How to Set Up Family Sharing and a Child Account on iPhone

Family Sharing lets up to six people (the organizer plus five members) share purchases, an iCloud+ plan, Apple subscriptions and locations, while each keeps their own Apple Account and private data.

What you can share

• App Store purchases (for apps that support sharing).
• An iCloud+ storage plan: one 200 GB plan for the whole family is often cheaper. See iCloud storage.
• Apple Music Family, Apple TV+, Apple One...
• Location and Find My for each other's devices.

Create the family group

1. Open Settings > [your name] > Family (or Family Sharing).
2. Follow the steps to become the organizer. A payment method is used for shared purchases.
3. Tap Invite Others and send invitations by Messages or in person.

Create a child account

1. In Settings > Family, tap Add Member > Create Child Account.
2. Enter the child's name and date of birth, and confirm parental consent.
3. Set up the child's iPhone or iPad with this account.

Ask to Buy

With Ask to Buy, every purchase or free download by the child sends a request to the parent, who approves or declines. If the child cannot install apps: App Store not downloading.

Screen Time

• Set daily limits per app category and downtime at night.
• Restrict content by age and block explicit websites.
• Forgot the code? reset the Screen Time passcode.

Location

Children's locations can be shared with parents: share location with Find My.

Leave or remove a member

The organizer can remove members in Settings > Family. Children under 13 (age varies by country) cannot leave a family group on their own, but can be moved to another family.

Official reference: Apple: Family Sharing.