Family sharing

With family sharing on, whatever anyone in the family logs shows up on everyone else's phone a moment later, and the home screen, statistics and timeline are the same on every device. There is nothing to sign up for: a family group is a list of devices, and the only credential is a one-time invite code.

How it works

Open Settings → Family Sync. Before a group exists the screen offers Create Family Group and Join with Invite Code, and explains the model: records travel through a relay server that only holds them briefly; the device that creates the group is its manager (Admin), and only it can invite or remove members; the manager role can be handed to another member before you switch phones.

Creating the group

1. On one phone, tap Create Family Group.
2. Give this device a name the family will recognise — Mom's iPhone — and tap Create.
3. The screen now shows Sync Status, the Members list with this device marked Admin, Generate Invite Code, and Delete Family Group.

Inviting another device

1. On the admin's phone, tap Generate Invite Code. A six-digit code appears; it works once and expires after 24 hours. Copy Code puts it on the clipboard to send by message.
2. On the other phone, open Settings → Family Sync → Join with Invite Code (or the people icon on the welcome screen if the app is brand new), enter the code, name that device and tap Join.
3. The new device appears in everyone's member list, and the babies and their records arrive on it by sync. There is no need to create a baby on the joining phone first.

Repeat for each device — a second parent's phone, a grandparent's iPad. Every device in the group logs to the same journal.

Managing members

• Rename — tap any member row to change the name shown to the family.
• Remove — the admin swipes a member left and taps Remove. That device stops receiving new records; the records already on it are kept.
• Make Admin — the admin swipes a member left and taps Make Admin to transfer the manager role. This cannot be undone: after the transfer only the new admin can invite or remove members. Do this before retiring the phone that created the group.

Leaving, and deleting the group

• A member can Leave Family Group at any time. The device stops syncing, keeps everything it already has, and needs a new invite code to rejoin.
• The admin can Delete Family Group. Everyone stops syncing and the data on the server is deleted right away; the records on each phone are kept.

Sync status

The Sync Status row reads Synced just now when everything is up to date, or Syncing content 12/38 with a progress bar while records — and their photos — are being exchanged. Sync runs on its own in the background and whenever the app is opened.