How to fix Family Sharing in Apple Music on iPhone and iPad

Apple Music on iPhone beside HomePod mini
(Image credit: Future)

Family Sharing on your Apple devices is a very useful feature, as long as it works. The feature allows you to share your Apple subscriptions with other family members that use an iPhone, iPad, or any other Apple product.

Once added to Family Sharing, everyone can use Apple Arcade, Apple TV Plus, share iCloud storage, and lots more.

In this guide, we'll look at using Family Sharing with Apple Music which can often not work as expected. With this in mind, we've rounded up the best troubleshooting recommendations to fix your plight with getting Family Sharing working with your Apple Music account.

What you'll need

If you want to use Family Sharing with Apple Music you'll need access to an Apple device. There are so many to choose from but we've selected the best iPhone alongside our favorite iPad and Mac at the moment. So if you're looking to start using Family Sharing with Apple Music or looking for a new device, here are our picks:

iPhone 15 Pro $999 at Apple

iPhone 15 Pro $999 at Apple

If you're looking for the best iPhone to listen to Apple Music why not opt for the iPhone 15 Pro? With Dynamic Island you can control your music with ease and the battery life on the device is pretty awesome too.

iPad Air 6 13-inch |$799$754 at Amazon

iPad Air 6 13-inch | $799 $754 at Amazon

With an M2 chip and a 13-inch screen option, the new iPad Air 6 is one of the best iPads available right now. The 13-inch model is perfect for anyone looking to view their Apple Music library on a large screen.

13-inch M3 MacBook Air, 256GB |$1,099$999 at Amazon

13-inch M3 MacBook Air, 256GB | $1,099 $999 at Amazon 

The 13-inch M3 MacBook Air is the best Mac for most people and you can currently save $100 at Amazon right now. If you're looking to get work done, this powerhouse is the perfect mix of portability and power.

Fixing Family Sharing on Apple Music

iPhone 12 with Apple Music

(Image credit: Tammy Rogers/ iMore)

Below, we've got four solutions that could help fix your issues with enabling Family Sharing on Apple Music.

Make sure the family member's device is using the same Apple Music account

Family Sharing requires the devices of other family members to be logged in to their individual Apple IDs. For example, if you're the head of the household, your family member's iPhone or iPad needs to be logged into their account, not yours.

Some users may share Apple Music accounts for purchased content — but to get Family Sharing to work, every account on the family member's device must be linked to that family member's account. You can't have a different Apple ID for Apple Music on the same device.

Log out and in again

Straight to the point — have a family member switch off their Apple Music account by going to Settings > Apple Music, then remove them from the Family Sharing screen if they're there.

You can do this by going to Settings > iCloud > Family Sharing.

Have them enable Apple Music, and once it's back on their device, try to add them back into Family Sharing.

Remove then re-add everyone from your Family account 

The apocalyptic option, but it can work — simply remove everyone from your Family Sharing settings. Have all of them delete the Music app on iPhone and iPad, and also have them log out of their Apple ID accounts.

Once this is all done, do the opposite — log back in with their Apple ID accounts on their devices, enable Apple Music, then add them back into Family Sharing.

 Chat with Apple Music Support

If you've tried everything and nothing's working still, talk to Apple. Hopefully someone in the team can help walk you through problems with your account and go from there.

One more thing... the reward is when it all works

Apple Music collaborative playlists

(Image credit: Future)

It's only in the past couple of years that I've begun to see the true potential of Family Sharing. It's an impressive feature, especially for students who may want to share an Apple Music subscription.

My wife and I share some services — such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, and PlayStation Plus, so Family Sharing was the natural step for us, as we only own iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches.

I have, however, come across some issues in adding a couple of Apple's services to this — random errors would appear, simply refusing me to allow my wife to use Apple Music.

After she signed out of her Apple ID and signed back in, everything worked, and, four months later, everything is still working great.

If you're thinking of setting it up, don't worry about potential issues that may crop up — the above solutions will be able to help you out if needed.

Daryl Baxter
Features Editor

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.

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