Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Q&A

Sharing iTunes With the Whole Family

Q. What is the difference between Home Sharing and Family Sharing with iTunes?

A. Apple’s Home Sharing feature, which has been around since 2009 with the arrival of iTunes 9, lets you transfer or stream music, video, apps and other iTunes Store content between computers on the same network. You can also play iTunes music and video on iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch devices running iOS 4.3 or later, as well as on a late-model Apple TV box connected to your television.

You can share iTunes files with up to five computers in the house, all authorized to use the same Apple ID. To get started with Home Sharing, you need Mac or Windows computers running a compatible version of iTunes (Apple recommends getting the latest edition) and an Apple ID account, plus any iOS devices or Apple TV boxes you want to add to the sharing pool.

Family Sharing, on the other hand, arrived last year as part of Apple’s iOS 8 system. The feature allows the head of the household to set up a “family share” by adding members to the group and providing a credit card number to pay for iTunes and App Store purchases made by those members. Children under 13 can now have parentally approved Apple ID accounts, and the Ask to Buy function lets a parent control a child’s App Store shopping by allowing the adult to approve or decline attempted purchases. While Family Sharing does allow up to six people to use one another’s iTunes and App Store content (all without having to share their individual Apple ID credentials), the feature goes beyond swapping songs and videos around the house.

Members of the same iOS 8-enabled family can also share their online calendars and contribute pictures taken with their iPhones, iPods and iPads to a group album. A location-sharing feature — which displays the whereabouts of family members and their iOS devices on a map — may be of particular interest to parents.

To set up Family Sharing, you need a device running iOS 8 or a Mac running OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), and an Apple ID logged into iTunes and Apple’s iCloud online service; the free iCloud for Windows 4.0 software can also loop PCs into some of the family activity. Apple hosts a Family Sharing support site to answer further questions.

Removing Outdated Updates From Google Now

Q. I looked up the score of a basketball game once on my phone and the Google app keeps showing me blurbs about that team, even though I don’t really care. Can I make it stop?

A. The Google Now feature of Google’s mobile app tries to anticipate what information you may need based on your previous searches — even if your previous search was a passing interest. If you do not want to see any of these Google Now information cards when you open the app, you can turn the Google Now function off or on and still use the Google app for searching.

To permanently remove specific topics that show up in your Google Now cards in the Android version of the app, tap the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the card; in the iOS version, tap the lowercase “i.” You should then see an option to decline further updates on the subject.

You can also adjust the types of cards you see on your Google Now screen. In the Android version, tap the Menu icon in the top-left corner and choose Customize. In the iOS edition of the Google app, tap your account photo in the top-left corner, tap Google Now on the next screen and then adjust your preferences.

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT