Apple's Family Sharing: Potential for conflict during separation
When people who previously cooperated in Apple's Family Sharing go their separate ways, difficulties can arise. A solution is missing.
Managing Family Sharing on an iPhone.
(Image: Apple)
Actually, Apple's so-called Family Sharing, also known as Family Sharing in English, is a useful thing: an organizer can use it to share access to services like the App Store, iCloud+, Apple TV, and more with up to five other family members. They can also determine who is allowed to do what – for example, with teenagers and children. The problem: if a separation occurs, conflicts can arise. If both parents no longer get along, the organizer can continue to decide what the offspring can do – in the USA, individuals have already refused to refrain from doing so despite a court order.
Group remains intact
An ex-husband is said to have made Family Sharing according to a report by Wired magazine "a weapon." After the relationship ended, the person continued to track the offspring, who lived alternately with the mother, using "Find My?" tracking, monitored device usage via Screen Time, and used it to play the children against the mother. The ex-husband refused to dissolve the family group.
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"I mistakenly assumed that as a parent with custody rights, I could get Apple to move my children to a new family group with me as the organizer with a court order," said the affected person. Apple itself could not (or would not) help, as the family organizer has the power. The company did not comment on the problem.
One person is the boss
Family Sharing has been around since 2014. The reason there can only be one family organizer is likely because only that person pays for the entire group – and ultimately is Apple's business partner. Why there is no option to split is unclear. Deleting and restarting with entirely new Apple accounts is often not an option for those affected because the entire iPhone, iPad, or Mac identity is tied to the account.
While Family Sharing allows both parents to be made administrators, only one has full power. Apple itself separates family group members into children, adults, "custodial persons," and the organizer. In the case Wired magazine writes about, there was at least a happy ending: the children annoyed their father until he dissolved the group.
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