Apple’s Family Sharing service allows a group of up to six family members to share subscriptions, purchases, storage, photos, and even device locations but, on occasion, an individual may need to leave a group. There can be many reasons for this, such as someone setting up a new group. Fortunately, Apple makes it straightforward to anyone leave a group or for a group admin, or ‘family organizer,’ to remove someone from a group via either an iPhone or Mac.
Members of a group can share a universal subscription for services like Apple TV+ and Apple Music, along with purchases from iTunes, Apple Books, and the App Store. A family can centralize their iCloud storage with one main plan and view create a shared family photo album too. It’s also possible to share the location of members’ devices via Family Sharing so that they can be tracked down if misplaced or to keep tabs on each other for safety.
To leave a Family Sharing group using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, users just need to navigate to the Settings app, click on their name at the top of the screen, find the Family Sharing tab, and click on their name in that section. They’ll then see a screen that shows what features they currently have access to via Family Sharing and, below that, a button labeled ‘Stop Using Family Sharing.’ Once this is tapped, users will lose access to all services that were previously shared in Family Sharing. To leave a group via a Mac, users should click on the Apple menu, navigate to System Preferences, and find the Family Sharing tab. Once they’ve found their name on that screen and clicked on the Details button next to it, users will see a screen with the Leave button that allows them to exit Family Sharing. For Macs running on the Mojave version of macOS or earlier, users should navigate to the iCloud tab in System Preferences to find the Manage Family tab.
How to Remove Another User From the Group
To remove another user from a group, a user must be the family organizer. As an organizer, users can follow virtually the same steps to remove another person as to remove themselves. On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, they should navigate to the Settings app, click on their profile name at the top of the screen, and then navigate to the Family Sharing tab. From here, it’s just a case of clicking on the profile name of the user to be removed and then clicking on the button at the bottom of the screen to confirm. On a Mac, users should click on the Apple menu to access System Preferences, then navigate to the Family Sharing tab. Clicking the Details button next to a member’s name will bring up a button to ‘Remove from Family Sharing.’ Again, Macs running the Mojave version of macOS or earlier should go to the iCloud tab in System Preferences, access Manage Family, select the member’s name that needs to be removed, and confirm by clicking the Remove button.
There are some important exceptions to take into account when removing a user from the group or leaving the group. If a user is under 13 years old, they will not be able to leave a family group. Additionally, if a user’s Screen Time option is enabled, they can only leave the group if they are removed by the family organizer. However, the organizer can only remove users 13 years old or older. Any children under 13 years old in the group have to be moved to another Family Group if the organizer no longer wants them in the original group.
