Learning how to share your iCloud storage with your family can help very beneficial for all.
As Apple’s iCloud subscription jumps from 200GB to 2TB, family sharing can also be used cut the price and help everyone get past that 200GB bump without wasting money.
Pros and Cons of Sharing Storage
Sharing iCloud storage can be very useful. It can be utilized in a multitude of different scenarios.
For example, If you are the head of the family and want to offer cloud storage to the rest, you have the option of buying whatever size plan you see fit. You can then invite up to five family members through their Apple Account to share the storage.
Another scenario that it could be beneficial in is if you and a family member, significant other, or compadre have both hit the 200GB limit on the 200GB, $2.99 a month plan. In order to get more iCloud storage the only next step up is the 2TB, $9.99 a month plan.
Since this is such a step jump in price and storage, ten times the storage to be precise, you could use the family sharing option to only play $5 each per month and mitigate that subscription charge, while still getting 5x the amount of storage you were paying $2.99 for.
Something important to keep in mind is that there is no division of the storage. The 2TB counts as 2TB no matter how much each user uses.
This means if there are two people using the storage, there is no system in place stopping one of them from using over half the storage. One user could theoretically use up 90% while the other only used 10%. Make sure you trust and agree upon the amount of usage each person will use when agreeing to share storage like this.
How to do it
The first step is to purchase the amount of storage desired on the main Apple ID that will be sharing the storage.
Do this by opening your settings and clicking on your name at the top. This will bring you to the settings for your Apple Account where you can manage your iCloud.
Once in the iCloud section you will choose the family option from the main settings menu.
Here you will have the option to invite a family member to share in your plan. This will be the blue profile icon with the + sign in the top right.
Once they accept the invitation, their name will display here in the list. Here you will also see their role in the family based on their own personal account. This is a designation, with examples being Adult or Child.
You also have the option to share select subscriptions from this menu, certain purchases, and the persons location if you would like.
You can also view the amount of storage used in the iCloud section of the settings.
There you will see a banner button that says storage, and gives a bar value and the actual value. If you click on this you will get a more in-depth breakdown of what is using the Storage.
You can track family members usage here, and even upgrade the plan if more storage is needed.
For a more in-depth look at iCloud Family Sharing, check out their official support page.
If you have questions about how to share your iCloud storage with your family, or our other services, please call or email. We’re happy to assist you! Feel free to use our contact form to send us a message. Thank you!