Universal Apple emails me my wife’s app subscription renewal notice 🤔

[Stiksi]

Today I got an email from Apple about an app subscription renewal that I didn’t recognize. On closer inspection I saw that it was my wife’s subscription and that the notice had been sent to us both.

Is this a normal policy for Apple now? Because to me this seems like a pretty big privacy breach. We have a good relationship but it’s not like Apple can just assume that and it’s not the fifties anymore, I don’t need to know what my wife subscribes to.

I can’t find a way to inform Apple about this either, I’m not going to wade through layers and layers of outsourced support call centers who have been told never to say ”I don’t know” or ”I can’t help you”.

 

[Ledsteplin]

Does she list your email as an emergency contact or notification email. I list a secondary email with Apple for notifications in case my Apple ID email fails for some reason.

 

[jz0309]

Today I got an email from Apple about an app subscription renewal that I didn’t recognize. On closer inspection I saw that it was my wife’s subscription and that the notice had been sent to us both.

Is this a normal policy for Apple now? Because to me this seems like a pretty big privacy breach. We have a good relationship but it’s not like Apple can just assume that and it’s not the fifties anymore, I don’t need to know what my wife subscribes to.

I can’t find a way to inform Apple about this either, I’m not going to wade through layers and layers of outsourced support call centers who have been told never to say ”I don’t know” or ”I can’t help you”.

What do the family settings say?

 

[Stiksi]

Does she list your email as an emergency contact or notification email. I list a secondary email with Apple for notifications in case my Apple ID email fails for some reason.

Yes, she lists me as an emergency contact. I just didn’t think renewing an app subscription would be an emergency… I mean, it’s in the tens of euros but we’re not that broke yet.

What do the family settings say?

It’s not a shared subscription. There is one shared subscription, but it’s not that one.

 

[jz0309]

Yes, she lists me as an emergency contact. I just didn’t think renewing an app subscription would be an emergency… I mean, it’s in the tens of euros but we’re not that broke yet.


It’s not a shared subscription. There is one shared subscription, but it’s not that one.

I suspect that there is a setting somewhere I. Family sharing or subscription sharing that might trigger this, but other than to review all those settings detail I don’t really know how to troubleshoot…
Maybe contact Apple support?

 

[Beards]

Is the payment card for the subscription from the same payment bank/organisation as yours?

 

[Stiksi]

Is the payment card for the subscription from the same payment bank/organisation as yours?

No, our finances are fairly separate.

I suspect that there is a setting somewhere I. Family sharing or subscription sharing that might trigger this, but other than to review all those settings detail I don’t really know how to troubleshoot…
Maybe contact Apple support?

I’ll go over her Family Sharing settings with a finer tooth comb, but personally, I can’t think of a setting which would make this a good idea.

I won’t call Apple Support, though, the poor call center worker would have no idea what I’m talking about and would just tell me to wipe and restore both phones and our marriage just to be sure. That would be another two days of getting everything working right again.

 

[Stiksi]

I found out what caused this.

When Purchase Sharing is turned on, Apple only allows the Family Organizer's payment method to be used.

They did not mention that when I turned it on and it's a ludicrous idea on the whole. If both parents share some apps with the kids, why would they not have their own payment methods?

All of my wife's purchases were quietly moved to my credit card because we shared apps with the kids. It boggles my mind that Apple did not clearly explain this when I turned the setting on - both from a financial and a privacy standpoint. It's there but worded pretty vaguely, so it's easy to not pick up on the implications for the adults in the group.

I don't know if it's normal in California to have one person in the family control everyone's finances, but here that is an incredibly backward idea, not normal for 40 years.