How Yosemite and iOS 8 devices turn on home sharing

In the newer version of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, a new feature called "Home Sharing" allows for easy content sharing and interaction among multiple users. Specifically, this feature allows up to 6 family members to share content purchased from itunes, ibooks, or the App Store. It also allows family members to share photos, family calendars, and more. So how should users turn on this feature?

Preparatory work

The user's device needs to run iOS 8 or higher system version and log in to a valid icloud account. Before you start sharing your family, you need to make sure you're ready to designate yourself or another user as the organizer. The organizer needs to pay for the content of all the family members in the shared group.

In addition, you need to make sure that the organizer's itunes account has an effective payment method. On the Mac platform, you can access the menu bar > Store > View account to view. The way iOS devices are viewed is to go into app store> and scroll to the bottom of the "Boutique recommendations" tab at Apple id> click Apple id> to view Apple id> payment information.

Open Family Sharing

1. Enter settings >iCloud> set up family sharing, which will allow you to start setting up as organizer.

2. Click Start to use. Make sure that the mailbox address displayed on the screen is correct.

3. Ensure that the information displayed in the "payment method" is correct. If not, you can enter the app store> boutique recommendation tab >apple id> view the Apple id> payment information for modification.

4. Click on "shared location" to share your location with family members, and you can also click "later" to reject it.

Add family members

1. To add family members, you need to click "Add family members" in the main menu.

2. In the pop-up window, you can send an invitation to another user's icloud account. Alternatively, you can have another user enter the organizer's icloud password to join the shared group.

3. After the invitation is sent, the invitees will see the push notification on the iOS device. When clicked, the system prompts them to share their purchase and location.

4. By default, users invited by the organizer will be recognized as adults, without the need for permission to purchase content. But organizers can also create Apple IDs for children.

5. Creating an Apple ID for a child requires the organizer to enter the child's birthday and enter the security code for the credit card's main card.

6. Next, the organizer can enter a name like the regular icloud setup steps and create e-mail addresses, passwords, and security issues.

7. After that, the organizer can turn on "Request for purchase", which allows a child user to send a request to the organizer to purchase an application, song, or book, which can approve or reject the request. Organizers can also choose whether to share the location of children's devices. When the settings are complete, the child user will appear in the Home sharing menu.

Share what you buy

Family members have access to each other's applications, books, songs, movies, TV shows and downloads. To download family members ' shared content, users can enter the "Purchased" tab of the itunes store, ibooks or App Store. Here, the user can select a family member and browse the list of content available for downloading. To hide a purchase, you can go to the "Purchased" tab, slide to the left of what you want to hide, and then choose Hide.

Apple points out that certain types of content cannot be downloaded by members of the sharing group, including songs added from outside the itunes store to match itunes, apps that are not already on the itunes store, and apps that are labeled as not shared.

Home Calendars and albums

In addition to sharing purchased content, family Sharing also allows multiple users to edit individual calendars or albums. To add items to the calendar, family members can go to the calendar application and then select the family calendar in the option. The organizer can view and edit the calendar permissions for each family member by selecting Calendar and clicking the "I" flag next to the family calendar.

To open the Share album feature, all family members must be in the setup >iCloud> photo >icloud photo sharing. When this setting is turned on, family albums can be viewed in the photo > Share > Share > Family. The user can click the plus sign in the upper right corner to add a new photo and all members will be notified when the addition is complete.

Share your location and find my iphone

Users in the sharing group can also track each other's location by looking for my iphone or information application. Find My iphone app to show the location of all family members on the map, and provide details about their current city and distance.

Similarly, if a family member's Mac, IPhone, ipad, or ipod Touch is lost and needs to be tracked, other users in the sharing group can view it in the application. When the missing device is selected, the user can choose to play the beep, open the lost mode to lock the device, or select the erase device.

Attention matters

While it is convenient to use a sharing group for device tracking, there are several points to note. For example, any user in a sharing group, including a child user, can use his or her own password to lock or erase a device, which does not require permission from another user. They can also command the device to play a noisy alarm tone, even if it is not turned off mode.

If the device is really lost, these features can become very useful. But at the same time, they can also be incorrectly opened, resulting in data loss or unexpected interference. Therefore, it is best for each user in the sharing group to use a search for my iphone feature with care.

Another factor to consider is that all members of the sharing group must use the same credit card or debit card for the purchase, and the card is controlled by the organizer. If there is a balance in the account of a member, the purchase will be used preferentially.

It's also important to note that to create an Apple ID for a child, a parent or an organization must have a credit card to indicate his or her adult identity, and Apple does not accept a debit card.