Apple Music is a great way to listen to your favorite music, watch music videos, and discover new artists. But what if you want to share your music with your family?
Apple Music makes it easy to share your music with up to six family members. With a family subscription, you and your family members can all access the same music library, create playlists, and listen to music offline.
To share Apple Music with your family, you will need to set up Family Sharing. Once Family Sharing is set up, you can add family members to your Apple Music subscription.
Here is how to go about it…
What You Should Know
You’ll need a few things to follow the instructions in this guide, some of which are more obvious than others. To begin, you’ll need an Apple ID, which should be available to anyone with at least one iOS or macOS device or other Apple service.
Of course, you’ll also need an Apple Music Family subscription. If you’re starting from scratch, make sure to select a Family subscription rather than an Individual one. It’s a fairly simple process to upgrade an Individual Apple Music subscription to a Family subscription, and detailed instructions are available on the Apple website’s support section.
You must first sign up for Apple Music’s Family Plan before you can share your subscription with others. The subscription is $14.99 per month, rather than the standard $9.99 subscription.
If you’re new to Apple Music, here’s how to sign up for the Family Plan for the first time. You can skip this section if you already have a subscription.
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the Music app and tap “For You” at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the red “Try It Now” button on the new page.
- Choose “Family,” then “Start Trial.” You’ll be prompted to sign in with your Apple ID, Face ID, or Touch ID, and you may be asked to add a payment method.
If you already have a subscription, or if you haven’t done so yet, you’ll need to enable Family Sharing.
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app and then tap your name at the top of the screen to access your Apple ID profile.
- On this page, select “Set Up Family Sharing.” Tap “Get Started” to continue or “Learn more about Family Sharing” for more information in the pop-up that appears.
- You’ll be given several options for using Family Sharing. Switch to “Apple Music.”
- Your device will check to see if you have a Family Plan; if not, you will be redirected to the Music app to sign up. If you’re already a member, click the red “Invite via Messages” button.
- This will launch a text message conversation in which you can invite anyone with an Apple ID to the Family Plan.
They will be added to your account as soon as they open the invitation. You can add up to six people, including yourself, to the account.
If someone who already has an Apple Music account joins your Family Plan, their Apple Music account will be automatically closed.
What Exactly is Family Sharing?
Family Sharing is a simple way to share content across various Apple services, such as movies, iCloud storage, apps, and, today, Apple Music. Account administrators can host up to six Apple Music users under one family subscription for just $17 monthly. Because everyone in Family Sharing has their own Apple ID, they all have their own preferences and recommendations.
Best of all, when you use Family Sharing to enable purchase sharing, the entire family can swap movies, shows, books, and music—as long as the purchasing user approves sharing for the other group members.
Setting up Family Sharing
Apple Music’s Family plan, rather than operating independently, relies on Apple’s Family Sharing infrastructure. Skip to the next section if you already have Family Sharing set up and are only looking to add new family members. Continue reading if you’re setting up your Family subscription for the first time and have never used Family Sharing.
Setting up Family Sharing on iOS
- Step 1: Open the Settings app and either tap on your name at the very top, or scroll down and open the iCloud settings on older iOS devices.
- Step 2: Select Family Sharing, and then select Set Up Your Family. Follow the prompts to invite and add family members until the setup is finished.
- Step 3: All that remains is to invite family members. Go to Settings and then Family if you’re using iOS 16 or later.
- Step 4: In the top right, tap the Add Member icon.
To invite family members via Messages, follow the instructions. If your child does not have an Apple ID, you can also create a Child account for sharing. You can also configure parental controls for them.
Setting Up Family Sharing on a Mac
Setting up Family Sharing on a Mac is just as simple, if not easier, than on an iOS device. The steps are slightly different and vary depending on the macOS version you are using.
- Step 1: Navigate to System Settings (Ventura or later) or System Preferences (Monterey or earlier) on your Mac. Click the Apple logo in the top left corner to access either.
- Open the Settings app or click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen, then select System Settings. Once the preferences window is open, depending on your macOS version, click on your name, Family, or Family Sharing. For devices running macOS Mojave or earlier, select iCloud rather than Family.
- Step 2: Locate the Family Sharing option — either by clicking your name or by opening the Family Sharing menu. Choose it in either case.
- Step 3: If this is your first time configuring it, click Set Up Family and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Step 4: You must now add members. Simply click Add Member (Ventura) or Add Family Member (Monterey), then follow the on-screen instructions to invite members and choose which services to share. As with the iOS steps, you can create Apple IDs for children here as well.
- Step 5: The final step is to invite your family members to join your family. They must accept the invitation to begin sharing your Apple Music and other subscriptions.
How to Invite Family Members to Apple Music
Go to the Music app on your iPhone or iPad and tap your profile picture or name in the top-right corner. Once in account settings, select the Manage Family option. This should take you to your iOS device’s Apple ID settings page. You can now add members to your account by tapping Family Sharing, but they must have their own Apple IDs. If Family Sharing isn’t already enabled, you’ll be prompted to enable it.
How to add family members on a Mac
Go to the Apple menu > System Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing, or click the Manage Family option in the Music app’s Account menu. Then, go to Family Sharing and add more family members by clicking the plus button on the right. Everyone added this way, as with mobile, must have an Apple ID.
How to add family members to Apple Music on an Android phone
Enter the Accounts setting by tapping the three dots in the top-right corner. Select the Manage Family option now. You can add more members to your Apple Music Family plan by selecting the add Family Member setting in the submenu.
Troubleshooting
A common problem is a family member who has multiple accounts and logs into Apple Music or iCloud (in the case of Family Sharing) with the incorrect one. If one person is having trouble accessing Apple Music, this is the first thing to look into.
Sometimes, logging out and back in can resolve issues that prevent you or a family member from accessing a Family subscription. First, try logging out and back into the affected Apple Music account. If that doesn’t work, try the same with all your Apple services. If neither of those works, try removing and re-adding everyone to Family Sharing. This is a little time-consuming, but if you follow the steps above, you should be able to finish it quickly.
Can members of a family who live at different addresses use the Apple Music Family plan?
True, but their Apple IDs must be from the same region as the account holder. If you live in the United States but your child attends university in Canada or Europe, they will need to purchase their own Apple Music subscription.
Can an existing account be added to an Apple Music Family plan?
Yes. The existing user simply needs to cancel their own subscription first, unless they are paying for the Family plan upgrade.
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