05
Dec
Get The Most Out Of Your Purchases
- By Integr8
Today I will be covering a feature that many families have eagerly been awaiting. Apple has recently made available with iCloud, a service called Family Share. Family Share allows up to 6 people to share purchases, calendars, photos, locations and it even allows for others in the shared group to help locate a lost or stolen device. Let’s go ahead and dive into sharing purchases.
Sharing purchases may not be something totally new to a number of you, but Family Share has made the process much simpler. Prior to this service, you would go into the iTunes settings on your mobile device and sign in with your Apple ID and password. Now, with Family Share, there is a Family Organizer who sets up the account and invites up to 5 additional people to join. This eliminates the need for others to memorize yet another Apple ID and password.
Once an invite is accepted, the person who joined the group now has access to download qualifying books, songs, albums, movies, TV shows and apps that have previously been purchased by the existing members in the group. The person accepting the the invite also allows existing purchases to be used by others in the group.
Let’s talk about what it looks like to purchase new content once joining a group. When the Family Organizer first sets up the group, that person will be asked for a credit card to have on file. This card will be used for the entire groups purchases. If there is an iTunes credit on the account, it will be used until it runs out and further purchases will be charged to the credit card. Not to worry though, we will cover what restrictions are available to ensure you’re not racking up a huge bill. One last thing to keep in mind is that not all apps, music, books, movies and TV shows qualify for Family Share. Below is an example of where to look to find out.
As I mentioned earlier, not only is there a credit card attached to the account, but purchases don’t require a password. There is however, a restriction that can be set to help you with that. This restriction requires the Family Organizer’s approval prior to downloading content, even if it’s free. The Family Organizer will get a notification and can either allow or deny the download. There is also a restriction available for all of the members. There might be certain apps and media that you would rather not allow the group to have access for downloading. That’s perfectly fine. Each member has the option to hide individual apps, books, songs, albums, movies and TV shows.
We’ve talked in depth about sharing purchases, but Family Share encompasses more than just that. The ability to easily share photos and videos is built in as well. When a group is made, a Photo Stream album is created giving members one shared folder that they can add photos and videos as well as comment on them.
Many people like the ability to share a calendar, keeping everyone on the same page. Family Share creates a calendar for the group where members can easily view, edit, and create appointments. Those subscribed can be alerted when changes are made as well. One more thing I want to mention prior to moving along is that those in the group can also use the Reminders app to send location or time reminders.
Two other apps that utilize Family Share in iCloud are Find My Friends and Find My iPhone. Members of the group can choose to share their locations with each other. You can also opt out of this feature. What I’m personally excited about is the Find My iPhone feature for the group. For those of you who have had an Apple device go missing, you will appreciate this. What’s better than locating your missing device using Find My iPhone? Getting a little help from others to do so. Say you leave your device at home when you went to work or school and your sibling is at home. They can now help locate it giving you the assurance that it’s truly lost.
I’ve now covered all of the different features you get when using Family Share. Before we wrap up, I do need to inform you of one important requirement for this all to work. Each member in the group needs to have their own Apple ID. In the past, one needed to be at least 13 to create an Apple ID. This is no longer the case. If you have children under 13 that you would like to add to your Family Share group and you need to create an Apple ID for them, click here for instructions to do so.
Check back soon for more on the series of iCloud. As always, if you have questions or need further support, head on over to my contact page to reach out to me.
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