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What happens to a family plan members data when they leave the iCloud shared family plan?

Apple has a pretty good article on Leaving Family Sharing: Leave Family Sharing - Apple Support.


Unfortunately it doesn't address what happens to the departing persons data.


Say I'm in a family sharing plan and I have a 200GB iCloud Photo Library. I leave the plan. What happens to my data? Do I get a chance to buy storage or does it vanish?

Posted on Oct 21, 2017 6:33 PM

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Posted on Oct 21, 2017 7:48 PM

I didn't ask my question very well -- I'll set it up as a Bob and Alice example.


Bob and Alice are on a 2TB family plan that Bob owns.

Alice has a 1TB iCloud Photo Library.

Alice leaves Bob.

Bob removes Alice from his family plan. Alice now has 10GB of storage (default plan).


Obviously Alice's 1TB iCloud Photo Library won't fit in the default 10GB storage. Does Alice get a chance to pay for storage for her Photo Library? (If she is given a chance to pay and doesn't what happens to her date?)

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Oct 21, 2017 7:48 PM in response to Stuart423

I didn't ask my question very well -- I'll set it up as a Bob and Alice example.


Bob and Alice are on a 2TB family plan that Bob owns.

Alice has a 1TB iCloud Photo Library.

Alice leaves Bob.

Bob removes Alice from his family plan. Alice now has 10GB of storage (default plan).


Obviously Alice's 1TB iCloud Photo Library won't fit in the default 10GB storage. Does Alice get a chance to pay for storage for her Photo Library? (If she is given a chance to pay and doesn't what happens to her date?)

Oct 21, 2017 9:23 PM in response to jfaughnan

iCloud keeps all of the information associated with your Apple/iCloud ID for 30 days whenever you have a payment issue or change.


When you joined Family Sharing, your Photo Library did not move or get re-associated with the Apple/iCloud ID that "owns" that data. It is tied to your ID even if you went with the Family Sharing plan. All that does is move the responsibility for paying for the storage from you to the Family Sharing organizer.


All you need to do is leave the Family Sharing plan, and then upgrade your iCloud Storage. Anything that was stored under your Apple/iCloud ID will remain in iCloud for 30 days, so if there is a gap between when you leave (or were removed) from Family Sharing and when you upgrade your iCloud Storage, as long as it doesn't exceed 30 days, you should be good to go.


Cheers,


GB

Oct 21, 2017 6:59 PM in response to jfaughnan

When you leave Family Sharing, your Apple ID is removed from the family group and you won't have access to any services shared by your family. This might include an Apple Music family membership or a shared iCloud storage plan. You stop sharing locations with your family members and your devices are removed from the family Find My iPhone list. If your family shares iTunes, iBooks, and App Store purchases, you immediately stop sharing your purchases and lose access to the purchases made by your other family members.

Any content that your family shared with you isn't automatically removed from your device. You can purchase it again or remove it to free up space on your device. If you downloaded an app from a family member’s purchase history and made In-App Purchases, you'll need to purchase the app yourself to access your In-App Purchases.

Any DRM-protected music, movies, TV shows, books, or apps that you previously downloaded from other family member's collections are no longer usable, and other family members can't use content downloaded from your collection.

You'll keep any purchases you initiated while part of the family group. However, if the organizer was paying for ongoing subscriptions, you need to start paying for them yourself using a valid payment method on your account. Learn how to add a credit or debit card to your iTunes Store account.

If you share a photo album, calendar, or reminders with family members, you won't share them anymore. If you want to keep using Family Sharing but not share certain features with your family, you can unsubscribe from them instead in the Photos, Calendars, or Reminders apps on your device or on iCloud.com.

You asked: "...What happens to my data? Do I get a chance to buy storage or does it vanish?..." It doesn't vanish, you just won't have access to it any more. However, you won't lose data you brought with you to the plan - if you are sharing your album so they can see it, the album is still yours to keep. On the other hand, if you were viewing their album, it will 'vanish'.

Oct 21, 2017 7:54 PM in response to jfaughnan

That is a darn good question, and I cannot find anything that addresses it clearly. It would see that since they are both with different iCloud IDs but are in this shared plan, if one leaves, it would seem the data would be in limbo, since Alice doesn't have sufficient storage for her content. I wonder if she gets a warning if she attempts to leave the shared storage that tells her photos will be deleted. Does she attempt to purchase additional storage under her iCloud ID, and would that be allowed since she is a family plan member?


I believe you may be better off addressing these questions to Apple, since they don't seem to have that currently addressed in a support document.

What happens to a family plan members data when they leave the iCloud shared family plan?

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