Fix Apple Music Family Sharing Not Working [8 Ways]

Apple Music offers a family plan, accommodating up to 6 family members to share the subscription at $16.99/month. However, the family sharing feature doesn't 100% work after subscribing. You may encounter Apple Music not working with family sharing, either for the family organizer or family members.

To fix the family sharing Apple Music not working issue, you might consider trying out the following 8 methods in this post. Among these solutions, we recommend you use an Apple Music converter to download the songs you like as local MP3 files to share with your family offline. Thus, you and your family members can get uninterrupted access to your favorite tracks without turning on "Family Sharing".

Fix 1. Sign out of Media & Purchases and Sign Back in

Even though you don't know the exact reason for Apple Music family sharing not working, you can always try to log out of your Media & Purchases and then log back in. The steps are as follows:

1. Go to settings on your iPhone/iPad/Mac. Tap/click your profile at the top.

2. Navigate to Media & Purchases > Sign Out.

3. Tap Media & Purchases again, and then sign in with the Apple ID you use for family sharing.

Now check if the Apple Music Family Sharing is working properly. If not, continue with the following fixes.

Fix 2. Check If You Have Set Up Apple Music Family Sharing Correctly

Generally, if you've set up Apple Music Family Sharing correctly, you can successfully get your plan shared with family members. But family sharing Apple Music not working can happen when you haven't set it up correctly. To make sure you haven't missed anything, you can check your process according to the steps below:

1. On your iPhone/iPad/Mac, navigate to Settings > Your Name > Family Sharing > Subscriptions.

2. Check if your Apple Music subscription has been shared with your family members.

3. If not, enable Apple Music family sharing with your family members.

Fix 3. Use the Same Apple ID for Purchases and Family Sharing

If you have created more than one Apple ID, you can try to fix Apple Music family sharing not working by checking if you use the same Apple ID for purchasing and Family Sharing. Here is the guide on how to check the Apple ID you are using.

On iPhone/iPad:

1. Open the Apple Music app. Tap your profile on the top right.

2. Tap Account Settings at the bottom. The Apple ID shown on top is the one you use for purchases.

3. Tap Family Sharing. Check if the Apple ID you use for family sharing is the same as the ID shown on top.

4. If not, go to the Settings app. Sign out your Apple ID and sign in with the one you use for purchases.

On Mac:

1. Navigate to System Settings > Family > Purchases. Make a note of the Apple ID displayed.

2. Then launch the App Store. Click your profile on the left bottom. Check the Apple ID here. Make sure it's the same as the one you use for family sharing.

Fix 4. Remove and Then Re-add Your Family Members

If you find your Apple Music family sharing not working for family members, the problem might be caused by an error occurring when you add members to your Apple Music Family Plan. Therefore, try to remove them and add them to your Family Plan again.

1. Go to Settings > Family (under your profile) on your iPhone.

2. Select the family member who has a problem with Apple Music family sharing. Remove him/her.

3. Tap the add member icon on the top right. Send the invitation to whom you've just removed.

Fix 5. Try Again When a Family Member's Apple Music Trial Is Over

Family members who are still in the Apple Music trial period will not be able to join your Apple Music family sharing until their trial ends. Once their trial expires, you can try again to turn the Apple Music Family Sharing feature on and invite him/her to join the family sharing and see if it works properly.

Fix 6. Make Sure Your Device Meets the System Requirements for Family Sharing

Family sharing Apple Music not working will happen on devices running old system versions. To view the content shared by your family members, you must utilize an iPhone or iPad with iOS 9 or newer, or a Mac running OS X El Capitan 10.11 or a more recent version. Older devices will not display the shared content from your family.

Fix 7. Contact Apple Music Support for Help

If you've already tried all the above solutions, but the family sharing Apple Music not working still exists, then ask Apple for help. Simply go to Apple Support, scroll down, and click on "Get support" and the corresponding option, then either talk to Apple support by phone or start a chat session with Apple support.

Fix 8. Share Apple Music Without Family Sharing

If you cannot fix Apple Music family sharing not working by following the above solutions, here we will offer a guaranteed final resort for you to try. You can convert Apple Music to MP3, and then share the music with your family members without the limitations of the "Family Sharing" feature.

TuneFab Apple Music Converter is the tool to help achieve this. It can efficiently convert and download Apple Music to common audio formats such as MP3, M4A, and FLAC. Plus, all the downloaded songs through TuneFab are DRM-free, which means they can be permanently saved on your computer drive for convenient offline playback and flexible sharing with your family members or friends.

Now follow the steps below to download Apple Music to MP3 with TuneFab.

1. Log in to the Apple Music web player with your Apple ID.

2. Browse and drag the song/playlist/album to the "Plus" plugin to add them to the convert list.

3. Adjust output parameters for the songs to be downloaded.

4. Click Convert All to download the songs to your computer.

FAQs About Family Sharing Apple Music Not Working

Q1: How to Join an Apple Music Family Subscription?

The invitation to join the Apple Music Family Subscription is usually sent to you via email or text message. You can easily accept or decline the invitation directly from your device. If you miss the invitation, follow these steps to find it back:

● On iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch: Turn to "Settings", tap "Your Name/Apple ID", then enter "Invitation".

● On Mac devices: Enter "Apple Menu" > "System Settings", then click "Family".

After the "Invitation" page is displayed, just follow the instructions on the screen. You may be asked to confirm your account information and opt into any features or services that your family has set up.

Q2: How to Invite Members to Join Apple Music Family on Mac?

As mentioned before, after you create and set up your Apple Music Family Group, you can invite others to join the group. The steps are also very easy to follow.

Step 1. On the "Settings" page, enter "Family", then you can find the "Add People" icon at the top.

Step 2. Then, you can invite members to join or customize other settings options on this page. To check the status of an invitation, you can tap the name of the inviter directly on the "Family" screen.

Conclusion

This post lists several effective solutions to address issues with Apple Music Family Sharing not working properly. Should you require it, please bookmark this article for future reference in case of necessity. Alternatively, you can consider using TuneFab Apple Music Converter as mentioned earlier to download Apple Music as local MP3 files for offline music-sharing without turning on the family sharing feature. Hope this post will fully meet your needs.