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Change Family Organizer?

My family has been using one iTunes account for a very long time. It is setup under my husband's Apple id. Since I am the "technical" one in the family, I would like to be the family organizer for the family sharing that I am going to setup. Is it possible to setup family sharing, using our current iTunes account (my husband's Apple id), and then change it to myself? Or should I set it up using my own iTunes account and share his content?

iMac, OS X Server

Posted on Dec 31, 2014 8:29 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 1, 2015 10:54 AM

Hi Polkmoore,

Happy New Year! This is really your decision, but my suggestion would be to create your own Apple ID and share the content from your husband's Apple ID with you and the members of your family.

The resources below will explain how it all works. Since you know your husband's Apple ID and password, you could set everything up as the initial organizer under his account for him if you wish.


Family Sharing is the new feature introduced in iOS 8 that allows up to six people in your family to share iTunes, iBooks and App Store purchases. Family Sharing requires each member to have their own Apple ID signed in to iCloud and iTunes. iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are required to set up or join a Family Sharing group and are recommended for full functionality.

Apple - iCloud - Family Sharing
http://www.apple.com/icloud/family-sharing/


To get started, one adult in your household — the organizer — invites up to five additional family members and agrees to pay for any iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases they initiate while part of the family group. Once family members join, the features of Family Sharing are set up on everyone’s devices automatically.


Once you’ve set up Family Sharing, all the songs, albums, movies, TV shows, books, and apps ever purchased by family members are immediately available to everyone else in the group. And, of course, so are new purchases. The content appears automatically in the Purchased tab in iTunes, iBooks, or the App Store for each family member. Just select the family member whose collection you’d like to browse, then download or play the content you choose. Other family members can access your collection in the same way. If you want to keep some purchases private, you can choose to hide individual items.


All new iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases initiated by family members will be billed to the organizer’s account. But the organizer can still call the shots. Just turn on Ask to Buy for children in the family. When a child initiates a purchase, an alert is sent to the organizer, who can review the download and approve or decline it right from the organizer’s device. This applies to both purchases and free downloads.

Start or join a family group using Family Sharing - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-is/HT201088

Set up Family Sharing

Use these steps in iOS 8:

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud.
  2. Tap Set Up Family Sharing, then tap Get Started.
  3. Confirm that you want to be the family organizer and that you're signed in with your personal Apple ID.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Use these steps in OS X Yosemite:

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Set Up Family.
  3. Follow the onscreen instructions.

After you set up Family Sharing, you can invite your family members to join.

Invite people to join your family

Use these steps in iOS 8:

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud > Family > Add Family Member.
  2. Enter your family member's name or email address.
  3. Follow the onscreen instructions. After you send the invitation, you can check its status under the person's name in Settings > iCloud > Family.

Use these steps in OS X Yosemite:

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Manage Family.
  3. Click +, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Join a family group

You can accept or decline an invitation to join a family from you iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. If the invitation is sent to your email address, you can also respond right from your email. To accept an invitation in iOS 8, go to Settings > iCloud > Invitations. In OS X Yosemite, choose Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Manage Family. Then follow the onscreen instructions.

Here's what you'll be asked to do when you join:

  • Confirm your Apple ID and password.
  • Choose if you want to share your content and which iTunes Store account you want to share from.
  • Choose if you want to share your location. If you agree, your location can be displayed on family members’ devices in Find My Friends and Messages, and the location of your shared devices will also appear on family members’ devices in Find My iPhone.

Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201085

With Family Sharing, family members get immediate access to each others’ music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps, and can download them to their own devices any time they like.*



Share your purchases

When you join a family, you'll be asked to confirm the Apple ID that you regularly use for making iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases. Purchases from this account will be shared with your family members.

Use these steps to confirm the Apple ID you will use to share purchases.

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 8

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud > Family, then tap your name.
  2. Under Family Purchases, review your account information.
  3. If you need to confirm the Apple ID that you want to share content from, enter your password. If you prefer to share purchases from a different account, you can enter a different Apple ID and password.
  4. Make sure that "Share my purchases" is on.

Mac with OS X Yosemite

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Manage Family.
  3. Click your name and review your account information next to Family Purchases.
  4. Make sure that "Share my purchases" is selected.

Download content from family members

After you join a family, you can view and download items from each family member’s purchase history, and enjoy them on your own devices. Music, movies, TV shows, and books can be downloaded to up to 10 of your devices, five of which can be computers. Apps can be downloaded to any devices that you own or control.

Use these steps to view and download your family member's content.

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 8

  1. Open the store app that you want to download content from, and go to the purchased page:
    • App Store: Tap Updates > Purchased.
    • iTunes Store: Tap More > Purchased.
    • iBooks: Tap Purchased.
  2. Tap the family member's name to see their content. Learn what to do if you don’t see any content or can’t tap your family member.
  3. To download an item, tap the cloud icon next to it.

Mac with OS X Yosemite

  1. Open the iTunes, iBooks, or Mac App Store and go to the Purchased page.
  2. Select a family member's name to view their content.
  3. Download or play the items that you want.

Apple TV with software 7.0 or later

On your Apple TV, select Movies > Purchased > Family Sharing, then select your family member to see their content. You can access shared movies and TV shows on Apple TV, but not music.




