Family Sharing overview for kids and teens
iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac are some of the most powerful tools ever made for learning, exploring, and staying in touch. When you're part of a Family Sharing group, you can enjoy features like subscription sharing, while Screen Time and other parental controls help you have a fun and safe experience while taking advantage of everything that your Apple device has to offer.
When you're part of a Family Sharing group
With Family Sharing, your parent or guardian can use Screen Time and other parental controls to help set up your device, so that it's easier for you to make safe choices about how you use your device, what you buy, and who can see your important personal information.
Adults in your family group who are designated as a parent or guardian can use Screen Time and other parental controls to help ensure you have an age-appropriate experience while using your device. They can view the apps and websites that you use most, and help make choices about how often you use them.
They can also approve requests to purchase, download, or have more time on apps, and they can see your location throughout the day.
If you’re under 131, your family organizer or another parent or guardian must create an Apple Account for you, which is automatically added to the Family Sharing group. If you’re between 13 and 171, you can create an account yourself, or your parent or guardian can help create an account for you.
When something changes about your Family Sharing group, you’ll get a notification. For example, you're notified when a new parent or guardian joins your group or when your parent or guardian allows or doesn’t allow changes to your Share My Location settings.
These notifications appear on your Home Screen or Lock Screen where you see text messages and other important alerts, and you see a red exclamation mark in the Settings app.
View information about your Family Sharing group
It’s easy to see details about your Family Sharing group — including which parental controls are currently set for your account.
Just open the Settings app (or System Settings on Mac), tap Family, then tap your name.
Parents/Guardians: these adults can set parental controls for you and approve your Screen Time and Ask To Buy requests.
Screen Time: these are the parental controls — for example, Downtime, Communication Limits, and Content & Privacy Restrictions — that your parent or guardian has set for your account.
Ask to Buy: if your parent or guardian set up Ask to Buy2, you can make requests to download, purchase, or redownload shared apps from the App Store, or buy TV shows, movies, and books.
Location Sharing: family members listed here can see your location throughout the day, depending on the settings your parent or guardian set your for account.
Ask to buy, talk or text, and more
Sometimes, you might want to do something that your parent or guardian needs to approve, like text a new friend or download an app. When that happens, just ask — your parent or guardian gets your request as an iMessage.
Ask to Buy: To buy or download an eligible purchase (like an app from the App Store or a TV show, movie, or book), you get the option to tap Ask or, if your parent or guardian is nearby, to tap "Approve it in person." Once your parent or guardian approves, the item downloads automatically. To download an app with an age rating greater than the app restriction set by your parent or guardian, you can ask them to make an exception for that app.
Ask to talk or text: If you want to communicate with someone who isn't on your approved contacts list, you can ask your parent or guardian to add that person.
Ask for more time: If you hit an App Limit, you can tap One More Minute or send a request to your parent or guardian for more time.
How parental controls help you use your device safely
With Family Sharing and Screen Time, your parent or guardian can help make sure that you have a safe experience when you're using your Apple device.
Talk and text safely
Your parent or guardian can set limits for who you talk and text with — but parental controls don’t allow them to hear your conversations or read your text messages.
With Communication Limits, your parent or guardian can help make choices about which contacts you can talk or text with, and when you can talk or text with them.
The Communication Safety feature can help when you receive or attempt to send photos or videos that contain nudity. Communication Safety gives you an extra moment to pause and think — and, if you need more help, it gives you resources to get the help that you need.
If you're under 131, Communication Safety is turned on automatically for your account. If you're 13-171, it's turned on automatically when you create a new account or your parent or guardian creates one for you.
View appropriate content
With App & Website Activity, your parent or guardian can help you choose which apps or features to use, make smart choices about when and how long to use them, and view your activity on apps and websites. They can also schedule downtime for you to spend time away from the screen, so that you can focus at school or wind down for bed without distraction.
With Content & Privacy Restrictions, your parent or guardian can help make sure that the content you access is appropriate. They can also prevent changes to important account information.
With Age Range for Apps, your parent or guardian can allow you to share your age range with apps to help provide an age-appropriate experience.
With the Web Content restriction, Safari filters adult content to help make sure that you see only appropriate content when you browse the web. If you're under 131, the Web Content restriction is turned on automatically for your account. If you're 13-171 it's turned on automatically when you create a new account or your parent or guardian creates one for you.
If you can't find an app that you used to have, the age rating might have changed to a rating above the app restriction that your parent or guardian set for your account. The app may still be available in the App Store if you search for it. You can ask your parent or guardian for an exception to download it again.
Share your location securely
Your location is among your most sensitive personal information and should be shared thoughtfully.
When your family organizer sets up location sharing for your Family Sharing group, you can choose whether or not to share your location with the rest of the group.
The first time an app wants or needs to use your location, it has to ask — and you can choose if and when to share that information. When an app is using your location from Location Services, an arrow icon appears in the status bar at the top of your iPhone or in Control Center.
Your parent or guardian can prevent changes to certain privacy settings, including Share My Location settings.
Use intelligence features safely
Your Apple device has intelligence features that help you be more creative and get things done faster — and they are designed to protect your privacy at every step. To help you use them safely, your parent or guardian can choose to allow or not allow these features with Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Siri allows you to speak or type requests in a helpful and more natural way. Your parent or guardian can choose to let you use Siri to search the web when you have a question or make a request.
With Writing Tools, use Apple Intelligence to proofread, rewrite, and summarize text in most places you write, like in Mail or Notes.
Apple Intelligence image creation tools — Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand — help you create original images and custom emojis, just by describing what you want.
If you're 13 or older, your parent or guardian can allow you to access ChatGPT or other Intelligence Extensions from Siri, Writing Tools, and more. You will always be asked for permission before any of your information is shared.
Use Math Notes to solve math problems, use variables, and even graph equations right in the Notes app.
Manage the personal information you share
Apple designs our products and services to protect your privacy and give you control over your personal information. Your parent or guardian can help you manage your privacy settings and make safe choices about what you share.
When you see the Data and Privacy icon
, Apple is asking to use your personal information.When Apple uses your personal information, you have the chance to read more about what data is collected and how it’s used. If you need help, ask your parent or guardian to read and explain the information to you.
At any time, you can manage your data, see how it’s stored, and ask for a copy of that data — just visit your Data & Privacy page.
If you’re under 13, your parent or guardian needs to give permission when you make a request related to your data.
When you’re ready to manage your own device
Depending on your age, you might be able to leave your Family Sharing group — or you might need permission from your family organizer.
If you're under 131, you need to be part of a Family Sharing group.
If you’re between 13-171 and your parent or guardian has set up Screen Time, you need permission from your family organizer to leave the group. If Screen Time isn't turned on, talk to your parent or guardian about whether it's best for you to stay in the Family Sharing group or not.
When you turn 18, you can decide to leave your Family Sharing group or manage your own Screen Time settings.
In South Korea, you might be asked to verify your age after an Ask to Buy purchase is approved by your family organizer. Learn more about age verification in South Korea.