Can I Share Movies, TV Shows, Other Content With Family?

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published February 25, 2025

I’d love to be able to share with my parents the music, movies, e-books and other content I purchase or receive through subscriptions on my phone and other devices. But we don’t live under the same roof. Can I do so, and will it save me or them any money?

The short answer is yes, you can share most of that stuff. And since you didn’t specify, whether the content was purchased through Apple or Google doesn’t matter.

While you’re unlikely to save money yourself and could possibly pay more, any of your older relatives probably will save — if only because they won’t have to spend their own loot on fare you’ve already bought. In some ways, this is the digital era’s version of passing along a print magazine.

The two tech powerhouses each provide plans that let you share content with your spouse and kids living in the same house. But that sharing can include extended family like parents or grandparents who reside elsewhere.

Apple’s plan is aptly named Family Sharing; the Google Play equivalent is called Family Library. If you have an especially large clan, keep in mind that each plan limits the number of participants to five plus yourself.

Parental controls are tied into the two plans depending on a youngster’s age. Mom and Dad can monitor or restrict certain content. You probably wouldn’t apply the same rules to Grandma.

Apple’s Family Sharing can include Apple TV+

With certain restrictions, Apple lets you share individual content you pay for: apps, e-books, movies, music and TV shows including Apple TV+ streaming service. You also can share Apple subscriptions that include Apple Arcade games, Fitness+, iCloud+ and News+, some bundled in an offering called Apple One.

Worth noting: Through a separate feature outside of Family Sharing called iCloud Shared Photo Library, you can share photos and videos with up to five others. They in turn can add their own images to the collection.

With the most expensive iCloud plan, you also can share up to 12 terabytes (TB) of storage.

How to get started. The first step is to decide who in your household will be the family organizer. Apple lets you choose only one.

This person can invite other family members to the cohort, remove them or disband the group entirely. The person also determines what can be shared and with whom.

Navigate to ⚙️ Settings on an iPhone or iPad running the latest operating systems. Tap your name | Family or Family Sharing | Set Up Your Family.

The drill is similar on a Mac computer running macOS Ventura or later, except you’re clicking instead of tapping and starting out under the Apple logo in the upper left corner then choosing System Settings...

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Once you’ve established a family group, you can add people up to the five-additional-person limit. On the phone or tablet tap ⚙️ Settings | Family and tap the Add Member icon in the upper right corner of the screen, a circled silhouette with a tiny + sign.

To add to the family group on a Mac, click the Add Member button.

Family members will receive an invitation to join via AirDrop, email or text. Apple even includes an option to invite someone in person: You would enter the person’s Apple account and password.

The people you invite can always decline. But then you have issues beyond the scope of this column.

Who pays? Family organizers can enable purchase sharing, which means the organizer is on the hook for purchases the others make. In my house, I’m — gulp — the person responsible when the bill comes. You do have the option not to share specific purchases.

If you’re also dealing with your small children, you can turn on an Ask to Buy feature that will require them to seek your permission before they can purchase apps, movies and so on. My kids hated that when they were small.

The feature is on by default for anyone younger than 13, and you can enable it for teens 13 to 18. The feature is no longer an option after age 18, so if you have an older family member who is inclined to run up a bill for apps, e-books, music and the like, you won’t be able to regulate that.

A parent can also impose screen time limits on a youngster and tell it to show only age-appropriate content.

So what can I share? The list includes e-books from Apple Books, movies and TV shows purchased in the Apple TV app and music purchased from the iTunes Store. Same is true for family subscriptions from Apple, as well as select subscriptions from third parties.

Restrictions. But Apple has exceptions. You cannot share individual subscriptions to Apple Music or Apple One or certain in-app purchases from various apps.

Items no longer available in the App Store, Apple TV app, Books Store or iTunes Store also can’t be shared, even if the content was previously downloaded.

If someone leaves the group, that person can no longer access movies, music, TV and other content that someone else purchased. Same goes for in-app purchases.

And in case you’re wondering, you can only be part of one family group.

Google Family Library allows some sharing with iPhone users

As with Apple’s Family Sharing, the Google Family Library lets you share a host of content with extended family, including apps, books, games, movies and TV shows. If you purchase a Google One membership, which among other benefits provides varying amounts of online cloud storage up to 2TB, you also can share that membership with the family.

If you're a mixed family of Android and Apple users, Google Family Library allows you to share e-books, movies and TV shows with the other side. That's similar to Apple allowing iPhone users to share an Apple Music subscription with Android aficionados.

Getting started. Open the Play Store app on your Android phone and tap the profile icon in the upper right corner, likely a picture of your mug inside a tiny circle. Tap ⚙️ Settings | Family Sign up for Family Library | Sign Up.

You’re asked if you’re ready to become a family manager by clicking the Confirm button, the Google counterpart to Apple’s family organizer and the person inviting up to five other members into the group. Invitations can go out by typing in an email address, name or phone number.

Each invitee must have their own Google Account and live in the same country as the family manager. They’re also limited to being part of just one family group on Google.

Among other restrictions, Google says you cannot create a family with a Google account from your school, work or another organization.

Most of the apps, games, movies and other items you buy can be added to the Family Library. If family members come across these items while browsing Google Play, they’ll see that you already purchased them.

By default, new eligible purchases are added to the Family Library automatically, though you can change this setting in Account | Family.

Content limits. You can’t share movie or TV show rentals or films purchased on YouTube.

You can share movies and TV shows purchased before you created your Family Library. But once you sign up, you can share content bought only with the payment method you’re using as part of the plan, a credit or debit card, Google Play gift card or promo code.

Bonus tip: Don’t overshare with your family

As noted, Family Sharing lets you share Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud+ and other subscriptions. Each family member still signs into these services with their own Apple accounts, sees only their own preferences not everyone else's, and each has the option to hide individual purchases from the group.

Apple also lets family members share their location through the Find My app. But people can temporarily stop sharing their whereabouts.

On Google, all members of the family group can see the content added to the Family Library unless parental controls have been enacted.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.