My sibling and parents are my immediate family. Yet here I am, sharing storage and a Fantastical+Flighty family plan, and my other family members still can’t just buy their own stupid iAPs. It doesn’t make sense.
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Is there seriously still no way to make my own purchases on a family plan?
- Thread starter eicca
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My sibling and parents are my immediate family. Yet here I am, sharing storage and a Fantastical+Flighty family plan, and my other family members still can’t just buy their own stupid iAPs. It doesn’t make sense.
I just can't agree. She's my wife. I couldn't care less if the purchases are on my credit card, or hers. This just isn't a problem.
You ever heard of a family? They’re not somebody else’s family. They’re MY family.
Of course Apple designs their plans based on a business model. Apple is a business. Say it again for the people in the back.
We seem to be operating under definitions of “own purchase.” If you give me your credit card, I’m not making my own purchases with it. I’m spending your money.
In a real family, a child might make money mowing lawns or babysitting or in any of the classic ways, and then spend that money on books, movies, games, and more — and some of those purchases will be gifts for other members of the family, with many eventually shared with the entire family.
Apple doesn’t permit this. Period, full stop. And it’s inexcusable.
I mean, really? “Hey, Mom — can you tell the credit card company that it’s me who just took your credit card from your purse so I could buy you a birthday present? I’ll Venmo you the money.”
b&
UGH. The name says it all, "Sharing." If you don't want to share, then don't play. And as I keep saying there is a workaround if you don't want to use the "owner's" credit card. It really isn't that hard.
This is how Apple treats customers: dumb and stupid people who lost all intellectual capabilities from young age and must be told how to do even the simplest Things.
Ok so I guess that’s how modern business work: gather profit at the expense of literally everyone else, such as society, the country, people working in said company etc.
Great for investors, and I guess that’s all that matters For Apple.
The reason for creating the family plan was to share a couple apps, but my partner and I already have our own icloud accounts, and buy our own apps via our own credit cards. When we created the family, it wanted to charge all her subs, purchases, and icloud fees to my cc. Perhaps not a big deal if you are expecting it, but when random apple charges show up and you have to track back to see if they are legit, it is annoying. It would be nice if it allowed sharing as well as independent purchases.
A family with MORE THAN ONE independently fiscally responsible adult in it? No, never heard of it. Cannot happen.
This forum is full of people who will literally defend every decision apple makes while throwing insults at people criticizing apple in any way, it's kinda sad
There should be a way to share my purchase with those in my family group but don’t give them access to make purchases through my payment methods.
I do understand the sentiment. It does cause problems though following this path. And it does hurt developers who lose out on potential sales. Offering App Sharing is a benefit with restrictions. What you are asking for are the benefits without the restrictions. Why should any developer sign up for the program that you are suggesting? What is their benefit for doing so?
And then the finances becomes messy: John buys the game that Karen is using but all IAPs go to Karen's cc who does not even own the app? Karen could then come back and suggest that since she does not own the app, the IAP charges do not belong to her. In many ways, it would be simpler to just let Karen but the app.
It’s kind of a mess on the payment systems but once you wrap your head around it, it’s pretty simple to deal with.
When you join a family plan the organizer’s card is designated for purchases.
With the exceptions:
subscriptions and purchases by a family member’s appleID will still prefer funding from a personal Apple Store balance. (Load with gift cards or purchase directly via the iCloud menu)
It will also fund preferentially from the family member’s Apple Cash account which can be funded in wallet from your debit/credit card. The Apple Cash balance is a bit more flexible as you can also spend that with Apple Pay vs the App Store balance which is locked in to App Store spending and cannot be spent or transferred to anyone in any other way.
As the family organizer you can make sure it’s locked down and not open spending season by NOTloading ANY debit/credit card in your Apple account. You can keep them in Apple Pay and then fund a balance in Apple Cash - the one you can spend with Apple Pay in brick and mortars or companies other than Apple which Apple will treat as though it is the debit/credit card associated with the family plan if none other is available.
