Apple Begins Asking Developers to Turn On Family Sharing for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite Apps

Just a couple days after announcing Family Sharing, a feature that allows families to share iTunes and App Store purchases, Apple has begun emailing developers to ask them to turn on the feature in their iTunes Connect developer portal.

While Family Sharing is a significant addition to the App Store, the opt-in requirement for developers could see some declining to allow their apps to be shared amongst as many as six accounts with no extra charge.

familysharing

To make your apps available as part of Family Sharing, agree to the updated iOS Paid Applications and/or Mac Paid Applications agreement in Contracts, Tax and Banking on iTunes Connect. To ensure that Family Sharing is also enabled for previously purchased apps, leave the appropriate checkbox selected on the agreements page.

Family Sharing also allows families to share calendars, reminders, photos and locations. It also allows parents to monitor and approve downloads and purchases made by their children remotely. The feature is likely to get turned on and tested in the iOS 8 betas before going live when iOS 8 is available for the public later this year.

Popular Stories

airtag purple

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch Next Year With These New Features

Sunday November 17, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Apple released the AirTag in April 2021, so it is now three over and a half years old. While the AirTag has not received any hardware updates since then, a new version of the item tracking accessory is rumored to be in development. Below, we recap rumors about a second-generation AirTag. Timing Apple is aiming to release a new AirTag in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman....
Magic Mouse Next to Keyboard

No, Apple CEO Tim Cook Didn't Say He Prefers Logitech's MX Master 3 Over the Magic Mouse

Sunday November 17, 2024 3:03 pm PST by
While the Logitech MX Master 3 is a terrific mouse for the Mac, reports claiming that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers that mouse over the Magic Mouse are false. The Wall Street Journal last month published an interview with Cook, in which he said he uses every Apple product every day. Soon after, The Verge's Wes Davis attempted to replicate using every Apple product in a single day. During that...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Wednesday November 13, 2024 2:09 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 next month, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well....
iCloud General Feature

Apple Acknowledges iCloud Notes Disappearing and Explains How to Fix

Saturday November 16, 2024 9:45 am PST by
Earlier this month, we reported about some iPhone users temporarily losing all of their notes in the Notes app after accepting Apple's updated iCloud terms and conditions. Apple has now indirectly acknowledged this issue in a new support document that outlines steps to follow if your iCloud notes are not appearing on your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro. Fortunately, the notes can be re-synced...
iPhone 7 Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter

Apple Seemingly Discontinuing Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter Introduced Alongside iPhone 7

Sunday November 17, 2024 12:33 pm PST by
It appears that Apple is discontinuing the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter that it released alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in 2016. The adapter was recently listed as "sold out" on Apple's online store in the U.S. and most other countries, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The adapter remains available from Apple in only a handful of countries, such as...

Top Rated Comments

newagemac Avatar
137 months ago
Here's a nugget that most people don't know about. You could always share purchased iPhone/iPad apps among your family using Apple's Home Sharing feature in iTunes which has been available for many years now. This new Family Sharing thing is just more visible, adds more features, and is more automated.

Also MacRumors should clarify that from now on, it appears Family Sharing is required when selling in the App Store. There is nothing to turn on or off for developers. The only thing the checkbox applies to is for previously purchased apps.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
stiligFox Avatar
137 months ago
This is one of those things that a developer would need a really good reason not to allow this. Otherwise it may come across as a dev just being greedy. It's going to be a fine balance!

That said, I'm really looking forward to this for iTunes music/movies purchases.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
surfingarbo Avatar
137 months ago
When I was a kid, I would never share games with my sister.

Reflecting back on many years ago, it is a good thing to share.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
grjj Avatar
137 months ago
No reason not to

First... Family Sharing doesn't enable anything new. Between Home Sharing and just plain syncing apps to a device, it was possible to do much of this before. This just makes it simple, ubiquitous and adds explicit protection against "my kid send $2,000 in gumdrops in his game".

From the bit of text in the article and what I've experienced at Apple, this won't be opt-in in the sense you think; I read this as allow sharing or don't agree to the new terms and you're not a developer any longer.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
John.B Avatar
137 months ago
Did anyone else read the first few lines of this image in the 1984 commercial voice?
:confused:

WTF?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M-O Avatar
137 months ago
Here's a nugget that most people don't know about. You could always share purchased iPhone/iPad apps among your family using Apple's Home Sharing feature in iTunes which has been available for many years now. This new Family Sharing thing is just more visible, adds more features, and is more automated.
Home sharing lets you share content across different devices using the same apple id. Family sharing lets you share content across 6 different apple id's. it's quite different.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)