Family sharing question

[Skridger]

Greetings, I have been the only iphone user in my household. However, soon my wife will be getting one. She has had an apple ID for some time because she used iTunes to get music. I have used my own apply ID for purchasing app content for my iphone.

I would like to activate the family sharing option so that we can both access music, but still have separate apple IDs.

I will be the "family organizer", so I assume all my app purchases will be safe. (Not sure if this means she will be able to download my paid apps for free?)

What about her purchased music, will it still be accessible when she joins the family?

Any info appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[J. A.]

When you start sharing apps, music, films, ... with family members, you are able to download their purchased apps, music, ...
Your family members can also watch movies you've purchased, listen to music you've got via iTunes Store.

Her music will still be there, accessible for her, and you can download it as well.

Sharing means in this case: everything you got from the App and iTunes Store can also be used by her, and what she purchased will be accessible for you.

 

[Skridger]

So being the family organizer, my credit card will be used for all purchases, but the purchases she makes are still technically attached to her apple ID, correct? I could then go into her purchases and download the music.

What about apps/games? I assume these are not part of family sharing, right? I say that because when I look up family sharing on the apple site, it says music, movies, and a couple other things, but says nothing about apps.

Thanks!

 

[carolineM]

Once you have initiated Family sharing, with you the organiser, you will be henceforth responsible for your family's purchases, which will be applied to your credit card.

 

[J. A.]

Not necessarily. As long as your wife has a payment method and can pay for herself, everything she purchases will be taken from her. If she uses iTunes gift cards for paying, e.g., the money she needs for her purchases will be taken from her gift card, as long as she still has balance.

Everything she gets will still be connected to her ID. When you stop sharing, her apps/music/movies will not be accessible for you any more.

Apps and games are part of family sharing.

 

[Skridger]

Awesome, thanks all for the info! I think this will be a perfect solution for us.

 

[Skridger]

One more question regarding music that was not obtained through iTunes, but is part of our music library on the computer. Can she sync her phone with iTunes and get the additional music too? I don't care to have all that on my phone, I'm happy to be able to download from her purchases. (It's mostly Christmas music)

 

[Skridger]

Well one snag I'm running into. My wife doesn't yet have her iphone, but I thought I would add her account to the "family" in the meantime. However, it won't let her accept the invite unless she's on an apple device, and our computer is Windows.

 

[Junior]

One more question regarding music that was not obtained through iTunes, but is part of our music library on the computer. Can she sync her phone with iTunes and get the additional music too? I don't care to have all that on my phone, I'm happy to be able to download from her purchases. (It's mostly Christmas music)

Unless you have something like Apple Music or iTunes Music Match you will both have to tether sync your iPhones to the iTunes library that has music not purchased from iTunes in order for it to play in the Music/Video apps on your Phones. It may be a good idea to consider subscribing to a family plan on Apple Music.

Well one snag I'm running into. My wife doesn't yet have her iphone, but I thought I would add her account to the "family" in the meantime. However, it won't let her accept the invite unless she's on an apple device, and our computer is Windows.

She will need to have an iOS device setup with her Apple ID to be able to confirm the family sharing invite.