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How To Use Family Sharing With In-App Purchases (Answer: Contact Apple Support)

I've been using Sky Safari Plus on my mac and iOS devices. This problem relates to the iOS products only. I recently used in-app purchase for the interactive HR diagram on my iPhone. The option for the diagram didn't appear on my iPad. When I use "restore purchases" on the iPad, the dialog says "Unable to restore. This item was purchased by a different Apple ID. Sign in with that Apple ID and try again." 

Both the iPhone and the iPad are signed in with AppleID A in Settings/iTunes and App Store".

From App Store/Updates/Purchases, I can see that Sky Safari was purchased from AppleID B.

AppleIDs A and B are part of the same family for family sharing.

(The reason that there is an AppleID A and B is that back before "family sharing" existed, B was used as a family sharing method for apps and music. Apple currently doesn't provide a way to transfer the cash balance that B had to another AppleID or get a refund, so Sky Safari was purchased with that cash balance.) 

If the in app purchase id done using the AppleID that the app has, then it was purchased under B. If the in-app purchase is done under the signed-in AppleID, then it was purchased under A. Either way, it seems that the process is not symmetric in how the purchase is made, and how the purchase is recognized as valid.  I don't know if this is controlled by Apple, or how the app is programmed.

I haven't tried signing in with B to restore the purchase (as the dialog suggests) until I understand what's going on a little better.

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3 comments

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    Keiron Smith

    Hi Barton, 

    Apologies, but this is an issue that must be resolved with Apple Support.  We have no control over the Family Sharing system developed by Apple.

    Please contact Apple Support to resolve this query.

    Thanks for your understanding.

  • 0
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    Barton Meeks

    I've talked to Apple. They offered a refund on the in-app, but I like having the HR on my phone. They did say that some in-app purchases are restricted to the device that originally bought it, if the developer set it that way. Can this in-app purchase be purchased on an iPhone, then made available on another device, like an iPad? They said I needed to talk to the developer about my issue, and if it is even possible to share the in-app purchase between devices?

  • 0
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    Keiron Smith

    Hi Barton, 

    SkySafari IAPs are not restricted to the device.  If anyone makes an SkySafari IAP then both the SkySafari app and that IAP will be available for download (i.e. restored) on any other devices using the same App Store account that was used to make the original app (and IAP) purchase.

    Unfortunately, I can not troubleshoot this further.  Family sharing is outside the scope of support for SkySafari.

    Thanks for your understanding.

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