If you have a family, odds are you share a house, furniture, car and more. But you might not give as much attention to what you share in your digital lives, even if your digital pictures and purchases are equally valuable. Luckily, with Family Sharing, you and up to five other family members can share access to Apple services like iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV+, and more — all without sharing an Apple Account. You can even help locate each other’s missing devices, share your location, and manage a child’s device with Screen Time and parental controls.
It just takes a little bit of setup to share iCloud’s fantastic Family Sharing feature. Here are the top six benefits of using it.
Introduced in 2014, and with powerful new features regularly added, Apple’s Family Sharing makes it simple to share photos, apps and more with up to five other people. One person acts as an organizer, inviting other family members (and setting up accounts for children under age 13).
To set up Family Sharing, simply open Settings, tap on your name at the top, and hit Family Sharing. From there, you can add another person’s Apple account to the group. If you’re setting up an account for a child without an Apple ID, select Create an Account for a Child.
It’s incredibly easy to set up Family Sharing on your Apple devices, and the feature offers a wide variety of benefits.
Top benefits of Apple Family Sharing
1. Family Photo Library
Everyone in your family has a different subset of pictures of family events and trips. Some people take pictures without sharing them with everyone else. One family member might take it upon themselves to send all their photos, but they probably don’t have all the photos from everyone else. Setting up a shared photo library can solve that problem. The best part is that photo sharing happens intelligently and automatically.
By default, when you’re taking pictures at home, your photos will be added to the shared library. They’ll also be added when you’re out and about and your phones are near each other — the system assumes this is the kind of family event you might want to share.
From the Camera app, you can always turn this feature on or off by tapping the yellow Family icon.
2. Everyone gets iCloud storage
Backing up your devices to iCloud will help you rest easy at night — especially if some people in your family are clumsy and cavalier with their devices. An iCloud backup means that any replacement iPhones will be restored and set up exactly as the previous device was the night before they were lost.
Luckily, backing up to iCloud doesn’t mean that everyone in your family needs to pay for their own storage. With Apple’s Family Sharing, one person can share the storage they pay for amongst everyone to save money. It’s much cheaper to buy one large iCloud drive than several individual ones, and the space is shared dynamically. Activate it in Settings > Family > Subscriptions > iCloud+.
3. Everyone gets everything else, too (mostly)
It’s not just iCloud storage that Family Sharing affects. Some other Apple services that you subscribe to, like Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness+ and Apple News+, will be shared automatically as well.
Apple Music, unfortunately, needs to be upgraded to a paid family plan to work with Family Sharing. (This restriction probably results from record companies and royalties — it’s always the record companies.) Still, the Apple Music family plan still costs less than two separate subscriptions, only adding $6 per month to the cost of an individual plan at the time of writing.
4. You Can Share Location Tracking More Easily
Location sharing is an essential safety feature these days, and you can do it within specific apps such as Google Maps, but if your family all use iPhones or other trackable Apple devices it’s much easier to set up and manage using family sharing. By default, location sharing is automatic for family group members (though they have to consent when first added) and it works through Apple’s superlative Find My app. It’s one of the biggest time-savers and peace-of-mind generators around. You can, and should, turn it on in Settings > Family > Location Sharing. Adults will need to turn it on themselves; children can have it forced upon them.
After you turn on Location Sharing, you will be able to see family members’ locations in the Find My app, directly from iMessage, or by adding a widget to your iPhone’s Home Screen.
Location Sharing also gives you the ability to ring family members’ iPhone speakers. From the Find My app, tap on the Devices tab, select the device in question, and hit Play Sound. It’s much louder than the “ping my phone from my Apple Watch” noise. You’ll be able to see the charge level of your family member’s device, too. This Family Sharing feature is great for locating mislaid Apple gear as well as lost family members.
5. Apple Family Sharing offers parental controls
Family Sharing gives parents lots of options for managing how their children use their Apple devices. For instance, setting up an iPhone or iPad on their behalf is incredibly easy, and you have the power to limit their screen time, internet access and contacts. Plus, setting up Ask to Buy is a great way for your offspring to make purchases in the App Store without the hassle of adding a credit card to their account. And you can approve or deny purchases, so you have full control.
If an iPhone or iPad is too much, you can set up a child with an Apple Watch if you want to see their location, send them an occasional iMessage or give them a call without a full smartphone.
How much control you exert over your children’s digital lives is a highly personal question that someone will always judge you for, no matter what you do. (I had free rein as a kid, but then again, none of these tools existed for Windows 2000. Nor did I carry my Pentium II computer around with me.) Apple Family Sharing lets you make these critical decisions for yourself and your children.
6. Share Subscriptions and Purchases
Another benefit of Apple Family Sharing is that your Apple subscriptions are shared with your family members at no extra cost. That includes eligible subscriptions from the App Store, as well as eligible purchases of apps, media, and books when you enable Purchase Sharing. You can even hide individual purchases that you want to keep private.
If you enable this feature in Settings > Family > Purchase Sharing, your apps and in-app purchases will be shared with everyone in your family (assuming the app’s developers allow the feature). From the App Store, look for the “Supports Family Sharing” label in the app’s information section.
Apple Family Sharing: Bringing the family together … digitally
Your digital life doesn’t have to be fractured and messy. Apple’s Family Sharing feature makes it easy for everyone to have the same pictures, see where you all are, keep your children in check, keep your devices backed up and have access to all the services, media and apps.
Family Sharing is free to set up. Check that your device is using the latest OS and follow the steps below.
- Go to Settings
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Tap your name
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Tap Family
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Choose who to include
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And you’re all set
FAQs
Can people see your text messages on Apple Family Sharing?
With Family Sharing, everyone’s personal files and preferences stay private. Therefore, family members are not able to view each other’s text messages.
How do I add or remove people from my Family Sharing group?
As the organizer, you can easily invite anyone who has an Apple Account and even create an account for a child who doesn’t have one yet. Just go to Settings > Family and tap + in the top‑right corner. Then tap Invite Others and follow the onscreen instructions.
Are there any limits on who can join a Family Sharing group and when?
You can join up to two Family Sharing groups per year, but you can belong to only one family at a time.
Can I add people who live in a different country?
No. All members must share the same home country.
What responsibilities do I have as the family organizer?
As the organizer, you’re responsible for adding to and managing your Family Sharing group. If you turn on Purchase Sharing, you’ll be billed for existing and future media purchases and subscriptions made by all family members. And if you set up Ask to Buy, you’re responsible for approving or denying purchase requests from members who aren’t yet adults.
What happens to the existing subscriptions and purchases of new family members?
Their existing subscriptions and purchases remain their own. But if you enable Purchase Sharing, their eligible purchases of apps, media, and books will be shared with the whole group.
Can I keep certain things private?
Definitely. If you have iCloud+, all your photos, files, and documents remain yours and yours alone — unless you decide to share them. That goes for everyone in your Family Sharing group. If you share other subscriptions, like Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, or Apple News+, each person has their own preferences, history, and recommendations. And if you want, you can even keep individual purchases of apps, media, and books private.
