How To Share Apple Music With Family: Easy Steps

Sharing your Apple Music Family subscription with other people in your household is a great way to save money while enjoying Apple’s vast catalog of streaming music content. You can also do this with your Apple One Family and Premier bundle.

An individual Apple Music subscription costs $9.99 per month. However, by spending $14.99 instead, you get a family plan for yourself and up to five other people. Compared to all six people buying their own Apple Music subscription, this is an immediate saving of $44.95 right there.

Even if you have only one other person in your household, moving to a family plan will save $5.

Choosing between Apple Music and Apple One

Just as the Apple Music family plan saves you money, the Apple One bundle also does — under the right circumstances. It is an issue of what else you use from Apple, and also which version of the bundle you buy.

For $14.95 per month, you can get the Apple One Individual Plan, which includes Apple Music — but only for you. To get the benefit of a family Apple Music subscription, you have to buy the Family Plan at $19.95 per month, or the Premier one at $29.95.

In either case, you need to buy based on what you are actually using, or will actually use. So with the Family Plan, you need to know that you will be getting:

• Apple Music Family
• Apple Arcade
• Apple TV+
• 200GB iCloud storage

If you only care about sharing Apple Music with your family, the Apple One Family bundle is not worth it. However, if you use or need the other services, it is more economical to buy them through this Apple One Family bundle.

It is also exactly the same with the more expensive Apple One Premier bundle, in how you need to decide what you are using, what you plan to use — and whether you want to share any of it.

However, the Apple One Premier bundle provides more, and some of it is exclusive to this tier. Altogether, the Premier bundle has:

• Apple Music Family
• Apple TV+
• Apple News+
• Apple Fitness+
• Apple Arcade
• 2TB iCloud storage

It is the Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ that are exclusive to the Premier bundle. Those and the 2TB iCloud storage space — which can be shared amongst your family – can make the Premier bundle the best way to get Apple Music for everyone in your household.

There is still the issue, then, of adding a family member to your Apple Music subscription. The way you do that depends on whether you are a new user yourself, or you have a personal subscription.

Set up Family Sharing

Family Sharing makes it easy for up to six family members to share music, movies, TV shows, apps, books, subscriptions including iCloud+, and more, all without sharing an Apple ID. 

You can set up an Apple ID for kids, set permissions remotely with Screen Time, and approve spending and downloads from a parent’s device with Ask to Buy. Also, you can set up Apple Cash for a child or teen, or set them up with an Apple Watch.

You can start a new family group and invite people to join, or you can join someone else’s family group.

Start a family group

One adult in the family — the family organizer — can set up Family Sharing for the group from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. If purchase sharing is turned on, the family organizer pays for family members’ purchases and must have a valid payment method on file.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

• Go to Settings.
• Tap your name.
• Tap Family Sharing, then tap Set Up Your Family.
• Follow the onscreen instructions to set up your family and invite your family members.

Open your Mac with macOS Ventura or later:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings. Click your name, then click Family Sharing.
2. Click Set Up Family.
3. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up your family and invite your family members.

On your Mac with macOS Monterey or earlier:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
2. Confirm the Apple ID that you want to use for Family Sharing, and make sure that Share My Purchases is selected.
3. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Invite people to join your family

If you choose to invite people later or want to add another member to your family, you can send an invitation via Messages, email, or in person.

If you have multiple Apple IDs, you can invite each of your accounts to the group, so you can share purchases from your other Apple IDs with your family.

Open your iPhone or iPad with iOS 16 or later:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Family. 
3. Tap Add Member 
4. If your child doesn’t have an Apple ID, tap Create an Account for a Child. But if your child already has an Apple ID, tap Invite People. They can enter their Apple ID password on their device to accept the invitation.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up parental controls, location sharing, and more.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 15 or earlier:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name, then tap Family Sharing.
3. Tap Add Member.
4. If your child doesn’t have an Apple ID, tap Create an Account for a Child. But if your child already has an Apple ID, tap Invite People. They can enter their Apple ID password on their device to accept the invitation.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Open your Mac with macOS Ventura or later:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
2. Click Family.
3. Click Add Member, then follow the onscreen instructions.

On your Mac with macOS Monterey or earlier:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
2. Click Family Sharing.
3. Click Add Family Member, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Check if your family member accepted the invitation

After you send the invitation, you can check its status.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap Family. In iOS 15 or earlier, tap your name, then tap Family Sharing. 
3. To check the status of the invitation, select that person’s name. 
4. If you need to resend the invitation, select Resend Invitation.

