Oliver Haslam·

Apple Is Adding In-App Purchases And Subscriptions To Family Sharing, Finally

Apple’s big WWDC opening keynote happened yesterday or, more accurately, it was streamed yesterday. That means we now know all about what we can look forward to when iOS 14, watchOS 7, and more arrive later this year. Developers are also looking through what is changing for them, with some good news surfacing relating to Family Sharing.

According to Apple’s iOS 14 announcement, developers will be able to include subscriptions and in-app purchases in Family Sharing.

That is an omission that never really made any sense and this is excellent news, although developers will need to opt in. Hopefully they do exactly that.

Now app developers can make their subscriptions available for sharing among members of a Family Sharing group. Improved app product pages mean important app details are more glanceable. And search has improved, with spell‑check enhancements and editorial collections appearing in App Store search results.

Family Sharing allows up to six people to share access to apps and content, with in-app purchases and subscriptions an odd exception to that rule currently. While this news came as part of the macOS 11 Big Sur announcement, there’s little reason why it wouldn’t also apply to iOS, macOS, and tvOS as well.

Apple has made all of its updates available to developers already with public betas also set to arrive as soon as next month. The full, public release of all of the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV software will happen in or around September.

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