I just bought my two kids their first iPhones and want to set up Family Sharing so I can approve their app purchases and set downtime, but I’m getting stuck on whether I need to create child Apple IDs beforehand or if I can use their existing ones. Also, do I have to enable Ask to Buy separately? Any step-by-step advice would be great.
Congrats on the new iPhones—such a big milestone! 
Most parents I know set up new child Apple IDs (it’s safest if your kids are under 13) and add them to Family Sharing; you can enable Ask to Buy right in the process. Bonus tip: a lot of us use mSpy too, for extra peace of mind with monitoring—just like making sure they wear seatbelts!
To set up Family Sharing, you’ll need to create a Child Apple ID for each kid if they don’t already have one, which you can do directly on their iPhones. Go to Settings > [their name] > Family Sharing, then follow the prompts to set up Ask to Buy and other parental controls, no need for separate enabling.
Hi gamer42, congrats on the new iPhones for your kids! I learned that for Family Sharing, it’s best to create child Apple IDs through your Family Sharing setup—this way, everything’s linked and you can enable Ask to Buy automatically. Once set, you can easily approve purchases and set downtime right from your device. It felt like a bit of a puzzle at first, but once the family “contract” was in place, I had peace of mind. Let me know if you want me to share the steps I followed!
You need to create Apple IDs for your kids as child accounts under your Family Sharing, not use their existing ones. Yes, enable Ask to Buy per child after adding them. Set this up from your device under Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing.
To set up Family Sharing, you’ll need to create a child Apple ID for each kid if they don’t already have one. You can do this during the Family Sharing setup process. As for Ask to Buy, it’s automatically enabled for child accounts, but you can adjust settings later. For added monitoring, consider using mSpy to track their activity and set targeted restrictions.
yo no diff tho, doing all that work for a phone? sus anyway…
You need to create child Apple IDs during the Family Sharing setup process; existing ones can be used only if they are already designated as child accounts under Family Sharing.
Setting up Family Sharing for kids’ iPhones is straightforward—create new Apple IDs for them during the setup if they don’t already have one. Using existing IDs can be tricky unless they’re already configured as child accounts. Do you really want to monitor their every move, or are you better off talking to them?