Open your Mac with macOS Ventura or later:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Family.
2. To check the status of the invitation, select that person’s name. 
3. If you need to resend the invitation, select Resend Invitation.

On your Mac with macOS Monterey or earlier:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
2. To check the status of the invitation, select that person’s name. 
3. If you need to resend the invitation, select Resend Invitation.

Join a family group

You can accept or decline an invitation to join a family directly from your device. You’ll get an invitation by email or text message, through which you can respond right from the invitation. If you miss the email or text invitation, use the steps below to respond from your device. 

Also, note that you can be a part of only one family at a time.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name.
3. Tap Invitations.

To accept an invitation, follow the onscreen instructions. When you join a family, you might be asked to confirm your account information and to opt into any features or services your family set up.

On your Mac with macOS Ventura or later:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
2. Click Family.

On your Mac with macOS Monterey or earlier:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 
2. Click Family Sharing.

If you can’t accept the invitation, check if someone else joined a family with your Apple ID. Remember, you can only join one family at a time, and you can only switch to a different family group once per year.

What happens when you share a subscription with your family?

You and up to five family members can enjoy access to Apple Original TV shows and movies on Apple TV+. You can also share Apple services like Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and more.

When you share subscriptions, each person sees their own preferences and recommendations — not the whole family’s. And when you share an iCloud+ plan, family members can’t see each others’ photos, files, or documents.

If you already set up Family Sharing

After you set up Family Sharing, it automatically shares eligible subscriptions with your family members. If your family members can’t access a subscription, here’s what to do:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, then tap your name.
2. Tap Subscriptions.
3. Scroll down and make sure that Share with Family is turned on. 
4. Tap the subscription that you want to share.
   • If the subscription is individual or student, upgrade your subscription to a family plan. 
   • If the subscription isn’t made by Apple, it might not be eligible to share. To share a subscription, turn on Share with Family under Family Access. 

If you haven’t set up Family Sharing

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name, then tap Family Sharing.
3. Tap Set Up Your Family, then follow the onscreen instructions and invite your family members. 
4. Eligible subscriptions are automatically shared with your family members.

Who is charged for the subscription?

If Purchase Sharing is on, the family organizer pays for everyone’s subscriptions

If you’re the family organizer and you don’t want to pay for family members’ purchases and subscriptions, you can turn off Purchase Sharing. When Purchase Sharing is off, everyone must use their own payment method. Family members can share subscriptions, but they can’t share individual purchases like apps or books.

How To Use Family Sharing with Apple Music on Android

On your Android device, you can use Family Sharing in the Apple Music app to share an Apple Music family subscription. Follow the steps below to join a family group to share their Apple Music subscription.

Accept an invitation to a family group and share their Apple Music subscription

1. Download the Apple Music app from Google Play to your Android device.
2. On your Android device, open the email invitation to join Family Sharing.
3. Tap the link in the email invitation.
4. In the “Open with” screen, tap Apple Music.
5. Tap Accept.
6. Sign in with your Apple ID and password.

Leave a family group

1. On your Android device, open the Apple Music app.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Account.
4. Tap Manage Family.
5. Tap [Your Name].
6. Tap Leave Family.

How to start and manage your own family group

When you get an Apple Music family subscription, you can start and manage a family group to share your subscription.

Upgrade to an Apple Music family subscription

1. On your Android device, open the Apple Music app.
2. Tap Listen Now.
3. Tap the More button.
4. Tap Account.
5. Tap Upgrade to Family.
6. Choose the Family plan.
7. Tap Join Apple Music.
8. Follow the onscreen steps to sign in with your Apple ID and verify your billing information.

Invite people to join your family group and share your subscription

1. On your Android device, open the Apple Music app.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Account.
4. Tap Manage Family.
5. Tap Add Family Member.
6. Enter a name or email address.
7. Tap Send.

Remove someone from your family group

1. On your Android device, open the Apple Music app.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Account.
4. Tap Manage Family.
5. Tap the family member that you want to remove.
6. Tap Remove From Family.

Stop Family Sharing

1. On your Android device, open the Apple Music app.
2. Tap the More button.
3. Tap Account.
4. Tap Manage Family.
5. Tap [Your Name].
6. Scroll down and tap Stop Family Sharing.

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References

Apple Support

Apple Insider