Family Sharing is a let down

[aallison05]

So here's the part they don't tell anyone, it's not enough for Apple to create this thing called Family Sharing, and then for you to make a conscious decision to set it up within your family group, but app developers have to individually allow Family Sharing for their apps. I learned this the hard way when trying to update OpenTable today, and found the below:



Not sure why this would be, since OpenTable is a free app, but it does not allow this to work.

So, I've gone back to using one iTunes store account for all of our devices just like we were before. What a missed opportunity.

 

[Nolander07]

My kids and I are all on the same iTunes/App Store account. It ha been working well, so I think I am just going to keep it that way. My wife has her own, but it has been working for us the way we are doing it.

 

[SwitchBeach]

Why would you need to use Family Sharing for a free app?

 

[aallison05]

That was just an example. Obviously I could just go download the app on my own account. This only becomes a problem on paid accounts.

Except, the workflow is screwed up in how this is handled. After upgrading and setting up Family Sharing, I changed my iTunes account on the phone to my Apple ID. Only real reason was to only have to deal with one password on my phone.

This was fine, lots of apps have been updated without a problem, until this morning. OpenTable and two others then started giving errors that they weren't authorized for my account (they had been previously downloaded when using my wife's account). No option to download on my own account, the only way to get them at this point was to delete the app from my phone and download again.

Not the end of the world, just an area that needs some polish and probably should have been explained better in the beginning.

 

[Ledsteplin]

My Wife and I share an iTunes ID. Our iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime are different ID's. That has worked well and I will not switch to Family Share.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5

 

[Wreckus]

It's a new feature. imagine all developers will have to update their app to enable this feature. Bear in mind however, there will be purchases that will never have this feature enabled by their developer or publisher. Good example are movies, books, and some popular apps & games.

 

[aallison05]

True, but I noticed even really popular apps like Infinity Blade have allowed this. So it seems like some are following the spirit of this new feature.

Just seems like they aren't getting any less money than before, it would just serve roughly the same number of people in a different way.

 

[Scatabrain]

Works great for my family. No troubles, love it.

 

[phreddyl]

My husband downloaded fantastical which is a $5 app for free since I already bought it.





Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk

 

[joemd60]

I bought Fantastical for my iPhone, if I want it on my iPad Mini. I have to pay $10 again.

 

[joemd60]

Devs have the choice of making separate iPhone and iPad apps or making a universal app. So complain to the developer of fantastical about their pricing. However what they would probably tell you is that it is a lot of extra work to optimize an app for different form factors and they want to get paid for that work.

I wasn't trying to appear I was complaining, nor am I minimizing the hard work that goes into developing an app.
I was making a point, that's all.

 

[joemd60]

Oh I've gotten annoyed at it myself. Depending on the app, sometimes I decide to purchase both versions and sometimes just stick with it in one device.

I guess it is what it is.

 

[XChris1000]

Family share seems to be broken right now for a lot of people.

People are having problems updating free apps that were "bought" by a family member.

In the first days of iOS 8, when you tried this, you got a notice that the free app would be downloaded using your own Apple ID, even if family sharing authorized by the dev.

Now, many people are getting the message "Update Unavailable with this Apple ID." The problem is, they are not offered the chance to download it under their own ID. So it becomes impossible to update the app.

Worse, if you delete it, then find it in the store or under a family member's purchase list, you will see the "could" icon, but get the error if you try to download it. So you cannot download the app at all, unless you log out of the store and log back in using the original purchaser's ID.

There are several workarounds (log out of the store and log in using the purchaser's ID, update on a PC and sync) but all are a very big pain and there are of course new updates every day.

There are several long threads on this on the Apple forums. (Cant post a link, I don't have enough iMore posts.)

Hopefully, iMore will decide to cover this mess, adding a little impetus for Apple to fix it.