Share with Your Family

Family Sharing is Apple’s sometimes awkward attempt to let multiple people in a family group share digital items and subscriptions the way one would in a household. Apple IDs—specifically, those used with iCloud—are the binding force in a family group.

Family Sharing includes a large grab bag of things:

  • App purchases (see sidebar below)

  • In-app purchases and in-app subscriptions (see sidebar below)

  • Media purchases, including music, movies, and TV shows

  • Pooled storage in iCloud+ (semi-optional; explained in detail later)

  • Location of all your devices that have Find My enabled

  • Your location, defined by the iPhone or Watch acting as a proxy for where you are

  • Add-on subscriptions, such as Apple Music and Apple One, which are ...

Get Take Control of Your Apple ID, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial