You just finished a book you bought on the iBookstore. You triumphantly hit the home button on your iPad and:
You: What a great book! You really should read it.
Your spouse: Fine, pass me your iPad.
You: Um….
Family Sharing was made precisely for situations like this. As well as:
Kid: Mom, where’s my iPod Touch?
Mom: Have you looked under everything?
Kid: Yes, I’ve looked everywhere.
Mom (tapping her iPhone): Really?
iPod Touch (muffled, from under pile of dirty laundry): PING! PING! PING!
If you’ve been following along, you already know that Family Sharing is an easy way to share content on your iOS devices among several family members (usually at no extra charge!). And you’ve set up Family Sharing and know how to use it to share a Family calendar.
But Family Sharing is capable of much more.
A Shared Family Photo Album
Once you’ve set up your Family, iCloud jumps in and creates a shared album for photos. It’s called Family and is located in the Photos app under the Shared tab of every family member’s Mac or iOS device.
Everyone in the family can contribute photos or videos to this album as well as add comments and “like” specific photos or videos. In addition, every family member can be notified when new contributions (be they photos, videos, likes, or comments) to the album are made. Like the shared Family calendar, there’s no other configuration to do; the Family album is set up for you automatically. It’s up to you to channel your inner Ansel and get those black and white Yosemite shots you’ve been procrastinating about editing in there.
Apple Music
If Apple Music is your thing, a membership will set you back $9.99 a month for an individual membership or $4.99 if you’re a college student. If you have more than one Apple Music user in your house, then you may also have a case of what Marty Stuart calls Too Much Month At The End Of The Money.
With Family Sharing, you pay $14.99 a month for up to six family members. If you’re signing up for Apple Music for the first time, just choose a family membership when you join.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Music.
- Tap Join Apple Music.
Steps 1-3: Navigate to the Music settings - Tap Choose your Plan.
- Tap Family, then tap Join Apple Music.
Steps 4 and 5: Choose the Family Plan and join.
Follow the rest of the directions on the screen and invite your family members to join. When they accept, they’ll find themselves part of your family group in the Music app.
If you, the family organizer, already have a membership, you can convert it to a family membership. Here’s how to do it on your iOS device:
- Tap Music.
- Tap For You, then Tap the person icon or your picture.
- Tap View Apple ID. Sign in if need be.
If you already have an Apple Music account, you can change it to a Family account within the Music app. - Tap Subscriptions. If need be, tap Apple Music Membership to see the details of your current subscription.
- Tap Family (1 Month). Confirm that you do indeed want a family subscription.
- Tap Back.
Steps 4-6: View your subscriptions, change to the Family subscription. - Tap Done.
Step 7: Tap Done to finish.
Sharing purchases
The biggest feature of Family Sharing is the ability to share purchased apps (but not in-app purchases), books, music, movies, and TV shows with all family members at no charge.
You can set up the sharing of your purchases on a Mac or iOS device. Here’s how to do it with iOS:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap iCloud.
- Tap Family.
Steps 1-3: Go to your iCloud settings and tap your family. - Tap your name.
- Turn on Share My Purchases.
Steps 4 and 5: Tap your name and turn on Share My Purchases.
And on a Mac:
- From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
- Click iCloud.
- Click Manage Family.
- Check the box to enable Share my purchases.
Allyson Kazmucha has a nice rundown on how to access all this shared content. (With the recent changes to iTunes accessing family purchases has changed slightly. From the Account menu choose Family Purchases and go from there.)
You can find all this content in the apps for the stores (for example, purchased music is found in the iTunes Store) but the content might be consumed in a different app (for example, you listen to songs purchased and shared by others using the Music app).
Finding each other and your devices
The Find My iPhone app was a godsend to anyone who left their iPhone behind in a restaurant, between the couch cushions, or, yes, under laundry.
Family sharing takes it a step further. Each family member has the option of sharing his or her location–and the ability to allow others to help find missing devices–with the rest of the family. Simply enable location sharing in iCloud settings:
- Tap Settings.
- Tap iCloud.
- Under Advanced, tap Share My Location.
Setting up Share my Location. - Turn on Share My Location.
After turning on Share my Location, if you have more than one device, you can choose which one to use to share your location by tapping From.
You can selectively decide which family members can see your location.
- Tap the name of the family member with whom you want to share your location.
- Scroll to the bottom of the family member’s info and tap Share My Location.
To stop sharing your location, just revisit the bottom of the individual’s screen to turn it off.
You can then use the Find My Friends app to see the location of family members, and they can help locate your missing devices if you share your location with them.
If you decide not to share your location, family members can still help you find your AWOL devices as long as you have Find My iPhone turned on in iCloud settings.
Share and Share Alike
With Family Sharing you can cut costs; share photos, apps, and other content; and keep track of people and things. What’s your best family sharing story? Let me know in the comments below.
