Apple Watch Family Setup Includes 'Apple Cash Family' to Let Kids Use Apple Pay

At today's media event, Apple announced Family Setup, a new feature coming tomorrow as part of watchOS 7 that will allow kids, elderly relatives, and others take advantage of many of the capabilities of the Apple Watch without the need for their own paired iPhone.

apple cash family
Compatible with Apple Watch Series 4 and later and the Apple Watch SE, Family Setup requires a cellular Apple Watch model and an active carrier plan for the watch. The primary user can then use the Watch app on their ‌iPhone‌ to set up an Apple Watch for another family member, managing access to various features and capabilities and receiving reports on activity.

One interesting feature of ‌Family Setup‌ is "Apple Cash Family," which lets a parent securely load money onto their child's Apple Watch and allows the child to then purchase items wherever Apple Pay is accepted.

With the new Apple Cash Family, parents can securely send their kids money to spend on their watch using Apple Pay. Parents can choose to receive notifications when their kids pay, and view their child’s purchases right in Wallet on their own iPhone.

Apple Cash Family helps parents give kids a limited amount of funds to spend at their discretion without needing to worry about cash that can be easily lost or stolen.

Apple Cash Family can be enabled for up to five family members, and oversight can be shared with another adult in your Family Sharing group. Parents can not only view activity and receive notifications of purchases and person-to-person payments, but also restrict access to Apple Cash balances if needed and limit who money can be sent to.

‌Family Setup‌ offers other helpful tools for parents and kids, with Schooltime and Downtime features that offer controls over when and what kids can do with their Apple Watch, kid-focused Activity rings, and more. And for older adults, ‌Family Setup‌ helps deliver key tools like fall detection, automatic emergency calling, and health features without the need for them to have an ‌iPhone‌.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, 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. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

David.Kennedy Avatar
56 months ago

What if you dont have any kids?
You were one of the smart ones. One of the good parents. You refused to bring a child into a world we’re they could not use Apple Pay.

Consider this announcement your all-clear. Just put your thing in the thing, go forth, and multiply.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
matrix07 Avatar
56 months ago

What if you dont have any kids?
Just adopt some.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
David.Kennedy Avatar
56 months ago
I’m fighting back tears as I type this because this is somethign of a dream come true. I have three kids myself, but for their entire lives, i've never been able to shake the feeling that something was missing, it's as if there was a giant hole in my, and their lives.

This annoucnement finally, at long last, provides some relief from this omnipresent torture. It was today that I realized that the giant hole in my heart, nay, my soul, was there because my kids; my children; my own flesh and blood; could not use Apple Pay. It was almost as if they weren't even human.

Well, that all ends today. A most glorious of days. The day my kids have been waiting for sknce they day they were born.

You know, i've been critical of Apple in the past, but I see that it was me who was wrong all of these years. I've been critical of those called "fanboys" by the less enlightened, but I was wrong, Perhaps evil. I would like to apologize, for it was my own deep-seated insecurity causing causing my scorn.

I can finally say that in September of 2020, I, too, feel the love. I finally see the light, and understand what you've been saying all along. Apple truly does know what's best for me. Not just me, but my entire family. All those years worrying about how much RAM my device had. And for what? It didn't matter. It never mattered. I didn't need to concern myself with things clearly above my level of understanding. I had to live with stress and anguish for years becwuse I stubbornly refused to let go and let Apple.

Well, no more. I've committed not just myself to Apple, but my entire family too. When Apple says "buy" the only thing we'll reply is "how many?".

Of cuorse, we'll use Apple Pay to make the purchases. Everyone will use Apple Pay. Even my six month old daughter will learn to use it.

The only thing I worry about now is our cat. When will he be able to use Apple Pay? And what of my Aloe Very plant? What is it to use? Google's offering? Cash???

I won't allow it.

I can't allow it.

I will not rest, I cannot rest, until every member of my household can use use Apple Pay.

if you see my wandering the earth, trying to make sense of the world ni which I live, take my hand, look me in the eye, and tell me what I need to hear .... that I must continue. For the good of my chidlren. For the good of mankind.

My quest continues.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
QCassidy352 Avatar
56 months ago

Just FYI, this article is a bit wrong. Apple Watch Family also works if the child has an iPhone 6s or later. It doesn’t technically have to be a cellular watch as long as it’s paired with an iPhone.

edit to add sources:
- “Family Setup will be available on Wednesday, September 16, as a free software update and requires cellular models of Apple Watch Series 4 or later or Apple Watch SE running watchOS 7, paired with iPhone 6s or later running iOS 14.“
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/09/apple-extends-the-apple-watch-experience-to-the-entire-family/
That’s not how I read it, or how I understood the keynote today. When they refer to iPhone 6s or later, they are talking about the parent‘s phone. The kid has to have a watch. To be sure, there are parental controls a parent can use for their child’s iPhone, but what was announced today requires the kid to have a watch, as I understand it.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GregJohn Avatar
56 months ago
I have to say:

Thanks Mom!
Great doing business with you. ?

is an interesting response to chores LOL

not a feature I need (or even available in canada) but I’m sure helpful for many
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OlliFlamme Avatar
56 months ago
I just plain and simple dislike the unnecessary child focus here. I don’t want my kids to have visible things that they potentially get robbed for. Apple thinks we all live in a fairytale...

Besides: watches and kids are a combo that make little sense. I have a 10 year and a 12 year old kid, and both have had smaller watches that have been long forgotten. In general, I see barely any kids wearing wristwatches, for obvious reasons of higher damage and loosing potential, but even more since kids plainly prefer not to have bulky stuf around their tiny wrists. The Apple watch gadget may well be more diverse in functionality, but it’s iPhones that serve their needs plenty well.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)