Set up Family Sharing on Mac
To set up Family Sharing, one adult—the family organizer—invites family members to join the Family Sharing group. Each family member needs an Apple ID to participate in the group.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
If you don’t see your name, click “Sign in with your Apple ID,” enter your Apple ID (or a Reachable At email address or phone number that you added in Apple ID settings), then enter your password. If you don’t have an Apple ID, you can create one.
Click Family Sharing on the right, click Set Up Family, then invite people to join your Family Sharing group:
Invite family members: Click Invite People, then follow the onscreen instructions.
If the person you’re inviting is nearby, you can choose Invite in Person and ask them to enter their Apple ID and password on your Mac. Otherwise, you can send the invitation using Mail, Messages, or AirDrop.
If the person you’re inviting doesn’t have an Apple ID, they have to create one before they can accept your invitation.
Create an Apple ID for a younger child: Click Create Child Account, then follow the onscreen instructions. See the Apple Support article Create an Apple ID for your child.
To add more family members to your Family Sharing group, click Add Member, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Do any of the following:
Complete suggested tasks: Click Family Checklist. You see a list of suggestions for getting the most out of Family Sharing. For example, you can set up parental controls for kids, share your location, or add a recovery contact.
Find subscription services to share: Click Subscriptions. You see a list of services you subscribe to that are available to share. Click the name of the subscription, then follow the onscreen instructions to share with your family.
Apple subscriptions, except iCloud+, are automatically shared with your family. You can choose to share iCloud+, or family members can choose to keep their own individual storage plans.
To learn about other Apple subscriptions, click Apple Subscriptions or the name of a service below Discover More. To explore more family subscriptions in the App Store, click Discover next to Subscriptions for Family.
Set up purchase sharing: Click Purchase Sharing, click Continue, then click Turn On Purchase Sharing. Your family can share purchases from the iTunes Store, App Store, and Apple Books, so everyone has access to them. All purchases are made through the shared payment method you set up.
Set up location sharing: Click Location Sharing, then turn location sharing or for each family member you want to share your location with. Turn on Automatically Share Location to automatically share your location with any new family members who join later. You can set up location sharing so that all family members can view each other’s locations in the Find My and Messages apps. You can use the Find My app on your Mac, iOS device, and iPadOS device, and on iCloud.com.
Set up Ask To Buy: Click the name of a child in your Family Sharing group, click Ask To Buy in the sidebar, then click Turn On Ask to Buy. This setting requires children in your Family Sharing group to get your approval to download or purchase items from the App Store, iTunes Store, or Apple Books.
Age restrictions for Ask to Buy vary by area. In the United States, the family organizer can turn on Ask to Buy for any family member under age 18; for children under age 13, it’s on by default.
Set up Screen Time and parental controls: Click the name of the family member, click Screen Time in the sidebar, click Open [family member’s] Screen Time, then select the options you want. See Set up Screen Time for a child.
Age restrictions for Screen Time vary by area. In the United States, the family organizer can turn on Screen Time for any family member under age 18.
Before purchases are available to all family members, each person is prompted to sign in with the Apple ID they want to use to share iTunes Store, App Store, and Apple Books purchases. Each family member can do this in Family settings. See Share purchases with others in your Family Sharing group.
For information about combining your Apple subscriptions, see the Apple Support article Bundle Apple subscriptions with Apple One.