Setting up Apple Family Share

As a follow up to my previous post on Setting Up an iPhone for Kids, some asked how to set up Apple Family Sharing. I stayed away from this in the previous post because it can be complex and confusing. Enough folks asked I thought I would write it up.

First up, you have some decisions to make. There are actually two places for your Apple ID - your iCloud account and your iTunes account. They are both Apple ID's but you CAN make them different or the same. First, what are they?

iCloud - This is the account listed on your phone under Settings - iCloud. This controls where and how you back up your phone and data. Think of it as your personal stuff that you create (picture you take, notes you write, your contacts, etc.)

iTunes - This is the account listed on your phone under Settings - iTunes & App Store. It is listed at the top. Chances are unless you are a techie it is the exact same account as your iCloud Account. Think of this as stuff you buy in the iTunes Store. Adele's new Album, Star Wars Movies, and anything else is tied to this account. What you buy on this account is yours.

Most people I've seen use one of three possible choices (I recommend #3 so if you want to skip there, feel free):

1. Create One Apple ID for the family and use it for both iCloud and iTunes on all devices. This is super easy to set up because one account and one password! The problem here is also one set of data you create and purchase, across the entire family. If Thing One buys Pretty Little Liars, it shows up on your phone, if Mama purchases another smutty book, it shows up on your phone. Same goes for their contacts and calendar entries, everything is shared! I'm a big believer in personal space so this isn't a valid option for our family.

2. Create One Apple ID for each family member. Use this different one for each iCloud account but use the SAME account for iTunes. We did this for a long time. Anything you create has a personal space but anything you buy is shared. This allowed us to avoid conflicting contacts and calendars but allowed one big account for purchases (App Store Games are only bought once!). We did this for years but eventually as the girls wanted their own accounts, this wasn't going to fly. For some reason our tastes in music are different...

3. Create One Apple ID for each family member. Use this different account for both iCloud and iTunes and create an iCloud Family Share.  While it can be complicated to setup, it is worth it. Since I already had an Apple account for each person in the family, I set myself as the Organizer and added everyone to iCloud Family Sharing and made sure their Apple ID was also used for iTunes. The Organizer can also share a payment method and purchases across the family. If your child is under 13, check this out for details on how to handle that and also how to do purchase approval for minors. It turns out since I already created my accounts before Family Sharing existed, they treat them like adults and not children. But, if you are starting out, take the time to set up your kids properly so you can take advantage of the extra payment approval options

NOTE: When you set up Apple Family Sharing, the default payment by the Organizer is the ONLY way to pay. At first I didn't like this because our oldest was actually managing her own account and payments and now she has to go through me. We have adjusted over time but know that BEFORE you decide to do it as that wasn't clear to me from Apple.

TIP: You can add gift cards or Apple Allowance to each child's account as well. It is even possible to pay them monthly or on a recurring basis this way. Apple iTunes credits apply before a purchase so that is good way to teach them responsibility as well (Thank Caroline McCrory for the tip!)

What if you are currently Option #1 or #2 and want to move to #3?

I was Sharing an iTunes Account (Option #2) but moved to Family Sharing (Option #3). It is possible but takes a little time and patience. If you still want to share purchases to everyone, this has to be enabled on each account. Right now none of us share our purchases but we are trying to talk Thing One into sharing hers because she has all the good music. To share your purchases with the family, go to Settings - iCloud - Family - (Touch on You) and enable Share My Purchases. There is no granularity here so ANYTHING you purchase will be shared with the family, you have been warned.

Anything not clear? Let me know...

Setting Up An iPhone For Kids

In an attempt to both limit our children's data consumption and teach them responsibility, I came up with the following settings for the iPhones in our house. This will get you a phone that is somewhat locked down both in purchases and cellular data consumed.

Over the years Apple's IOS has gone from an "it just works" product to something that can be quite complicated to setup. The goal of this checklist is NOT about privacy or security, it is more about limiting data consumption as much as possible so we don't blow out our data plans. If you have questions, leave a comment below and I'll update as I can. This is current as of IOS 9.2

Limit Cell Data:

