When we purchase from iTunes the balance is not coming off of the gift cards. We have family sharing on but when my kids purchase songs they are credited to our credit card and not the gift card that is already in their account. What's wrong?

It is possible that the gift card balance isn't updating efficiently on your apple device. If this is the case, then it is possible that the gift card balance on your child's device is $0.00 but it is not showing that. Perhaps your child has actually spent the remaining balance on the gift card. That would explain why your credit card is being charged for successive purchases. On my family sharing account, my daughter said that initially the balance on her gift card was updating after each purchase, but the last couple of purchases I approved for her did not reduce the gift card balance on her iOS device. So I have refrained from approving purchases temporarily, until I can go on iTunes or find a more convenient way of checking or refreshing my child's gift card balance. I don't want my credit card charged either; so far it has not. Hopefully this helps understand what could be going on with you. I will post again if I discover that it is in fact an issue of the gift card balance not refreshing itself on our mobile devices (or something to that effect).

I had the same issue, I had purchased gift cards for my wife and my account is the "organizer". After she redeemed a card, we both signed out of our iCloud accounts on our respective iPads and then signed back in and it all appears to be working properly (deducted from gift card and not charging credit card). This is not at all a convenient solution, but at least it fixes the problem. Apple really should allow for a payment selection method in the store.

I still don't see that there is a real solution here.

My son just got out of sharing because I turned on "ask to buy". He said that even though he had an iTunes balance, it would ask to buy. That makes no sense! What I was hoping was - it would automatically use his balance and then ask to buy if he had $0. That would make sense. Or do what others said - allow you to choose.

I don't know if Apple monitors these forums but if not, I am guessing the thing to do is go ask them directly (in the store I guess). What a pain. They try to make their articles simple on how it works but its much more complicated and they don't really want to explain all of that.

All that have replied ....

Finally got an answer/resolution from Apple Support as I used my Apple Care to make the call and get it resolved.

Here is how it works:

I set up the two kids accounts and add to Family Share. Each has iTunes gift card credit on their respective accounts. They can make a purchase (free or paid app or song or book, etc) ... the request for permission will pop up even if a free app or non-rated song. Once I approve, they can proceed and the purchase/download takes place. Since my credit card is the one on file to the account, Apple will pre-authorize any purchase on that card. Then if enough credit is on each kids account the amount will then be taken off the balance. The amount billed to credit card on file will then fall off. Similar to when a hotel or other business will touch the card for a $1 or more to ensure it is able to cover the bill. If the purchase by a kid is more than the gift card then the remainder due will come from the credit card on file.

I noted to Apple Support person was very thorough and helpful in this process that its not made clear anywhere that this is what happens. The generic ads and info on apple.com for Family Share just say that the purchases will be covered by the gift card. A little confusing if you aren't aware of the events going on.

Hopefully, that helps everyone.

Thx.

Thanks DDwx.

The part that sounds broken here (I'm reading between the lines) is that the "ask to buy" means apparently a parent has to approve even if the child has a balance. That makes no sense. Why would we need to approve using our credit card if they have a balance enough to not use the credit card?

I agree srwhitman ... seems they have done a nice thing to enact a "permission to buy" but its all or nothing at this point. Ideal would be to ask for permission if rating on song/app/movie/etc requires as such and/or if balance on gift card is not sufficient. Maybe the next version of iOS 8 will answer this?

Hi

The same fault appears to be happening to our family share. My son and daughter both have credit showing in their iTunes account from redeemed vouchers yet my credit card is charged for their purchases? Why is this happening when all documentation clearly states the card will only be charged if the users account has insufficient funds available?

I have this same problem which *****. I have an $75 credit on my iTunes card of which I bought but every time I buy something it still charges my credit card. ***? When I try to remove my credit card it does not allow me to do so and asks me to input credit card number (again ***?)

This works, and thank you for finding this answer. This seems to mean however that I need to know whether my family member has sufficient balance on their separate account to cover the purchase. Otherwise, I have no idea when I approve whether my credit card is going to be charged.

Does anyone know if there is a way to see the balances of family members linked to their accounts (without knowing their passwords and logging into their accounts individually that is)?

I am not using family plan and cannot use iTunes credit. It charges my card. I just turned off the credit card in my account settings and purchased a song from my iPod a few hours ago. The Apple balance did not go down accordingly, but maybe the charge hasn't cleared yet. We'll see. iTunes only gives me the choice to purchase music as a gift (on my Mac). iTunes credit cant be used for gifts. It seems to be set up so you cant actually redeem the gift cards, at least not easily. I will not be purchasing iTunes gift cards any more and will be telling others not to use them. They should be as easy to use as they are to buy. SCAM

Thanks. Now I know to put the itunes card credit into my son's account, instead of mine. So the transaction is taken off the itunes card and not my credit cards for his purchases. 🙂

Yes They supposed to change that to let sharing credits instead of products purchased only on main account ...

Really, why did Apple have to make this so difficult when the solution is so simple?

Ask to buy should only appear on the organiser's account if that account is going to have money deducted from it.

In other words, if a family member has credit and/or the app being purchased is free, there should be no ask to buy on the organiser's account.

Apple really needs to make store credit available to anyone on the family share plan. If they can share my credit card, then they can share the credit on the account. My child was using my account log in before family share existed. All of her iTunes gift cards were redeemed on my account so she could access it. Once she got older and family share became an option, we set her up with her own account with my account as the organizer. There is a balance on my account (from all of her gift cards through the years) yet she isn't able to use it. This is a huge flaw in the family share system. It is her money from her gifts. When she received these gift cards she was too young for her own account and accessed it through me. Now she is a teenager and should have access to the balance on the account. It is a "shared" account. She has been making purchases today and rather than use the store credit balance it is charging my credit card. It makes no sense why it is ok for us to share the credit card, but not the store credit. And the balance is not allowed to be transferred to her. This is a big flaw Apple. I'm stuck with a balance that I won't really use and my teenager either has to be logged in on my account or have me make purchases for her in order to access her gift card credits. It's ridiculous.

I completely agree with your justified disappointment. Apparently, iTunes gift cards are no longer worth anything if you are a Family Share user. My kids are in elementary school and each has their own iPad. It really made sense to use Family Sharing. But since iTunes gift cards are not accepted as payment for purchases in a Family Share environment, I have $150+ in credits trapped in my account.

This is an exceptionally short-sighted policy, Apple, and not the first time I have been incredibly displeased with your draconian policies. I think the lesson here is for us to start planning our exit from the restrictive Apple ecosystem. I love the software, I like the hardware, but I abhor the oppressive policies. So consider us just another future former customer.

All our current iPhones are coming off contract this month and our iPads are started to get dated so it might be time to fully commit to the exodus. We've long since outgrown our iPods, we already replaced the Apple TVs with Google Chromecasts, our iMacs and MacBooks have a number of years left on them and aren't married to the iTunes store in the same way as mobile devices, and we have zero appetite for that ridiculous Apple Watch.

You lost a fanboy, Apple, and I've been with you for a great number of years and, as a technophile, have swayed many households to make the switch to Apple. Now I'll be helping people to switch away.