Question :

My daughter has just turned 13 years old, and we gave her our old iPhone for her birthday. Now I want to add her to our iCloud Famly so I can share the apps and music I’ve bought on the iTunes Store with her, but when I go to the Manage Family option in the iCloud chapter of the System Preferences on my Mac and select Add Family Member and try to create her own iCloud.com AppleID account, the date keeps flipping back to “Day” and “Month” when I select her year of birth.

What is wrong and how can I fix this ?

Answer :

What you are doing would be correct for adding any child up to 12 years old into your iCloud Family, but the day your child turns 13 years old, Apple blocks this option.

I assume the reason being that any person of 13 years or older is allowed by Apple to create his/her own AppleID-account.

So your daughter has to create her own AppleID-account on her iPhone.

To get a FREE new iCloud.com-eMail address and a coupled AppleID-account, you need to use an iPhone or iPad. (in your case, that would be on her own iPhone, but it could be done on any iPhone or iPad where the user temporarily logs off from iCloud).

• on the iPhone/iPad, go to Settings (the app with the gear/sprocket icon)
• in the Settings.app go to iCloud
• then, click on Create a new Apple ID
• then, enter your birthday
• then, enter your First Name and Last Name
• then, click Next
• then, click on Get a free iCloud email address
• then, enter your preferred username and @icloud.com will be added to create your new iCloud eMail Address
• then, click Next
• then, confirm your new iCloud eMail Address by clicking Create
• then, choose your new password and retype it for verification
• then, choose three security questions and enter the three corresponding answers
• then, choose if you want to turn on Apple News updates via eMail
• then, click Next
• then, Agree to the Terms and Conditions
• then, click Agree
• then, in the Verifying page, click Sign In to log onto iCloud from your iPhone/iPad

Now make sure that the iCloud.com-eMail address is properly configured on her (child) iPhone (or iPad) :

• on the iPhone/iPad, go to Settings (the app with the gear/sprocket icon)
• then, go to Accounts & Passwords
• then click on iCloud
• and make sure that the switch at Mail is switchted ON

Then, add your child to your iCloud Family using your Mac (or your iPhone) :

• on your Mac, go to Apple-icon (top left)
• then click on System Preferences
• in the window that opens, click iCloud
• then select the Family Members tab
• then click Add Family Member, and send an invitation to your child’s iCloud.com eMail Address (which she then has to accept)

…or on your iPhone :

• on your (parent) iPhone/iPad, go to Settings (the app with the gear/sprocket icon)
• then, go to Accounts & Passwords
• then click on iCloud
• then click Family Sharing
• then click Add Family Member, and send an invitation to your child’s iCloud.com eMail Address (which she then has to accept)

That’s it. 😉

Note : if you want to set extra restrictions to your child’s ability to certain options of her/his iPhone, do this :

• on his/her (child) iPhone (or iPad), go to Settings (the app with the gear/sprocket icon)
• then, go to General
• then, go to Restrictions and click on Off >
• now you first have to set a 4-digit passcode
• then, set all the parental restrictions the way you want

enjoy !