family sharing international

Apparently not. According to Apple your family stops being a family at the doors of an App Store. 😠

Ugh - same problem. 4 family members in 3 different countries. And we can't share photos!

Family sharing isn't required simply to share photos. Family Sharing was primarily designed to let you control and share purchased apps.

all very well, but my wife is a US citizen, so are my kids (mixed) and I am belgian. She has a US itunes account, i have a BE itunes account but we can't be part of the same family according to apple...

Use Shared Photos Sharing to share photos between the family members. They can be setup so that any assigned user can add photos to the album and/or comments on the existing photos.

iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support

well. that works for photo sharing but not for app sharing, apple music family subscriptions, ...

This is not primarily about photo sharing, it's about family sharing. There is absolutely no reason for Apple to restrict family sharing across different app stores if both app stores have the shared apps. Yet Apple apparently wants you to re-purchase the licenses. I've lived in the U.S. for many years, purchased all my licenses in the U.S. app store and now I'm back in Europe. At least I still have my U.S. credit card/bank account otherwise I would be totally screwed. But family sharing with my family here in Europe: NO WAY, says Apple. 😠

There is absolutely no reason for Apple to restrict family sharing across different app stores if both app stores have the shared apps

Take that up with Apple via Tell Apple what missing features you'd like restored or new features added in Photos via https://www.apple.com/feedback

Lord Tea wrote:

This is not primarily about photo sharing, it's about family sharing. There is absolutely no reason for Apple to restrict family sharing across different app stores if both app stores have the shared apps. Yet Apple apparently wants you to re-purchase the licenses. I've lived in the U.S. for many years, purchased all my licenses in the U.S. app store and now I'm back in Europe. At least I still have my U.S. credit card/bank account otherwise I would be totally screwed. But family sharing with my family here in Europe: NO WAY, says Apple. 😠

It likely has nothing to do with what Apple wants. It is more likely to do with what the bureaucrats in each country want. The license agreements would have to be binding across every country you wish to share. When all the countries of the world decide to enforce license agreements universally, then the option to Family Share across borders may be possible.

You make it sound like sharing is the issue here. It isn't. Because according to Apple's rules one can not transfer purchases from one store to another. And this was a rule that existed long before the inception of family sharing. Why would I suddenly lose the right to use software I have purchased a license for because I have moved to a different country?

Lord Tea wrote:

You make it sound like sharing is the issue here. It isn't. Because according to Apple's rules one can not transfer purchases from one store to another. And this was a rule that existed long before the inception of family sharing. Why would I suddenly lose the right to use software I have purchased a license for because I have moved to a different country?

Because the license agreement for the software you purchased was dependent on the country in which it was licensed.

The issue was sharing a license purchased in one country with users in a different country which likely has different laws regarding such a license.

In your new hypothetical, Apple could implement some method of agreeing to a new license agreement for the new country once you established a credit card in that country. I have no idea if they have that or not. Nor do I know if it could be one single agreement or if you would have to agree to every piece of software. While the App Store has essentially one license agreement, individual developers can have their own.

Hey Hyde,

You can have two iTunes accounts.

I have 2 one for my US Apps and One for my Australian Apps.

They can both live on one device if you are ok signing in both accounts occasionally.

You might consider opening one in the US or having your wife open one in your country.

Why so complicated? Why not allow two or more credit cards per account (each with their own bank account and billing address of course)?

Besides, I doubt that, if you're using two different Apple IDs, both can be synchronized. If Apple allows you to keep the license from a second Apple ID, they might not allow any software updates.....

Tell Apple via http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html what new features you'd like to see added.

Silly response. I'm sure different people have different needs.