Apple Finally Lets You Use Your Own Payment Method in Family Sharing Mode.
In iOS 26.4, Apple is making a significant change to Family Sharing: after the update, you’ll be able to use your own payment method in Family Sharing groups with Purchase Sharing enabled. This may seem like a small thing, but it’s a significant change in how Apple handles payments in these situations.
The division of payments is no longer carried out exclusively through the family relations organizer.
Purchase Sharing can be a convenient way for family groups to share plans and content. This can include subscriptions like Apple One, Apple Music, Apple TV, or Apple News+; purchased music from iTunes; movies and TV shows from the Apple TV app; books from Apple Books; or apps purchased from the App Store. This means any family member can access these resources, but traditionally, it also had a limitation: with Purchase Sharing enabled, you couldn’t purchase your own shared resources. All purchases were processed through the payment method set by the family group organizer, unless you had funds in your account in the form of a gift card or allowance.
This makes a lot of sense when family members are children, but not so much when they’re adults. Furthermore, not all Family Sharing groups are necessarily “families”: friends can combine their accounts to use shared services, such as iCloud plans. When all shared purchases are made using one person’s credit card, this can be a bit inconvenient.
That’s exactly what iOS 26.4 changes. After the update, you’ll be able to pay for new family purchases with your card—provided you’re an adult. (Minors will still need to use the payment method provided by the family organizer.) If you want to subscribe to Apple Fitness+ for a group, you can pay for it; if you want to buy a movie in the Apple TV app that other users can watch, you can do so with your card. This is a long-overdue system update that will make using family groups a little easier for adults.
What else is new in iOS 26.4?
Apple has prepared a number of new features and changes for iOS 26.4. In addition to the Family Sharing update, Apple Music will receive a visual refresh and the ability to create AI-powered playlists . Eight new emoji will be added, compliant with the Unicode 17 standard, and Apple has finally fixed the keyboard bugs in iOS 26 .
While iOS 26.4 is technically still in beta, Apple released a Release Candidate this week. Barring any major bugs, this version of iOS 26.4 will be released to the general public, and we’ll likely see it next week.