How can I turn off purchase sharing for everyone in Family Sharing?

tudor53 wrote:

Hello ! Well I've contacted Apple Support but they told me to get in touch with Tech Support and I just gave up, especially since I'm 90% certain what I did worked. Apple Music works just fine, for both me and my family members, I can still get both free and paid apps for myself using my credit card, and I've tried the App Store from my mother's phone to see which account would be used and it was using hers for both paid and free apps. I didn't actually go through with a purchase from her phone, hence the 90%, but any transaction was going through her account and there was no mention of mine or Family Sharing so I think it's ok.

Selecting the "Stop Family Purchase Sharing" option only does that one thing - it stops the sharing of music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps.

It does not change the dynamics of how the billing for a Family Sharing account works. The only way to prevent other Family Sharing members' purchases from being billed to the Organizer's account is to have the family members purchase an iTunes card and apply it to their accounts.

If a Family Sharing member's account has a credit balance on their account, the purchase is first deducted from that credit balance. If the purchase exceeds the available balance, the remaining amount is charged to the Organizer's credit card.

If any Family Sharing member is under the age of 13 (where Ask to Buy is required), or any Family Sharing member that has the Ask to Buy option turned on will have all purchases billed to the Organizer. Even with an iTunes & App Store credit balance, if Ask to Buy is turned on, the purchase will be taken from the Organizer's credit card.

Had you completed the purchase on your Mom's iOS device, you would have been able to verity that the purchase was charged to your credit card. There would not be any mention of the fact that your card would be charged since that is the way that Family Sharing is set up to work.

The only way to prevent purchases from being billed to your account is for each of the Family Sharing members to have an iTunes & App Store credit balance, which is achieved by purchasing and applying an iTunes Gift Card to their Apple account.

See the "About Family Sharing purchases" in this support article: How iTunes Store purchases are billed - Apple Support

Cheers,

GB

It should not be the only way to prevent them from using my payment method.

And yet it is. I am not really going to debate this with you.

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

"If you don't want to pay for purchases of a specific adult family member, you can remove them from your family group or turn off purchase sharing for everyone."

If you remove them or turn off sharing, they get nothing, including Apple Music. Isn't that your goal?

They also have their own accounts with their own payment methods,

They can't have their own accounts and payment methods AND be part of your family. Either or.

From the same article you linked.

Why come here asking for answers and then push back when they aren't what you want to hear?

Best of luck. I am done.

No, they are forcing you to put in a credit card to turn on Family Sharing, since, by definition, a single party (the Organizer) is responsible for paying for purchases made by the family: Set up Family Sharing - Apple Support.

You can also track the location using the Find My Friends app: About Find My Friends - Apple Support

GB

You can only track him via Find My Friends by having an iCloud account, and by signing into iCloud.com, clicking on the Find My Friends app, and then by having him add your Apple ID as a Friend in his Find My Friends app. See this support article for help:

About Find My Friends - Apple Support

Once he does that, the only place you will be able to track him would be via iCloud.com on any computer.

Best,

GB

Who says you need a credit card?

You can use the Find My Friends App at the iCloud.com website from your Windows computer. It may work from your Samsung phone but it may have issues.

To do this, you'll need to create an Apple ID and have your friend share their location with your Apple ID.

When you create an Apple ID, you don't need to add a credit card to it unless you plan to use the iTunes or App Stores.

Go here to create an Apple ID: https://appleid.apple.com/account#!&page=create

Then have your friend follow the steps here from his iPhone to let you track him.

About Find My Friends - Apple Support

Once that is done, you can log in to the iCloud.com website with your Apple ID and use the Find My Friends App there to track him as long as he continues to share his location.

As I said... turning off sharing does not prevent them from using your method of payment. In fact, that will make it worse as they can't access what's already been paid for. They will just charge all their purchases to you.

Make them redeem iTunes Gift Cards to their accounts. It is the only way to prevent them from accessing your method of payment.

hello, did you get a response? I read the same page you referenced above and it led me to believe that you could turn off purchase sharing without removing the adults from family sharing entirely. right now we took the credit card out but now nobody can even download free apps and its very frustrating.

Awesome thanks so much! I was able to find that option on my Mac earlier but I was afraid that turning it off would also somehow separate me from my families Apple Music plan. Im glad to hear confirmation that it worked for you!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have spent HOURS trying to remove my credit card information after it FORCE ME to enter credit card info just to turn on Family Sharing so I can see my son's iPhone in Find My iPhone in case he loses it. That is ridiculous of Apple to force us into putting in a credit card in order to use Find My iPhone for our family.

No. Find My Friends only works with Apple devices, Its an Apple service for their devices only.

You can only track a device from an Apple device or the iCloud website, and you can only track an Apple device.

i.e you could log into iCloud.com on a Samsung phone to track an iPhone. But you cannot track a Samsung phone from an iPhone using Find my Friends.

I'm pretty sure Samsung has their own tracking mechanism: Find My Mobile - Samsung.com