iCloud Family Sharing Issue

Soldato
Joined
15 Dec 2002
Posts
23,861
Location
In a cowfield, London, UK
Hi All,

Need to run this by folks who are more clued up than me here because Apple haven't really answered and searching online is a pointless minefield.

I have a 200GB iCloud sub (£2.99 a month). I WAS sharing this with those in my 'Family' but I've stopped for now. Cloud storage is no where near full.

Family Members:
Mommy (crappy 2016 iPad)
Wife (crappy 2016 iPad, new iPhone 15 coming tomorrow)
My sister in law who I've recently added (iPhone 13)

So I've been paying £2.99 every month for a while. However I've only noticed that since Jan 2025 I have been billed £2.99 twice for an iCloud sub. The first bill is under my own account, the other bill is under my sis in laws and I can't figure out why. She's in my family so she should fall under my sub and its sharing feature. The only reason I added her is so that she can see my iTunes Library on her tv and access my film purchases.

The Family settings under her account are the exact same as my mothers and wifes. So a week ago I just stopped sharing for now however I've purchased an iPhone for my wife, which is due tomorrow as shes finally given up on android after a decade. I can't figure out why this issue occurred.
 
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Is purchase sharing on? Here is some details from apple’s website.

“As the organiser, you’re responsible for adding to and managing your Family Sharing group. If you turn on Purchase Sharing, you’ll be billed for existing and future media purchases and subscriptions made by all family members.”
 
Yeah you need to check your family sharing settings. It's not just all on or off, there is more granular control.

I have family sharing on to give my parents photo storage and allow us to have a family album, I also have subscription sharing on for ones that support it, but I have purchase sharing off.

If you have purchase sharing on, as in the post above, you will be billed for anyone in the family group making a purchase or sub. That could include a seperate icloud sub.
 
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Did your sister in law opt into the shared iCloud storage? Apologies if repeating something you already know, but if you share a feature like iCloud + the person you shared it with I believe has to go in and accept the offer, otherwise they stay on their own personal iCloud tier, so possibly they signed up normally thinking it was freely shared?
 
Hi folks, thanks for the replies. I think you've all cleared it up.

So yes, my sis in law does pay for 200GB of iCloud storage so that has to be it (the charges were coming to me) as I did have Purchase Sharing on - as I wanted her to access my iTunes library. In order to do that though I need to enable PS. I find it all a bit confusing.

I am just going to remove her to just simplify things. With a newborn she hasn't time to watch my iTunes media anyway really!

Thanks for clarifying things everyone.
 
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