Menu
Jun 16, 2015 Actually, in Family Sharing all purchases are billed to the Family Organizer unless the family member initiating the Purchase has Gift Card or Store Credit balance in their accounts. Family purchases and payments. Not sure what happens when there is a Credit card assigned to a family member's account though. Oct 23, 2019 The process for setting up Family Sharing on your Mac is pretty simple, and here are the steps: Open the Apple menu Select System Preferences; Click Family Sharing in the top right-hand corner; Confirm the Apple ID that you want to use; From the menu, select Purchase Sharing and check the Share My Purchases box; Follow the onscreen instructions. How to setup and use Family Sharing on Mac. Need an easy way to share music, movies, TV shows and apps with your family? Using Family Sharing, you can share purchases, subscriptions, storage and more, with up to six.
If you and other family members are all entrenched in the iOS ecosystem, then there are some added benefits. With Family Sharing, you can share your purchases across any devices found in your Apple “family”.
Contents
Related Reading
This makes life easier for many, as you won’t have to purchase multiple apps across multiple users. Plus, users with Family Sharing can share digital purchases such as movies, tv shows, and music.
What is Family Sharing?
As we stated above, Sharing makes it possible for you to share your different purchases with family members. Here’s a quick list of what is shared:
The “catch” with Sharing is that you are limited to being able to share with just five other members. If you have a larger family, you may want to look at setting up another account to act as the primary Sharing account.
Another big benefit comes for parents as there are specific rules when it comes to children. For example, you can set up the “Ask to Buy” feature which will send an alert to the parent whenever a purchase is initiated. From the notification, you can approve or deny the purchase from wherever you are.
How to set up Family Sharing on your Mac
Before being able to set up Sharing, there are a few caveats that you need to be aware of. First, you must have an Apple ID created for any possible devices being added. Then, here are some additional requirements:
If the you have everything else set up and meet the requirements, you can get started. The process for setting up Family Sharing on your Mac is pretty simple, and here are the steps:
![]()
Once you have set up Sharing, you want to begin inviting people to join the Family. Follow these steps:
The members you invite will need to accept the invitation. But once that is done, your purchases are now shared between whoever is in your Family Sharing group.
What about the Apple TV?
While Sharing is awesome and it makes life easier, along with keeping your checking account from being used. When it comes to the Apple TV, being able to watch everyone’s favorite movies and TV shows is amazing.
Unfortunately, you cannot initiate or configure Family Sharing directly from the Apple TV. Instead, you must set everything up on a Mac, iOS, or iPadOS device. But you can still view the content being shared in the Sharing group.
Where is Home Sharing on macOS Catalina?
What are you supposed to do about those videos that you downloaded yourself and added to your Mac? With macOS Catalina, the process for sharing that content has changed a bit, causing some confusion.
In order to set up Songs, Videos, and other media content from the Mac to your Apple TV, follow these steps:
After you have toggled this on, there is another checkbox that you need to enable – Home Sharing. You can toggle Play Count updating and the option to share photos with Apple TV if that fits your needs, but it’s not a necessity.
Conclusion
There’s a reason why Apple’s ecosystem is considered to be the absolute best on the market. With features like Family Sharing, you would be hard-pressed to find a better option on another platform.
Let us know whether you have run into any issues when setting up sharing on your Mac. If you haven’t sound off in the comments and let us know some of your favorite movies in 2019!
Andrew is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US.
He has written for a variety of sites over the years, including iMore, Android Central, Phandroid, and a few others. Now, he spends his days working for an HVAC company, while moonlighting as a freelance writer at night.
Related Posts:
Have you ever purchased an expensive app on your iPhone and wondered if you could share it with your family or a select group of friends? AppleInsider shows you how to see if you can, and how to do it.
Let's say you purchased a game on your iPhone, and you want to download that same app to your kids' Apple devices. You can sign into all of their devices with your own Apple ID, but this presents a number of security and logistical issues.
Apple already provides a way to share apps between family members in Family Sharing. The feature lets you invite anyone in your family, up to a maximum of six people, into a shared account that includes all of your App Store purchases and more, so long as the app supports Family sharing.
Considering that some apps can get pretty expensive, Family Sharing is a very appealing proposition.
To enable Family Sharing, go to Settings, tap on your name, tap Set Up Family Sharing, and tap Get Started.
You can now choose the first feature you'd like to share with your family.
For this video, we'll choose iTunes & App Store Purchases. You can enable the rest of the features later.
Confirm your account and the shared payment method. Don't worry, your family members won't be able to purchase anything without your permission.
Now Tap Invite Family Members. A new message with an invitation will be created, and you can instantly invite multiple people.
After sending the invitation, the recipient simply needs to tap on it, and tap Join Family.
They'll now have the option of sharing their own personal purchases with the rest of the family. Now they can head into the Family Sharing settings, and see the Organizer, and what features are being shared.
They can also navigate to the app store and search an app that other family members have already purchased. When they reach the app's page, it will show that they need to purchase it. Simply back out of the app, and tap on the user profile.
![]()
You'll instantly see other family members under the Family Purchases section. Just tap on a member, and you'll see the list of purchased apps that are shared. Simply tap the download from iCloud button. We've now downloaded and are playing the game that was previously purchased by the family member.
Since the family member we invited decided to share their own personal purchases, the family organizer can now go in and download any app that the new family member purchased in the past.
This process is exactly the same for iTunes and iBooks purchases.
The organizer can now go back to the Family Sharing settings, tap on any family member, and either remove them from the family, or confirm that they are a Parent or Guardian.
This will allow they to approve Ask to Buy requests from children.
Back in the Family Sharing settings, you can share other features like Apple Music, iCloud Storage, and Location.
If you tap on Purchase Sharing, you can disable Share My Purchases. This means that the other family members can still share their own purchases, but they won't have access to yours.
You can also view the shared payment method, or Stop Family Purchase Sharing completely.
You can now add more Family Members, with the option of inviting via iMessage, or inviting in Person, which allows you to invite by family member's name, email address, or Game Center nickname.
Show All Family Sharing Apps Mac Free
Another possibility is to create an account for a child, which will require permission from a parent or guardian to make purchases. You'll simply get a notification when your child asks for permission to buy an app, and you'll have the option to accept or deny the request, straight from your phone.
Mac Sharing Settings
If you're the organizer, you can tap on your own name, and either change the Family Sharing account settings, or stop family sharing completely.
AppleInsider has affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2020
Categories |