You can now share some in-app purchases through Apple Family Sharing

If you’ve ever wished you could share an in-app purchase with your family, you might be in luck. Today, Apple announced that subscriptions and one-time in-app purchases can now be shared between families. If you buy a consumable item, like coins in a game, you will still be the only one who can use them, but if you unlock ad-free or pro version application, they could be eligible for the new family sharing program.

Apple announced the change back in June with Big Sur, but it finally lets developers flip the switch to allow sharing of subscriptions and purchases.

Developers will need to reverse this switch, however, as they allow family sharing of a subscription or purchase. is a manual opt-in. For the moment, only one of my subscriptions, the FoodNoms calorie tracker app, allows you to share your subscription, but other big names such as the Ulysses writing app have also announced support for the feature. However, it looks like the feature is slowly rolling out. I asked my sister if she could access a subscription I had shared, and she couldn’t.

If you are the person buying the memberships in the family, it is easy to check which of them has the option to share by going to Settings, then clicking on your name. From there, tap Subscriptions.

At the top of the screen, you’ll see a switch titled Share New Subscriptions. If you activate it, your family members will automatically have access to any in-app subscriptions you sign up for. If you are planning on signing up for embarrassing subscriptions that you think could be shared with Mom and Dad, you can turn that off for now.

Below you will see the list of your current subscriptions. Tapping on any of them takes you to the Edit Subscription screen, where you’ll see a Share with Family switch if the developer has decided to allow it. Activating it will allow your family to access the subscription as if they had purchased it themselves!

MacRumors reported that the process is different for sharing unique in-app purchases. For example, Working copy ‘s The Pro version is unlocked via an integrated payment. In order for a family member to access it, they will need to go to the App Store, click on their account button in the upper right corner, go to Purchased, and then select the family member who purchased the unlock. They will then need to download the app from this screen. Depending on how the app is set up, they may need to click the Restore Purchases button. This process is much more complex, so I’d like to see some adjustments later.

If your favorite app does not yet support subscription sharing, it may be useful to return to the subscription screen from time to time. There are user reports receive notifications when one of their subscriptions becomes eligible for Family Sharing, but I haven’t gotten one yet. Since I’m currently not able to share my budget app subscription with my wife, I will definitely check the subscription screen every now and then to see if my favorite apps are adopting the model.