1. Prevent as many applications as possible from using data in the background while the device is off or other applications are active. If it is an application I want to stay up to date all the time or won't function without this features (Nike Running), I'll turn it on. Almost all applications I have turned off. Be sure to turn off any high bandwidth apps (SnapChat, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) Go to Settings - General - Background App Refresh and disable as many applications as you can.
2. Prevent as many applications as possible from using your location. I do this mainly for battery life as too many apps want to track you and use the GPS in the background. It's creepy and a waste of my battery. Again, I turn off as much as I possibly can and I turn off almost all background use. Settings - Privacy - Location Services. From here I change almost every app to either "While Using" if the app needs the GPS or "Never" if it doesn't. Some apps just don't need to know where I am. On my phone I have changed every application to either While Using or Never except the Weather App.
3. A few more location tweaks. I go to Settings - Privacy - Location Services - System Services and disable Location-Based iAds and Frequent Locations because again, creepy. I also change Settings - Privacy - Advertising - Limit Ad Tracking to On and hit Reset Advertising Identifier.
4. Next up is limiting cellular activity. Since most apps have already been disabled in the background, this is about stopping some apps from using cell data when you launch them. For instance, our youngest has limitations around certain apps (YouTube, NetFlix, etc.) to teach her the difference between wireless and cellular. One is free and one can cost a lot! Go to Settings - Cellular and scroll down to the "Use Cellular Data For:" section. Disable away... Lastly, I turn off Wi-Fi Assist at the very bottom. Again, this prevents confusion and headaches of a bunch of cell data being used without your knowledge.
5. Lastly, make the following tweaks to prevent unwanted/unknown use of cell data: Settings - iTunes & App Store and turn off Use Cellular Data

Require Password to Purchase EVERY time

1. This assumes you have an iPhone 5S or later with the fingerprint reader, if not use this as your guide.
2. The finger print reader is cool because you can use it in a bunch of place, including the iTunes Store. I have everyone's phone set up to require authentication every time because it makes them think do they really want to purchase this (they pay me for anything they buy). Go to Settings - TouchID & Passcode and enable TouchID for iTunes and App Store. Scroll down and change Require Passcode to Immediately.

Configure iCloud to BackUp and Find Your Phone 

1. While no one tries to break or lose their phone, it happens... Because of this I make sure everything on everyone's phone is stored in iCloud. This way if the device breaks or is replaced, everything can be recovered pretty easily. To do this go to Settings - iCloud and purchase the 50GB iCloud backup plan. It's .99 month, don't be a cheapskate... (On a sidenote, some may have one Apple account for all devices, others have different accounts for everyone and set up Family Sharing. I have a link to setting this up here. Either way, purchase enough Cloud storage for everyone)
2. From Settings - iCloud - Photos enable iCloud Photo Library and enable all the rest of the options (Upload to My Photo Stream, Upload Burst, iCloud Photo Sharing). I set our phones to Optimize iPhone Storage
3. Not that your Photos are backed up in the cloud, let's back up all your phone applications and data. Go to Settings - iCloud - Backup. Make sure iCloud Backup is enabled.
4. Find Your Phone is next. Your kid lost their phone in the house somewhere but no idea where, this is a life saver. Settings - iCloud - Find My iPhone. Enable Find My iPhone and also Send Last Location.
5. Test Find My iPhone. From another phone, download Find My iPhone and login to the iCloud account used above. The device should display the location as well as the ability to Play Sound, Enter Lost Mode or even Erase the Phone

Bonus: Make Sure iMessage and FaceTime are set correctly

1. Have you ever received an iMessage or FaceTime from one of your friends but instead of their phone number, it shows up as an email address? I have no idea why but every once and awhile, Apple seems to change this setting. If you change the default address to your phone number you are much more likely to be recognized in everyone's address book.
2. In Settings - Messages - Send and Receive scroll down to "Start New Conversations From" and select your cell phone number.
3. Repeat this for Settings - FaceTime - CallerID and select your cell phone number.

Bonus #2: Apple Music Streaming

1. I honestly haven't disabled this one because it hasn't been an issue in our house but Apple Music does offer Apple Radio and music streaming which can use data. If you don't want this for your kids, go to Settings - Music and disable Use Cellular Data and High Quality on Cellular.

Bonus #3: Optimize Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter for Cellular

1. As mentioned by Josh Atwell in the comments, you can also disable autoplay of Facebook and Twitter videos to further minimize data consumption. A lot of folks do this for international travel in particular but great for kids as well
2. From the Facebook App (not Settings), go to More - Settings - Account Settings - Videos and Photos - Autoplay and set to On "Wi-Fi Connections Only"
3. From the Twitter App (not Settings), go to Me - Settings Cog (looks like a gear to the right of your profile picture) - Settings - Video Autoplay and change to "Use Wi-Fi Only"
4. From the Instagram App (not Settings), go to profile (right most button on the bottom), click on the gear in the upper right to access settings, Cellular Data Use - Use Less Data
5. From the Snapchat App (not Settings), Tap the Ghost icon in the top center, tap the gear (Settings cog) in the top right, scroll down to Additional Services and click Manage, Turn Travel Mode to On