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Apple Update Frees Families From Sharing Only 1 Payment Option

With the latest OS updates, Apple users on Family Sharing will be able to select their own payment options for new purchases.

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Headshot of Tyler Lacoma
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Tyler Lacoma
A phone with an Apple Pay logo held over American dollar bills.

Apple's new Family Sharing plan changes give families flexibility when it comes to payments.

 SOPA Images / Contributor via Getty

Finally, a little financial flexibility is coming to Apple's Family Sharing plan. Apple's iOS 26.4 update won't be available to all iPhone users until March 25, but the release notes include a welcome change. Members of a family group will no longer be bound to only one payment option. 

An Apple representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. 

You can see the change in Apple's new payment details. In the past, Family Sharing allowed you to add people to one group (up to six) so they could share their purchased content. But with that Purchase Sharing feature turned on, everyone in the group was required to use the single payment method chosen by the family organizer. 

This caused many headaches. Family organizers rarely want to be asked for permission or to vet purchases for members they already trust. Some family members resorted to using Venmo to pay each other back, or to buying Apple gift cards and loading them into the account to pay that way.

Apple's menu choices for family sharing including purchase sharing.

Expect new purchase options in Family plans for iOS 26.4.

 Apple

iOS 26.4 is removing that hassle.

Soon, Adult family members can be part of Family Sharing and use the individual payment methods they have saved, perhaps to their Apple Wallet, without needing any workarounds. 

Note that this applies only to adult members, so you can still monitor kids' purchases. 

The change to payment methods is just one of the changes Apple is bringing to iOS. Other updates include the ability to change your iPhone's Liquid Glass design and to remove your alarm slider.