Share one account and keep your individuality intact
with Family Sharing. It’s a new feature from Apple
which will help to keep your family organised.
You’ve always been able to use one Apple ID as
the main account for multiple iPads and iPhones,
and it has worked well, but it can lead to confusion
and even annoyance as purchases are shared between
people. Family Sharing, a new feature from Apple, is designed
to take those problems away by letting you use one account for
payments and so benefit from using an app or song on more
than one device, but it includes a degree of separation by using
different Apple IDs for family members. You will see when we
explain the process that there’s not much to learn here and that
it will work for you consistently without you needing to think
about what is happening, and your children will be able to feel
like individuals as you can set up new accounts for them. You
can use Family Sharing to set limits on what your children can
buy and what they are allowed to view, and you can also share
calendars and even create new online photo albums together.
Family Sharing takes all of the hassle away from iTunes and
will help you organise multiple family member accounts and
devices without even thinking about the process. It may not
gain as much attention as other features, but it works well.
1: Find the options
Go to Settings and then select the iCloud
category. Now look for the ’Set Up Family
Sharing…’ option and tap it. All of the relevant
settings are held here.
2: Follow the screens
You now need to tap through a series of
warning screens to ensure that you are happy
with everything Family Sharing offers. Read
every screen to be sure.
3: Invite a member
At the Add Family Member screen, enter their
Apple ID (email address) and then send the
invitation to them. You can also ask for them to
just input a password.
4: A small family
Once they have accepted the request, they will
be listed in the main Family Sharing screen. You
can now repeat the process for other family
members and invite them.
5: Add your children
Your children will likely not have their own
Apple IDs, so tap the ‘Want to add a child…’
option and follow the process to add them.
Restrictions are set automatically.
6: Turning it off
If you are ever concerned about security, simply
tap the ‘Stop Family Sharing…’ option and the
setup will immediately be switched off. You can
easily set it up again later.