What is Family Sharing?
With Family Sharing, you and up to five other family members can share access to Apple services such as iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+, Apple News+ and Apple Arcade. Your group can also share iTunes, Apple Books and App Store purchases. You can even help locate each other’s missing devices.
Share subscriptions, purchases, iCloud+ and more
One adult in your household – the family organiser – invites your family members. When family members join, they get instant access to the group’s content and subscriptions that are eligible to be shared. Each family member uses their own account, so everyone’s experience stays personalised and private.
Share Apple subscriptions
Whether it’s music, TV and films, news, games or fitness, Apple subscriptions have something for everyone. And with iCloud+, you can share storage and features such as iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email and HomeKit Secure Video support with your family.
When you use Family Sharing, your whole group can share access to the same Apple subscriptions. And with Apple One, you can bundle everything together for one low monthly price. You can also share some other subscriptions that you sign up for in apps from the App Store.
Find out how to add a family member to your subscription
Share purchases from the App Store and more
When you set up purchase sharing, everyone in the family gets access to the apps, music, films, TV programmes and books that family members buy. The content appears automatically on the Purchased page in the App Store, iTunes Store, Apple Books or Apple TV app. Some items can’t be shared.
Everyone’s personal files and preferences remain private
When you share iCloud+, family members can’t see each others’ photos, files or documents. And when you share other subscriptions, such as Apple Music, Apple Fitness+ or Apple TV+, each person will see their own preferences and recommendations – not the whole family’s.
Want to keep purchases private? You can hide individual items.
If your family includes children
With a few simple steps, parents or guardians can create an Apple Account for kids in their family that are under the age of 13*. With their own Apple Account, a child can use their own device – and even make their own purchasing decisions. But with parental control features, a parent or guardian can easily set up an account with age-appropriate content access, Screen Time settings and more.
Create an Apple Account for your child
Approve what children buy or download
If you want to see and approve what children download, set up Ask to Buy. When a child asks to buy apps, films or other content, a notification will be sent to the family organiser, who can approve or decline it directly from their device.
Children can use Apple Cash
With Apple Cash Family, your child or teen can send or receive money in Messages and Wallet and make purchases with Apple Pay. Parents can set up an allowance using recurring payments or send money directly to children. And parents can see and limit children’s spending. Family members that are under 18 can also participate in Apple Card Family.
Limit how much time children spend on their devices
With Screen Time, you can keep an eye on how much time your children are spending on apps, visiting websites and on their devices overall. Review your children’s activity reports and set time limits for specific apps directly from your own device. You can also name another family member as a parent/guardian so that you’re always on the same page when it comes to your kids and how they’re using their devices.
Children can stay connected with an Apple Watch
Set up Apple Watch for a school-aged child who doesn’t have their own iPhone. Children can use their Apple Watch to make phone calls, send messages and share their location with you. And parents can help children avoid distractions during school hours with Schooltime.
Quickly set up a new device for a child
If your device and your child's new device have iOS 16 or later or iPadOS 16 or later, you can use Quick Start to set up a new device for your child automatically with your preferred parental controls.
Share locations and find devices
To help you stay coordinated, people in your family group can share locations. And you can help other family members find their devices if they’re missing.
Keep track of where everybody is
With Family Sharing, you can use the Find My app to automatically share your location with your family. If you need privacy, you can temporarily stop sharing your location.
Find a missing device
Your family members’ devices appear in the Find My app. So it’s easier than ever to track down a missing or stolen iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac.
