhone my answer is an easy "No". Although we're locked in at this point everyone has their limitations. If I lose my data on the new phone I will never get an iPhone again.

Aug 9, 2016 11:41 AM in response to wroden

After two days, two support reps, one senior support rep, four phone messages and half a dozen emails I finally got connected to someone at Apple who actually knew how to resolve the problem.


In my case, the issue was that I, as the parent, restored the local encrypted backup of my daughters phone from iTunes when logged in with my own AppleId.


The resolution was to erase all contents and settings, log out of iTunes with my AppleId, log into iTunes with her AppleId, then perform the restore from the local encrypted backup. This allowed the apps to be restored with her AppleId associated to the apps, not mine, which is what Family Sharing was expected.

"This app is no longer shared with you" message in Family Sharing

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