I’ve experienced this from the family organizer’s side of things and it is also frustrating being in that position. I am glad they make it so I must authorize purchases as many times a family member’s offspring has gotten ahold of a device and thought it was time to spend some serious bucks on in game purchases. I actually removed all my cards from the App Store as above and started funding it via the Apple Cash method so anyone making big purchases must do the same or their purchases fail for their appleID beyond what I keep funded there. I only keep it funded enough to cover charges i know are due soon
Apple could fix this by publishing a smooth flowchart with great graphics to educate users the orders of operation involved for funding when involved in a family account. I managed to sort it out after countless apple support contacts.
It would also cost them next to nothing to allow family members to opt in to the license / services sharing portion of the relationship but always fund from personal payment methods. But Apple is - well kind of being Apple on that subject.
I mean steam does allow sharing game libraries without forcing everyone to use one payment method, so it's not impossible.
You raise good points.
I do want to see developers get paid.
In my specific experience with app sharing, I would have been happy to pay for it twice (although the developer also allows the app to be installed on as many devices as you have under your account). My reason for sharing the app was the lists feature - the lists could be added to and edited by anyone via the same account or share. Another solution for my use-case would be for multiple independent installations to connect for sharing data somehow. I suspect not many people are trying to do this with the app I am using, so likely a low priority for the developer.
I can pay for my flight with any credit card I choose, and still get the miles. My local supermarket lets the entire family collect points on a single account and enjoy the benefits regardless of who pays, or if it is cash, credit or in-store points. I can order my coffee in the app and pay with the in-app wallet, or a payment method of my choice at pickup, and still get the discount.
In fact, I cannot think of a single different purchase situation, excluding subscription services where it makes sense to have a recurring purchase method, that doesn't allow me to pay however I wish in each individual instance.
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Completely agree. But different models. If I buy my wife an airline ticket, I do not get the miles, she does. For apps, I am buying the app. Other family members are granted the right to use the app that I purchased, which is attached to my account. If I decide to remove family members, they lose access to the app. If I stop paying for a subscription, they lose access. The Apple app model was designed, like freq flyer miles, to be associated with the single person who purchased the app. With the family sharing benefit, that one person is still held responsible.
However, there are ways to work around that financial responsibility through the use of gift cards etc. It really isn't that hard.
If I buy a ticket for work with my corporate credit card, I get the miles. If I buy a vacation with my personal credit card, I get the miles.
As far as I can tell there is no way for me to pay for my iCloud Drive storage subscription with my corporate credit card and my Apple Music subscription with my personal credit card short of juggling two Apple IDs, which would be a huge hassle.
See the supermarket example above. Everyone in the family can use the shared account bonuses, coupons, shared receipts, shared lists, subscriptions and so on, but everyone can pay for their own purchases or use the shared account balance. There are two account administrators that are independently fiscally responsible, which reflects how most families actually operate.
The reason they enforce a single card for everyone is because they don’t want friends getting on a family plan and sharing everything. Same reason Netflix is cracking down on password sharing. If you’re an adult get your own account. It sucks absolutely, but if you want to use a service you don’t own, then you have to play by the company’s rules.
I've got similar but slightly different issue. I'm from England but live in France. All my Apple OS run in english. Apple insists on sending some of my emails in french. I got used to all the recommendations in Apple Music etc being France oriented. Not really a big deal for me.
However, I setup Family sharing so that my mother could benefit. She lives in England and doesn't speak french. My payment method is Paypal which is linked to my french bank (or similar).
Because she's a member of my shared family any apps are paid from my account. That's good really. But because all my payment methods are considered French, Apple have changed her region to France !
I can't seem to find any way around this and think it's really stupid of Apple to force this upon her 😡
(PS: If I take out the payment bits, Family sharing gets reduced to iCloud drive only)
However, I setup Family sharing so that my mother could benefit. She lives in England and doesn't speak french. My payment method is Paypal which is linked to my french bank (or similar).
Because she's a member of my shared family any apps are paid from my account. That's good really. But because all my payment methods are considered French, Apple have changed her region to France !
I can't seem to find any way around this and think it's really stupid of Apple to force this upon her 😡
(PS: If I take out the payment bits, Family sharing gets reduced to iCloud drive only)