Why can my children lock and erase other family member Apple devices from their Apple ID?

Question

Level 1

24 points

Why can my children lock and erase other family member Apple devices from their Apple ID?

I recently setup iCloud Family Sharing for our home of 5 people. My personal and unique Apple ID is the controlling parent ID. Others in the family are my wife and 3 children (1 over 18 and 2 under 18). Today I logged into iCloud from one of my kids Apple ID and noticed that it allows him to see everyone elses device location and also gives him the authority to turn on Lost Mode (which locks the device) and to Erase each device. I then logged out and logged into another childs Apple ID and it was the same thing. They could each see everyone's devices including my personal Mac Book Pro, both the iPads my wife and I use and the family iMac.

Essentially that means my kids each have the ability to erase or turn on lost mode for anyone elses device which is kinda scary. Now, perhaps you are thinking that I somehow messed up and put my kids Apple ID as the Organizer for iCloud family share but I can assure you I did not. When I go into iCloud to see the hierarchy it clearly shows my Apple ID as the Organizer and the others are simply shown as family members and are not authorized to approve purchases. I also do not have my kids Apple ID setup on my personal Macbook Pro or my personal iPad as an account so there's no connection that way.

That said, I also wondered if my kids could really do anything to my personal devices or if it would ask them for my password or lock code before doing anything, so I tried it by logging into my son's iCloud account using his Apple ID. I located my personal iPad and then told it to turn on Lost mode. And sure enough it locked my iPad from my son's iCloud account.

So is this how it's supposed to work or is something wrong with iCloud rights for device management? It seems totally wrong that my other family members have such control over other family member devices.

Thanks

Posted on Jan 18, 2015 5:23 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 9, 2017 9:15 PM in response to gerwgregerg

Annoying that people aren't seeing your point here...

Anyways, I found a solution, log out of find my iPhone. You can always log back in if you loose your device. This will delete your phone for your child's device.

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Answer 2

lleland

Level 1

9 points

Feb 8, 2017 10:04 AM in response to sbrown02

Disappointed that there is no answer for this question!! My 14 year old son, just locked me and my husband out of our iphones using Find iPhone from his school ipad. We are connected via Family sharing and I need to be able to see where he is, so I can't remove him from family sharing. But even though I am not sharing the location of my iphone with him, it doesn't matter, because he is still able to lock me out of my phone.

Is there anyway to stop /block him from having this kind of ridiculous control? Anyone with a hormonal teenager understands how irrational they can be, consequences be ******.

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Answer 3

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Sep 3, 2017 11:08 AM in response to gerwgregerg

I wish Apple would look at this use case and realize that there should be a control that prevents family members from wiping the organizer's phone

Your device cannot be erased. A request can be made, but they need your password to complete it.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 4

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Sep 9, 2017 9:21 PM in response to jenflesher

Annoying that people aren't seeing your point here...

His point is fully understood. Some of the facts are incorrect, but the concern is clear.

The reality is, nobody here can change this. This community does not allow for debating Apple decisions or policies.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ is the ONLY place opinions and grievances can go.

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Answer 5

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Dec 16, 2017 3:35 PM in response to rheostatik

Please read the conversation carefully. Your device can't be erased this way.

They can play the sound and they can enable Lost Mode. Neither of those features will allow anybody to erase your device, unless they also have your password for your Apple ID.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 6

Jun 4, 2017 3:03 PM in response to Oleahmed

Hi - did you ever get anywhere with this issue? I have the exact same problem, can tell believe my temprimental 14 year old can wipe my devices! Want to share my family Apple Music account, it can't take the risk! Thanks.

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Answer 7

Jun 4, 2017 7:12 PM in response to LACAllen

Turning off location sharing still allows them to erase - or just says "online not sharing location" under your device, that's all. What I have now done is switch find my phone off within my devices so they don't appear at all. The only way!

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Answer 8

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Jun 4, 2017 10:43 PM in response to Paulmorgan

A follow up... I was not able to actually test this earlier. I have now.

Without your password, they can't complete the remote erase.

They can request it, but iCloud will ask for the password for the Apple ID that is signed in to iCloud.

Assuming it's yours and your child does not know it, you are safe. They can send the Lost Mode command and the Play Sound command, but not the Erase command.

So, they can annoy you, but not cause you any data loss.

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Answer 9

Jul 26, 2017 12:46 PM in response to LACAllen

No, it's NOT true! If they cannot see your location, they can erease your devices! Can't you realize how big security issue is that!! Your 4 years old child can accidentally erase your MacBook Pro with all your works!!! This is outrageous!!!

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Answer 10

Sep 3, 2017 9:30 AM in response to kurva_szajbabaszott_anyatokat

This is still not resolved as of September 2017. I wish Apple would look at this use case and realize that there should be a control that prevents family members from wiping the organizer's phone or playing a sound.

If my phone is lost, I'll logon to iCloud and find it myself via a laptop. Or I can use the Find my iPhone app on my child's phone with my credentials.

I discovered this because my son played a sound on my iPhone while I was in a meeting. I think most parents know about this flaw.

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Answer 11

Sep 10, 2017 7:30 AM in response to LACAllen

You keep suggesting for him to shut the location sharing off, this doesn't completely resolve the issue. No your child can't delete your phone without a password, but they can still put your phone on lost mode and sound an alarm. Which is super awesome when you're in a meeting or in a situation when your phone needs to be silent. Therefore, if you log out of 'find my iPhone' your child will no longer have access to this.

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Answer 12

Dec 19, 2017 1:54 PM in response to LACAllen

If this is the case it should be made more obvious. perhaps grey out those options when logged in from the child's account.

It's the kind of thing that causes stress and of course I'm not going to just test and see if it will work if I try to erase it.

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Answer 13

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Jun 4, 2017 4:37 PM in response to Paulmorgan

This is controllable. If they can't see you, they can't erase your device.

Share your location with your family - Apple Support

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Answer 14

LACAllen

Level 8

43,410 points

Jun 4, 2017 7:52 PM in response to Paulmorgan

I believed you would be hidden from that as well.

You can certainly tell Apple about this using the following link.

Feedback for Apple goes here >>> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 15

AppleJoe

Community Manager

Jan 20, 2015 7:39 AM in response to sbrown02

Hello sbrown02,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!

I understand that you would like to know why the people in your Family Sharing group have access to your location and that ability to put a device in Lost Mode. Lost Mode is a function available with location sharing and can be toggled off or on. Please reference the attached article for more information.

Family Sharing and location - Apple Support

Use location sharing with Find My iPhone

If you join family sharing and choose to share your location with family members, they can locate and secure a missing device for you.

If you enabled Find My iPhone on your missing device, a family member can:

See the location and status of your device

Play a sound on your missing device to help you find it

Put your device in Lost Mode to help you find it

If you don't share your location with family members, they will be able to see that your devices are online or offline and play a sound to help you locate your missing device. They won't have access to any location information about your devices.

Best regards,

Joe

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