How to set up Family Sharing on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac
You can set up a Family Sharing group and invite five other people to join, or you can join someone else's Family Sharing group.
With Family Sharing, you and up to five other family members can share access to Apple services like iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and more — all without sharing an Apple Account.1 You can even help locate each other’s missing devices, share your location, and manage a child's device with Screen Time and parental controls.
Learn more about Family Sharing
Set up a Family Sharing group
One adult in the family — the family organizer — can set up Family Sharing for the group from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac. If purchase sharing is turned on for the organizer and other members, the family organizer pays for each member's purchases and must have a valid payment method on file.2
On your iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app, then tap your name.
Tap Family, then tap Continue.
Follow the onscreen instructions to set up your family and invite your family members.
On your Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Settings. Click your name, then click Family.
Click Set Up.
Follow the onscreen instructions to set up your Family Sharing group and invite family members to join.
Invite people to join your Family Sharing group
If you choose to invite people later or want to add another member to your Family Sharing group, you can send an invitation via Messages or email.
If you have multiple Apple Accounts, you can invite each of your accounts to the Family Sharing group, so you can share purchases from your other Apple Accounts with your family.
On your iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app, then tap Family.
Tap the Add Member button
.
If your child doesn't have an Apple Account, tap Create an Account for a Child. If your child already has an Apple Account, tap Invite People. They can enter their password used for their Apple Account on your device to accept the invitation.
Follow the onscreen instructions to set up parental controls, location sharing, and more.
On your Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
Click Family.
Click Add Member, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Check if your family member accepted the invitation
After you send the invitation, you can check the status.
On your iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app, then tap Family.
To check the status of the invitation, tap the person's name.
If you need to resend the invitation, select Resend Invitation.
On your Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Family.
To check the status of the invitation, click the person's name.
If you need to resend the invitation, select Resend Invitation.
Join a Family Sharing group
You'll get an invitation to join a Family Sharing group by email or in a text message. Then you can respond right from the invitation. If you miss the email or text invitation, use the steps below to respond from your device. You can be a part of only one Family Sharing group at a time.
On your iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app, then tap your name.
Tap Invitations.
On your Mac
Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
Click Family.
To accept an invitation, follow the onscreen instructions. When you join a Family Sharing group, you might be asked to confirm your Apple Account information and to opt in to any features or services that your Family Sharing group has set up.
If you can't accept the invitation
If you can't accept the invitation, check if someone else joined a Family Sharing group with your Apple Account. Remember, you can only join one Family Sharing group at a time, and you can only switch to a different Family Sharing group once per year.
Connect a child's device to your Family Sharing group
If you set up a new iPhone or iPad and chose a child or teen age range3, you can connect that device to a Family Sharing group later. Age-appropriate default settings will still automatically be enabled on the device, allowing the child to immediately use the device. If you want your child to be able to download apps, use shared iCloud storage, have modified parental controls, or do more things that require an Apple Account, you need to connect their device to your Family Sharing group.
Before you can connect a device, make sure that you have Family Sharing set up.
On the child's iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app, then tap Connect to Family.
Follow the onscreen instructions to connect that device to a Family Sharing group.
As part of this process, you need to create an Apple Account for your child.
Learn more about changing a birth date associated with a child's Apple Account
Learn how to move a child to another Family Sharing group
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Accepted forms of payment vary by country or region.
Age varies by country or region.
