How Apple Family Sharing Saved My Last Vacation
When planning our family’s first real vacation, we knew there would be times when our boys would want (or need) to be away from each other and do their own thing at the amusement park. It also meant that we wouldn’t know where we all were unless we were texting each other constantly (annoying), and we couldn’t make purchases using the same credit card, making it difficult to keep track of our spending.
There were other first-world problems to consider: After upgrading to the iPhone 15 Pro, high-resolution photos took up more space on my phone. I knew that downloading any images my wife sent me would eat up what little space I had left. Plus, it would be difficult to control what my boys would watch on their iPad during a six-hour drive to the park—since we’d be sitting in the front seat, we’d never know if they were tired of How to Train Your Dragon and want to threaten discover Game of Thrones .
Luckily, we looked at these possibilities before we left and resolved many of them by setting up Family Sharing on our iPhones and other Apple devices. This feature allows you to track the location of everyone in your family, set up parental controls, add and organize photos in a shared folder, share subscriptions to specific apps, and even share Apple Payments.
If this feature might come in handy on your next vacation or make life easier for you and your team in general, read on to learn how to set it up on your Apple devices.
How to set up Family Sharing on iPhone
In the Settings app, tap on the section with your name. On the next screen, scroll down and tap Family Sharing. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up a group and add people to it—you can add up to five additional family members (though they don’t have to be members of your family, of course).
Any additional adult members added to your group can be designated as a parent/guardian so that they can manage parental controls for minor members of your group.
Once you’ve added your group members and given them their designations, you can choose what each member can access:
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Passwords and passkeys: It’s easy to forget your Hulu password. To securely share your account login information with your family, go to the Settings app and tap Passwords. You’ll be given the option to set up Family Sharing for specific passwords, so you’ll never have to share them over text again.
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iCloud Drive: To share photos, videos, and other files without sending multiple text messages or emails, you can set up a shared folder on your iCloud Drive. Simply tap the Share icon on the file and follow the instructions to choose who has access.
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Subscriptions. To give family members access to your Apple TV+ or other subscriptions, go to the Settings app and tap Family. Then click Subscriptions. Here you can manage the Apple services you want to share with your family.
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Purchases: On the Family screen, tap Share Purchases to share the things you bought through Apple, including all those movies you repurchased when you had an iPod.
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Location: Tap Location Sharing on the Family screen to let your group know exactly where you are. Repeat this step for each family member. They will receive confirmation that you shared your location with them and will be asked to return the favor.
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Apple Card and Apple Cash. To share your Apple Card account with a spouse or family member, tap Apple Card Family on the Family screen and follow the instructions. You can also set up an Apple Cash account for your kids so they can use their phones to make payments.
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Parental Controls: In the Screen Time section of your Settings app, you can control how long kids can stay on their device (including setting individual time limits for each app), what purchases they can make, which websites they can access and what content they can watch. To get started, you can find out more here .
One of the convenient features of Family Sharing on your iPhone is that you only need to set it up on one device. Once completed, it will be available on all your devices signed in with the same Apple ID. Organizers may add additional participants later, again up to a maximum of five.