Saving money on app purchases or service subscriptions is possible when shared with multiple people. In this article we show you how to share them comfortably with different users and thus also share expenses.
‘In family’ the way to share purchases and subscriptions
Currently the only way there is to share any type of purchase or subscription is through the ‘Family’ function. Thanks to this you can have up to a total of 6 people in the same group where different expenses can be shared. Although the name seems to be only suitable for family members, it can also be opened to include friends. In this way, anyone who is involved in the group can enjoy different services paying much less money.
Obviously apart from sharing these types of services, it can also be used to control children thanks to the parental control functions. It also integrates perfectly with ‘Search’ so that the location of the devices can be shared, making them always locatable on the map, especially suitable for older people.
Requirements to share purchases
The fact of sharing purchases or subscriptions, is something that can be done from an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and even a Mac. The only requirement that must be met is to have the iOS version 8 or higher installed as well as macOS X Yosemite or higher. In the case of having older versions it is possible that the content cannot be shared. Obviously, before sharing different purchases or subscriptions such as Apple Music or Apple One, you must bear in mind that you have to have them contracted for the specific plan. Apple offers a series of plans in these services, from individual to family. In the case of hiring the family member, you can share it with all the members that you have in your family group by activating the corresponding options as we comment below.
Share content on iPhone, iPad or iPod
In the event that you want to activate this function, you must bear in mind that you must have this type of service under your ownership or have purchased the application in question yourself. To perform this activation you simply have to follow the following steps:
- Go to Settings and click on your name at the top.
- Scroll to the section that says ‘Family Sharing’ and touch your name from among all the members.
- Confirm or change the Apple ID that you want to use when sharing.
- Go back and click on those services you want to share, such as ‘Share purchases’ or ‘Apple subscriptions’ among others.
In this way, all family members can access the different subscriptions that you have active. At any time you can go back and deactivate these options without affecting the rest of the family members to continue sharing purchases or subscriptions with you.
Share on Mac
In the event that you want to manage these options from the Mac, it is also possible to do so. You simply have to follow the following steps:
- Enter the system preferences.
- Click on ‘Share purchases’.
- On the left you will see different options for your choice such as ‘Apple Music’, ‘Apple Arcade’, ‘Shared purchases’. Enter each of these options and activate the sharing option.
This is an action that can be reversed at any time by following these same steps and obviously in no case will the privacy policy be violated. Members of your family will not be able to access your content at any time if they do not have your authorization, such as your music or the files you have in the cloud. All you do with this is to activate a subscription for them individually for your enjoyment.
Enable sharing third-party app subscriptions
Throughout the post we have talked about sharing services and subscriptions that are native to Apple. But the reality is that since iOS 14.2 you can also share the subscription of certain applications in a very simple way, so that all family members can access it. This is something that is certainly well received, since currently applications are governed more by subscriptions than by a single purchase that can be shared.
To enable this function you simply have to follow the following steps:
- Go to the App Store on the iPhone.
- Click on your image in the upper left corner.
- Go to the ‘Subscriptions’ section.
- Activate the first option that says ‘Share new subscriptions’.
From this moment on, any subscription that meets the appropriate requirements will be activated for the rest of the users you have as a family. This is something that applies to both iPhone, iPad and Mac, that is to say to the entire ecosystem of the company.