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iPhone User Guide

Share features with your family

There are special features you and your family can use to share purchases, stay connected, and protect your data. If you have children, you can also set up parental controls to manage how your children use their Apple devices.

👁 The Family screen in Settings. Five family members are listed. Below their names are family recommendations, Subscriptions, and Purchase Sharing options.

Set up Family Sharing

You and your family members can share eligible purchases and subscriptions. Everyone uses their own device and Apple Account, but iCloud storage, subscriptions (to services like Apple Music and Apple Arcade), and other content is shared.

To get started, go to Settings 👁 Image
 > [your name] > Family.

👁 The Find My screen showing the People list and their locations on a map.

Share locations with Find My

When you and your family members share your location, you can help each other locate missing devices in the Find My app 👁 Image
. You can also share the location of AirTags you use to track important items like backpacks or house keys.

To set up location sharing, go to Settings 👁 Image
 > [your name] > Family, then tap Location Sharing. Turn on sharing for your family members. After you share your location with family members, they can also see the location of your devices in Find My.

👁 The Sharing screen in the Health app.

Set up emergency contacts

After you make an emergency call, your iPhone can automatically notify your emergency contacts with a text message that includes your current location. If your location changes, your emergency contacts receive updated location information.

Emergency contacts are saved in your Medical ID. To set up a Medical ID, open the Health app 👁 Image
, tap your account in the top-right corner, tap Medical ID, then tap Get Started.

👁 A photo is open in the Photos app. At the top-right of the screen is an option to move the photo into the Shared Library.

Start a family photo library

You can use iCloud Shared Photo Library to share photos and videos with up to five other family members. Everyone can add, edit, and caption photos, and enjoy the shared photos in their memories, featured photos, and Photos widget.

To get started, go to Settings 👁 Image
 > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, turn on Sync this iPhone, then tap Shared Library.

👁 The Add Recovery Contact screen showing suggested contacts to select as a recovery contact, and the option to choose someone else.

Just in case

You can add family members and other trusted people as recovery contacts to help you regain access to your account if you ever get locked out. You can also designate someone as a legacy contact to access the data stored in your account in the event of your death.

To add these contacts, go to Settings 👁 Image
 > [your name] > Sign-In & Security, then tap Recovery Contacts or Legacy Contact.

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