Happy New Year!
- Judy
2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 1, 2015 10:54 AM in response to Polkmoore

Hi Polkmoore,

Happy New Year! This is really your decision, but my suggestion would be to create your own Apple ID and share the content from your husband's Apple ID with you and the members of your family.

The resources below will explain how it all works. Since you know your husband's Apple ID and password, you could set everything up as the initial organizer under his account for him if you wish.


Family Sharing is the new feature introduced in iOS 8 that allows up to six people in your family to share iTunes, iBooks and App Store purchases. Family Sharing requires each member to have their own Apple ID signed in to iCloud and iTunes. iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite are required to set up or join a Family Sharing group and are recommended for full functionality.

Apple - iCloud - Family Sharing
http://www.apple.com/icloud/family-sharing/


To get started, one adult in your household — the organizer — invites up to five additional family members and agrees to pay for any iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases they initiate while part of the family group. Once family members join, the features of Family Sharing are set up on everyone’s devices automatically.


Once you’ve set up Family Sharing, all the songs, albums, movies, TV shows, books, and apps ever purchased by family members are immediately available to everyone else in the group. And, of course, so are new purchases. The content appears automatically in the Purchased tab in iTunes, iBooks, or the App Store for each family member. Just select the family member whose collection you’d like to browse, then download or play the content you choose. Other family members can access your collection in the same way. If you want to keep some purchases private, you can choose to hide individual items.


All new iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases initiated by family members will be billed to the organizer’s account. But the organizer can still call the shots. Just turn on Ask to Buy for children in the family. When a child initiates a purchase, an alert is sent to the organizer, who can review the download and approve or decline it right from the organizer’s device. This applies to both purchases and free downloads.

Start or join a family group using Family Sharing - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-is/HT201088

Set up Family Sharing

Use these steps in iOS 8:

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud.
  2. Tap Set Up Family Sharing, then tap Get Started.
  3. Confirm that you want to be the family organizer and that you're signed in with your personal Apple ID.
  4. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Use these steps in OS X Yosemite:

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Set Up Family.
  3. Follow the onscreen instructions.

After you set up Family Sharing, you can invite your family members to join.

Invite people to join your family

Use these steps in iOS 8:

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud > Family > Add Family Member.
  2. Enter your family member's name or email address.
  3. Follow the onscreen instructions. After you send the invitation, you can check its status under the person's name in Settings > iCloud > Family.

Use these steps in OS X Yosemite:

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Manage Family.
  3. Click +, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Join a family group

You can accept or decline an invitation to join a family from you iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. If the invitation is sent to your email address, you can also respond right from your email. To accept an invitation in iOS 8, go to Settings > iCloud > Invitations. In OS X Yosemite, choose Apple menu > System Preferences > iCloud > Manage Family. Then follow the onscreen instructions.

Here's what you'll be asked to do when you join:

  • Confirm your Apple ID and password.
  • Choose if you want to share your content and which iTunes Store account you want to share from.
  • Choose if you want to share your location. If you agree, your location can be displayed on family members’ devices in Find My Friends and Messages, and the location of your shared devices will also appear on family members’ devices in Find My iPhone.

Sharing purchased content with Family Sharing - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201085

With Family Sharing, family members get immediate access to each others’ music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps, and can download them to their own devices any time they like.*



Share your purchases

When you join a family, you'll be asked to confirm the Apple ID that you regularly use for making iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases. Purchases from this account will be shared with your family members.

Use these steps to confirm the Apple ID you will use to share purchases.

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 8

  1. Go to Settings > iCloud > Family, then tap your name.
  2. Under Family Purchases, review your account information.
  3. If you need to confirm the Apple ID that you want to share content from, enter your password. If you prefer to share purchases from a different account, you can enter a different Apple ID and password.
  4. Make sure that "Share my purchases" is on.

Mac with OS X Yosemite

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click iCloud.
  2. Click Manage Family.
  3. Click your name and review your account information next to Family Purchases.
  4. Make sure that "Share my purchases" is selected.

Download content from family members

After you join a family, you can view and download items from each family member’s purchase history, and enjoy them on your own devices. Music, movies, TV shows, and books can be downloaded to up to 10 of your devices, five of which can be computers. Apps can be downloaded to any devices that you own or control.

Use these steps to view and download your family member's content.

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 8

  1. Open the store app that you want to download content from, and go to the purchased page:
    • App Store: Tap Updates > Purchased.
    • iTunes Store: Tap More > Purchased.
    • iBooks: Tap Purchased.
  2. Tap the family member's name to see their content. Learn what to do if you don’t see any content or can’t tap your family member.
  3. To download an item, tap the cloud icon next to it.

Mac with OS X Yosemite

  1. Open the iTunes, iBooks, or Mac App Store and go to the Purchased page.
  2. Select a family member's name to view their content.
  3. Download or play the items that you want.

Apple TV with software 7.0 or later

On your Apple TV, select Movies > Purchased > Family Sharing, then select your family member to see their content. You can access shared movies and TV shows on Apple TV, but not music.




Happy New Year!
- Judy

Change Family Organizer?

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