To think giving ds my old iPhone for his birthday was simple until the family sharing Apple ID, iCloud stuff has put me off!

[TickedOff]

iTunes, totally confuses me.

I've only ever used it in its basic form.

I have an old iPhone sitting doing nothing. Yes, I don't HAVE to give him the phone but it seems the right time, Birthday coming up to.

Will need to set it up with his own number and on a phone package I've not looked into yet but it's this bloody iTunes which puts me off.

What I don't want is ds being able to access my messages, emails etc I don't want him to be able to access my music, want it completely separate.

AIBU to think that Apple should just simplify the whole system for under 13's (ds is almost 11)

If not could you please share with me how you've managed this. I will be very grateful.

Squeaver, good idea. I might just need to do that.

TickedOff it would be terrible if you made a mistake entering the year of birth, they wouldn't end up in a family group at all...

Yes, the easiest way would be to lie about his age and set up a new ID

I'm very tempted SirFred

DS1 has my old Iphone - he has his own apple ID and password, if he wants to buy an app (even free ones) then I get a notification and get to approve (or not) them. He has access to our apple music account and can listen to all music available on there (again if he wants to buy something I get a notification and have to approve it) - you can restrict it I believe.

DSD(12) has my old iPhone set up on family sharing. She has no access to my music, mail, messages, apps etc (Apple Music is only shared if you have the family subscription) and I have no access to hers. I have to approve all app & iTunes downloads for her so she can't spend my money without me knowing which was my biggest worry - when she selects download or buy from iTunes / App Store I get an alert on my phone and can either approve or decline

It was a bit of a faff setting it up but now we're up and running it's really easy

I recently gave my daughter an old iPhone we had sitting doing nothing. Restored to factory settings, set up a new ID, it asked if it was a child and then it had me set up parental settings. Which gives the option to share apps and means whenever she tried to get an app (free or paid) it asks for permission and password and if it's a paid app it comes out my account. I was amazed it was so easy and I was told it was one of the biggest pluses, of iPhones to have easy and safe parental settings.

It absolutely is as simple as Morifarty says and that is exactly what I have done when giving my relative my old phones.

My daughter have my old iPhones. They all use my Apple ID as under 13 but they get their own messages etc as they have their own phone numbers. They can't download anything without handing their phone over to me as it requires me to put in the apple password. They can't see my emails. It's very easy.

Thank you all.

I will have a good look into it tonight. Only issue is I can't continue on the phone until there's a new sim put in it.

That's another thing I've not researched too much yet, the phone package

Giffgaff all the way! You can set him up with a recurring goodybag and it's very easy to scale up or down depending on what he uses.

Thanks Pudding. Will look into this too.

Remember you will have to get a 'matching' SIM card unless you get your phone unlocked (so if you had a Voda contract then you will need a Vida PAYG)

Mine are all under the same Apple ID, you just have to uncheck the boxes on settings and leave only the new SIM number ticked.

The best bit is the DCs whereabouts all come up on 'find my iphone' - which they are all surprisingly ok with at the moment 👍🏻

+1 for GiffGaff

Fabulously, we're with EE currently and that's what the phone is locked to.

The cheapest EE package I've seen is just under £10 for 250mb, texts etc. Not the best. How much of a faff is it to unlock the phones?

I second Giffgaff. I've been with them for years and I think it's brilliant

I third giff gaff. Cost me £20 to get my old phone unlocked, DS1's rental is £5 a month

I need to figure this out too - DS has my old iPhone and unwittingly saw the list of potential presents for him I had made

We have family sharing and it works really well. I have to authorise all purchases and they don't know any passwords. After putting in my card details to start with I have now removed them and use iTunes gift vouchers on the account. That way they can only spend what is there should they somehow get access without me knowing.

I've since contacted EE rather than looking online and their best deal atm is 1GB of data, unlimited texts/calls for £10, discounted as I'm an existing customer (I think )

Peachy, this is what I'm worried about. I do this too on my notes can just imagine ds doing the same!

It would be much easier if I could set him up with his own email account etc but if dc are under 13 you can't do this

You're letting that stop you?
An under-13 doesn't need an expensive iphone/involves so much faff either...but you're doing it anyway.

Check out Giffgaff online.
I pay £5 a month for payngo goodybag, i've always got free minutes and texts left over at end of the month
Don't need more than the free data as i use free wifi everywhere

that's a pretty decent plan they offered you, op.

what don't you like about it?

That plan is exceedingly good, OP. You should absolutely take it.

Heebie, it's my old phone so no cost, it's sitting in a drawer doing nothing.

The plan seems good doesn't it, should be £16.50, it's good to have it verified by others though that it sounds good.