How to sign up and activate an Apple Music family plan

Apple Music's family plan is hooked into iOS and macOS's Family Sharing feature: It lets multiple different Apple IDs share calendars, photos, movies, TV, and music. Previous to Family Sharing, families had to use one Apple ID for all their purchases—which can be a pain on a number of levels. When you sign up for an Apple Music Family plan, which supports simultaneous listening for up to six devices or accounts, all the infrastructure is being taken care of by Family Sharing. In theory, getting your family on board is as simple as signing up for Family Sharing, purchasing a Family subscription, and having your other family members log in.

How to sign up for Family Sharing on iPhone or iPad

Since the Apple Music Family Plan uses Family sharing, you'll need to sign up for Family Sharing first.

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The family organizer is the person that should initially set up Family Sharing. As the family organizer, you are the one that will receive requests for purchases and, more importantly, you are agreeing to pay for any purchases that anyone in the family group makes, adult or child.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8 or higher.
  2. Tap the Apple ID banner at the top.

  3. Tap Set Up Family Sharing.

    Launch Settings, tap your Apple ID, tap Set Up Family Sharing

  4. Tap on Get Started.
  5. Tap on Continue. You can add a photo beforehand if you'd like, but this is optional.

  6. Tap Continue to share purchases.

    Tap Get Started, tap Continue, tap Continue

  7. Tap Continue to confirm your payment method. This can be changed in settings.
  8. tap Share Your Location to share it with Family members or tap Not Now.

  9. Tap Add Family Member.

    Tap Continue, share your location or tap Not Now, tap Add Family Member

  10. Start typing someone's name.
  11. Tap the person you'd like to add as a Family Member.

  12. Enter the credit card security code when prompted in order to verify that you're the organizer.

    Start typing someone's name, tap it, enter the security code for the credit card on file.

That's it! Just keep adding members until everyone in your family is added (up to 6 people). They will receive an email notification as well as a push notification on their devices asking them to accept your invite. Once they do, all purchases made from that point forward will be charged to the family organizer's account. And they'll instantly have access to everyone else in the group's purchases.

How to sign up for Apple Music's family plan

Note: If your family members have already signed up for an Apple Music free trial, this won't work; you'll have to wait until after their free trial period is over to sign them up as part of your Family plan.

  1. Launch the Music app. You'll see a splash screen that welcomes you to Apple Music.

  2. Tap Try it free to begin the registration process.

    If you tapped Go to My Music after first seeing this screen, you can return to this signup at any time by tapping the Account icon in the top left corner of the Music app and tapping Join Apple Music.

  3. Choose the Family membership plan.

  4. Tap Start Trial (you won't be charged for each until your three-month trial ends).

    Launch the Music app, tap Try it Free, and tap the Family plan, and then tap start trial.

  5. Sign in to the iTunes Store with your Apple ID and password. You may also be prompted to agree to the new iTunes terms and conditions if you haven't already.

  6. Confirm that you want to sign up for Apple Music.

Now, you have signed up to the Family membership to Apple Music, all the members of your Family Sharing (up to 6) will be able to access Apple Music once they log in into Apple Music.

How to log in to Apple Music

Your family members will need to sign in to Apple Music with their Apple ID. Make sure it is the same Apple ID you've assigned to them when you set up Family Sharing.

  1. Launch the Music app from the Home screen.
  2. Tap For You tab.
  3. Tap the Account icon. It looks like a person.

  4. Enter your Apple ID and Sign In

    Launch the Music app, tap For You, tap the account icon, and then enter your Apple ID and sign in.

Questions?

If you have any questions about signing up for an Apple Music Family plan, let us know in the comments.

Updated August 2019: Updated for iOS 12 and iOS 13.

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