What is the right way to set up Family Share?

[SnapThrow]

I use my Gmail account for the app store/iTunes and an iCloud account for iCloud stuff. Same setup for my daughters iPhone that way we could "share" apps under my Gmail account but have separate iCloud accounts for backups, iMessage, etc. Now with Family sharing everything is messed up. I'm the "organizer" under my iCloud account and she was invited via her iCloud account. First problem is it won't let me turn on "ask to buy" stating she is sharing from an account used by another family member. Me? My Gmail account? What do I sign in on her iPhone? Will the store be her iCloud account, my iCloud account (which family share is based on), or my Gmail account that we have been using until now.

Between this and iCloud Photo Library, I've never been more confused with iOS features...

 

[taz323]

I haven't use it yet myself, but this may be helpful.
How to use Family Sharing for iTunes and App Store accounts in iOS 8 | iMore

 

[SnapThrow]

Thanks... but based on the comments my question/dilemma is not unique. At this point I think I am going to give up on family sharing and go back to the "old" way of sharing a common store account. I don't understand how this works and I'll give Apple some time to rethink this feature and present it better.

 

[andrelamont]

Don't give up yet!

background:
2 parents + 1 teen + 2 kids under 7...we all used the same [at]gmail.com account as our apple id


With Family Sharing:
We all have our own apple id....and kept the family[at]gmail as our organizer as my wife and I decided to separate our music purchases into our own account while everyone else could still access our movie/tv show purchase so we have

Organizer
primary[at]mail

parent/guardian
mom[at]icloud
dad[at]cloud

teen1[at]cloud
kid2[at]cloud
kid3[at]cloud

These new icloud accounts were setup while enabling family sharing on the iDevice



We could have just left everything the same as the apps and movies were not an issues...but the music was becoming a problem as their 'young buck' music was polluting my collection of songs. I had to create smart playlist just so it wouldn't appear in my collection. Furthermore, we were all getting iMessages/facetime request sent to all the devices

At first the shared purchases were not showing up but eventually the backed services caught up after 72hours.


If all of your famly members listen to the same music and tv shows and movies....family sharing doesnt buy you much. Previously, we turned off the ability to purchase apps at the device level on the kids devices

 

[SnapThrow]

I'm still confused what accounts go where though. Here is my setup:

Me
dad[at]gmail for store
dad[at]icloud for everything else

Daughter
dad[at]gmail for store
daughter[at]icloud for everything else

I turned on Family share and made dad[at]gmail the organizer and invited daughter with her daughter[at]icloud account. It seemed ok but then I couldn't turn on "ask to buy." I then switched the organizer to dad[at]icloud and "ask to buy" worked but she could not update apps already installed. I don't know what account to put where to get individual purchases working and ask to buy.

 

[lemieuxfan67]

Your daughter should be signed into her own account for both itunes/app store and icloud.

 

[SnapThrow]

Your daughter should be signed into her own account for both itunes/app store and icloud.

Alright, I will give this a try this weekend. I deleted Family Share so if I understand correctly I have one more try to get it right otherwise I'll be locked out for a year.

 

[warcraftWidow]

Alright, I will give this a try this weekend. I deleted Family Share so if I understand correctly I have one more try to get it right otherwise I'll be locked out for a year.

You can contact Apple and they'll reset it. At least they did for one of my daughters that I messed up with Family Sharing.

 

[SnapThrow]

You can contact Apple and they'll reset it. At least they did for one of my daughters that I messed up with Family Sharing.

Good to know, thanks