iPhone Family Sharing is a built-in way to share purchases, subscriptions, and device features with up to five other people in your household

Family Sharing is Apple's system for letting one adult (the organizer) manage purchases, subscriptions, and some settings across multiple iPhones, iPads, and Macs in the same household. When you set it up, everyone in the family can access apps, music, books, and movies that any one person bought — without buying them again. You can also share an iCloud storage plan, a family calendar, and location information.

The organizer is the person who sets up the group and controls spending limits for children. Other adults in the group have equal access to shared purchases but cannot change the family settings. Children have restricted accounts where the organizer can approve or deny app downloads and in-app purchases.

You do not need to share a credit card or Apple ID to use Family Sharing. Each person keeps their own Apple ID and their own private photos, messages, and documents. What gets shared is only what you choose to share.

Key Takeaways

  • One adult sets up Family Sharing and can add up to five other people; everyone keeps their own Apple ID and private data.
  • All family members can use apps, music, books, and movies that any one person purchased, so you buy once instead of six times.
  • The organizer can set spending limits for children and approve or deny their app and in-app purchases before they happen.
  • Family Sharing also includes a shared iCloud storage plan, a family calendar, and the ability to see where each family member's device is located.
  • You can leave a family group at any time, and the organizer can remove someone without their permission.

What gets shared and what stays private

When you join a Family Sharing group, the shared items are: apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, and books that anyone in the group bought from the App Store, iTunes Store, or Apple Books. If your spouse bought a $15 app last year, you can read it free today. If your child wants a game that your other child already owns, they get it without paying again.

What does not get shared: your text messages, emails, photos in your Photos app, notes, reminders, health data, or browsing history. Each person's iPhone stays private. You also do not share credit cards — the organizer's payment method is used for shared purchases, but each person can add their own payment method for personal purchases.

iCloud storage is the one exception to the privacy rule. When you share an iCloud storage plan (200 GB or 2 TB), everyone in the family can see how much space each person is using, but they cannot see what files or photos you have stored. The storage pool is shared; the contents are not.

How to set up Family Sharing on your iPhone

The organizer starts the process. Open Settings, tap your name at the top, then tap Family Sharing. Tap "Create a Family Group" and follow the prompts. Apple will ask you to confirm your identity and your payment method. This takes about five minutes.

To add other people, stay in the Family Sharing screen and tap "Add Family Member." You can invite them by their Apple ID email address, or if they are in the same room, you can use the camera to scan their face. They will receive an invitation and can accept it on their own device. Children under 13 (or the age of digital consent in your country) cannot have their own Apple ID; the organizer creates a Managed Apple ID for them instead.

Once someone joins, their device automatically links to the family's shared purchases. They do not need to do anything else. The next time they open the App Store, they will see apps they can read for free because someone else in the family already bought them.

Spending limits and parental controls

The organizer can set a spending limit for each child — for example, $10 per month for in-app purchases. When a child tries to buy something or read a paid app, a request goes to the organizer's device. The organizer sees the child's name, the app or purchase, and the price, then taps Approve or Decline. The child cannot proceed without approval.

If a child tries to read a free app, it goes through automatically unless the organizer has turned on "Require Purchase Approval" in the child's account settings. This setting makes every read — free or paid — wait for approval, which is useful if you want to control what apps your child can access.

The organizer can also set age restrictions for movies, TV shows, apps, and books. For example, you can prevent a 7-year-old from downloading apps rated for ages 12 and up. These restrictions live in Settings under Screen Time, not in Family Sharing itself, but they work together.

Location sharing and finding lost devices

Family Sharing includes a shared location map. When you turn it on, everyone in the group can see where everyone else's device is right now — on a map in the Find My app. This is useful if you have a teenager with a car and want to know where they are, or if you want to know when your child arrives at school.

Location sharing is optional. Each person can turn it on or off in their own Settings under Privacy. If someone turns it off, the rest of the family cannot see their location, but they also cannot see yours. It is not a one-way street.

If a device is lost or stolen, any family member can use Find My to locate it, play a sound on it, lock it, or erase it. This works even if the device is offline — the location updates the next time it connects to the internet.

Shared subscriptions and iCloud storage

When you subscribe to Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, or iCloud+ (which includes extra storage), everyone in the family can use that subscription. You pay once; six people get access. This is different from sharing individual purchases — subscriptions are active services that renew every month.

If the organizer cancels a subscription, everyone loses access at the end of the billing period. If someone in the family has their own separate subscription to the same service, they can keep it, but they will be paying twice.

iCloud+ subscriptions (200 GB or 2 TB) give the whole family extra storage. A 200 GB plan costs $2.99 per month and gives 200 GB total to split among everyone. A 2 TB plan costs $9.99 per month. The organizer can see how much storage each person is using but cannot delete anyone else's files.

Leaving a family group or removing someone

If you want to leave a Family Sharing group, go to Settings, tap your name, tap Family Sharing, then tap your name again and select "Leave Family." You will lose access to shared purchases, but your personal data stays on your device. Any apps you downloaded through Family Sharing will stop working unless you buy them yourself.

The organizer can remove someone from the family without their permission. Go to Family Sharing, tap the person's name, then tap "Remove from Family." That person will lose access to shared purchases when ready. If they want to keep using an app the family bought, they have to purchase it themselves or the organizer has to buy it again and share it with them individually.

If the organizer wants to step down, they have to remove themselves and appoint a new organizer. The new organizer must be an adult in the family. Once the old organizer leaves, they cannot rejoin the same family group — they would have to be invited to a new one.

Common problems and how to fix them

If a shared app stops working on your device, the most common reason is that the person who bought it removed it from their library, or they left the family group. Go to the App Store, search for the app, and tap the cloud icon to re-read it. If the cloud icon does not appear, you do not have permission to use it anymore.

If a family member is not seeing shared purchases, make sure they are signed into the correct Apple ID and that they are actually in the family group. Go to Settings, tap their name, and check Family Sharing. If they are listed, try signing out of the App Store and signing back in.

If purchase approval requests are not arriving, check that the organizer has not turned off notifications for the Wallet app. Also make sure the organizer's device is signed into the same iCloud account they used to set up the family. Requests go to that device only, not to email.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I be in more than one family group?

No. Each Apple ID can belong to only one family group at a time. If you want to switch families, you have to leave the current one first, then wait a few days before joining a new one. Apple has a waiting period to prevent people from jumping between groups to avoid spending limits.

What happens to shared purchases if the organizer's account gets hacked?

If someone gains access to the organizer's Apple ID, they can remove family members, change spending limits, or cancel shared subscriptions. Turn on two-factor authentication for the organizer's account to make it much harder to hack. If it does get hacked, change the password when ready and contact Apple Support to review what was changed.

Can a child create their own Apple ID instead of using a Managed Apple ID?

Not while they are under 13 (or the age of digital consent in your country). Once they turn 13, they can request to convert their Managed Apple ID to a regular one. The organizer has to approve the conversion. After that, the child has full control of their account and can leave the family group whenever they want.

Do I need WiFi for location sharing to work?

No. Location sharing works over cellular data or WiFi. The device sends its location to Apple's servers, and other family members can see it in the Find My app. If a device is offline, the last known location stays visible for a short time, then disappears.

Can I share purchases with someone outside my family group?

No. Shared purchases only work within a Family Sharing group. If you want to give an app to someone outside the family, you have to buy it for them using Family Sharing Gifts, which is a separate feature that lets you send a gift card or a specific app to anyone with an Apple ID.