Apple adds Family Sharing support for app subscriptions

Family Sharing For Subscriptions (Image credit: Ryan Jones)

What you need to know

Family Sharing for subscriptions is now live.
Users can share non-Apple subscriptions with their family members.

Family Sharing is one of the best features of subscription services like Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade. While families have been able to enjoy sharing subscriptions directly from Apple, they have not been able to easily share subscriptions from third-party apps. Today, it appears that Family Sharing for non-Apple subscriptions is rolling out to users.

Former Apple employee Ryan Jones noticed the change when he received a notification about sharing his subscription for an app called Keep It Mobile with his family.

Family Sharing for Subscriptions just went live. pic.twitter.com/QxPDiztNWwFamily Sharing for Subscriptions just went live. pic.twitter.com/QxPDiztNWw— Ryan Jones (@rjonesy) December 3, 2020 December 3, 2020

Jones noted that the feature is turned off by default for existing subscriptions, but that there is a setting to share future subscription purchases that is turned on by default.

There's a new setting to share new subscriptions. (It was on by default.) pic.twitter.com/BljD4jq1OBThere's a new setting to share new subscriptions. (It was on by default.) pic.twitter.com/BljD4jq1OB— Ryan Jones (@rjonesy) December 3, 2020 December 3, 2020

Jones also noted that, when he did turn on Family Sharing for the subscription, his family members were not notified and the subscription did not show up for them.

My family members were not notified. And it's not showing up in their subscriptions either.

Maybe it authenticates via Restore Purchase?

So you have to manually tell everyone in the family when you share.My family members were not notified. And it's not showing up in their subscriptions either.

Maybe it authenticates via Restore Purchase?

So you have to manually tell everyone in the family when you share.— Ryan Jones (@rjonesy) December 3, 2020 December 3, 2020

It is currently unknown why the feature is turned off by default and how family members will be able to take advantage of subscriptions shared with them. We'll be sure to update this piece once we learn more.

Have you successfully shared an app subscription with your family? Let us know in the comments!

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.