It is time for you to upgrade your mobile operating system. I am sure that Apple will come out with some mind-blowing statistic about just how many of us upgraded to iOS 8 since its release but since you are going to upgrade soon, let’s talk about just what you need to do before you upgrade. The upgrade is easiest by an “over-the-air” upgrade so the one thing you MUST do before you send the signal to Apple’s servers to send it over is to BACKUP! Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer and do a complete back-up. An iCloud backup will save some of your data but if you want it ALL saved you must do this on your computer. Once you have a current backup, let ‘er rip and upgrade to iOS 8 by going to *Settings > Software Update*. Make sure your device has a full battery or is plugged in before you start. Please note that this update requires around 6GB of free space on your phone, so if you do not have this much room available, you can still upgrade via iTunes on a computer that does have 6GB of free space.
Once you have iOS 8 and begin to explore all the new features you will be able to activate one of the greatest new features of this new OS: Family Sharing. Once you and your family are running iOS 8 on their iPad, iPhone and Apple TV you will be able to share all iTunes account purchases including apps, movies and music between up to six people in your family.
bq. ??editor’s note: Apple recognizes and supports all of the different kinds of families out there (and Small Dog does too, of course!), so this can be any group of people that you choose but please note that you can only change to a different Family Sharing family once per year.??
You can become the “Family Organizer” by going to *Settings > iCloud >Set Up Family Sharing*. If you set it up first you become the organizer and your credit card will control family purchasing on the iTunes, App and iBook stores. As a parent or guardian you can designate yourself as such and control your kids purchases by activating the “Ask to Buy” feature. All of your current purchases, whether they were made with your account or another family member’s account, will be available to share. New purchases will need to be made with your credit card to be shared. All you need to do is click on “Add Family Member” and an email will be sent to that person to be added.
Another interesting new feature that I am not so sure I like is that Find My iPhone data is also shared with family members. If you want to be incognito, you will have to disable this through the “Share my Location” setting in the iCloud settings.
Family sharing also includes a special Family iCloud Photo Stream for your group. Once you post a photo it is available on all family member’s devices and notifications will be sent. There is also a Family section of the Apple Reminders App which shares reminders and to-dos.
