Can I Approve Family Share Apps On My Mac
How Ask to Buy works
- Apr 11, 2016 How to Set Up Family Sharing in iOS. To share apps and purchases with other family members on your iPhone and iPads set up family sharing following the instructions below: Add Users to Family Sharing. Decide who is going to be the family organizer; On the family organizer’s iPhone or iPad go to settings; Click on iCloud; Click Set up Family.
- Apr 11, 2016 In addition to the app sharing capabilities, family sharing allows you to set up different permissions for different family members. So, you can specify that children must get permission to purchase a new song or app, even free ones. This way you can keep an eye on what apps your kids are getting.
Mar 03, 2015 How am I to locate request on my iPad to approve family share purchases made by the kids? Does Apple have any apps which will sync all phone data to a Macbook Pro time to time? Tweetbot for Mac returns to the Mac App Store. By iMore.com in forum iMore.com News Discussion & Contests Replies: 0.
With Ask to Buy and Family Sharing, whenever a child initiates a new purchase or free download, a request goes to the family organizer. The organizer can review the item and approve the purchase or decline the request right from their own iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. For example, this could be a request for items in the iTunes, Apple Books, or App Store, In-App Purchases, or iCloud storage.
If the family organizer approves the purchase, the content downloads automatically to their family member’s device. If they decline, no purchase or download will take place. If your child downloads a previous purchase again, downloads a shared purchase, installs an update, or uses a redemption code in the store, you won't get a notification.
Who can use Ask to Buy
The family organizer can turn on Ask to Buy for any family member who isn't an adult. It's on by default for any children under 13, and you'll be asked to set up Ask to Buy when inviting anyone under 18 to your family group.* If your child turns 18 and the family organizer turns off Ask to Buy, you will not be able to turn it back on again.
How to turn Ask to Buy on or off
If you're the family organizer, use these steps to turn Ask to Buy on or off for family members who are under 18.* If you turn off Ask to Buy for a family member after they turn 18,* you can't turn it on again.
If you created your child's account using Apple ID for Students, you can use Ask to Buy for personal purchases outside of the educational institution. It won't apply to any apps or other content distributed by the school.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Go to Settings > [your name].
- Tap Family Sharing.
- Tap your family member's name.
- Tap Ask to Buy.
On your Mac with macOS Catalina
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
- Click Family in the sidebar.
- Click Details next to the child's name on the right.
- Select Ask to Buy.
On your Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Then click iCloud.
- Click Manage Family and select your family member's name.
- Select Ask to Buy.
How to approve or decline a request
If you're the organizer, you can use these steps to make or decline the purchase from your iOS device or Mac:
- Open the notification to see the item that your family member wants to get. Can't find your Ask to Buy notifications?
- Approve or decline the purchase.
- If you approve, you need to sign in with your Apple ID and password to make the purchase.

What happens next
After the item's purchased, it's added to your child’s account and shared with the rest of the family group if you have purchase sharing turned on.**
If you decline a request, your child receives a notification that you declined the request. If you dismiss the request or don't make the purchase, it will be deleted after 24 hours, and the child will need to make the request again.
Where to find your Ask to Buy requests
If you miss an Ask to Buy notification, you can find the request in Notification Center on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac.
How to choose another approver
The organizer can give another parent or guardian in the group over the age of 18 permission to manage Ask to Buy requests. Only one adult needs to manage each purchase, and after it's done, the purchase is final.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
- Go to Settings > [your name].
- Tap Family Sharing, then tap your family member.
- Tap Parent/Guardian.
On your Mac with macOS Catalina
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Family Sharing.
- Click Family in the sidebar.
- Click Details next to the family member's name, then select Parent/Guardian.
On your Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Click iCloud, then select your family member.
- Select Parent/Guardian.
How children or teens can make a request with Ask to Buy
If Ask to Buy is enabled for your account, you can browse the store normally, but before a purchase is complete, a request goes to your family organizer. Just use these steps to send a request to your organizer:
- Tap the price on the item that you want to get.
- If asked, enter your Apple ID and password.
- Tap Ask. Your request will go to the organizer. You can tap 'approve it in person' if the organizer is nearby and they can make the purchase directly from your device. Even if you make multiple requests for the same item, your organizer will get only one notification.
- After the purchase is made, it will download to your device automatically.**
* Age varies by country or region.
** In South Korea, a child might be asked to verify their age after an Ask to Buy request is approved. Learn about age verification in South Korea.
Once users are running iOS 8 on their iPhone, iPad and Apple TV, they'll be able to share all iTunes account purchases, including apps, music and movies, between up to six people in their family.
The new Family Sharing feature in iOS 8 can be enabled by launching the Settings app, choosing iCloud, and then selecting 'Set Up Family Sharing.' Doing so on the initial device will establish that person and their account as the 'Family organizer.'

Apple's Family Sharing system works by having the organizer and their credit card control purchasing of content on the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore for up to five other people.
As long as all users are making purchases with the same credit card, all content purchased separately on different devices can be freely shared with one another. This includes legacy content tied to a separate Apple ID that may have been purchased with a different credit card.
After setting up the payment method and adding authorized users, past purchases from other Apple IDs under the Family Sharing umbrella may not appear immediately. In our tests, we had to download content — Â a free app did the trick — in order to view others' purchases in Apple's three online storefronts.
How To Set Up Family Share
Application developers do need to enable Family Sharing for their content to be available on separate devices. In our tests, content from the iTunes Store and iBookstore was unrestricted.
To view and download purchases from other Family Sharing users, find the 'Purchased' menu in the App Store, iTunes Store or iBookstore. Once there, iOS 8 provides a list of your purchases, as well as 'Family Purchases' from other people on the shared account.
How Do I Approve Apps On Family Sharing
Family Sharing goes beyond copyrighted content, however. Another feature is easier location sharing, allowing users to track each others' devices with the Find My iPhone app.
By default, family members' device locations are shared in Find My iPhone. This can be disabled through the 'Share My Location' setting in the iCloud app.
The Family organizer can also identify members as a parent or guardian, which authorizes them to approve 'Ask to Buy' requests from children in the family. Using Family Sharing, parents can control what apps their kids can buy remotely, accepting or declining attempted transactions from their own iPhone or iPad.
Family Sharing also includes a dedicated iCloud Photo Stream for family members. Posting a photo, video or comment to this stream will make it available on all members' devices, and notifications will be sent once someone adds to the stream.
Finally, Family Sharing members also gain access to a new, automatically created 'Family' list in the iOS 8 Reminders app. As expected, new items created on this list will be seen on all members' devices.
AppleInsider has affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content.