iTunes Allowances feature will be shut down next month. This feature enabled parents to send per month credits into their child's Apple account that could be spent on content available in the Apple's media library. The Apple Inc. content includes music, apps, videos or books.
As per the update to the Apple's iTunes Allowances support page, the feature will be discontinued and existing allowances will be cancelled on May 25. Parents will no longer be able to open new accounts, and the payments will not be delivered after May 25. The remaining amount of money in the account will remain in the account until it is used.
The allowances feature was very useful for parents, as it was the best way to control money spent by their children to buy from Apple's iTunes Store every month.
The giant company, Apple, is now directing the users towards using "Family Sharing" feature, which was introduced in 2014. The feature allows up to six people to share media purchases, including iTunes music, books, movies, TV shows and applications, without sharing accounts. The idea to it enables the use of only one credit card, while parents could also approve the spending requests of their children from their own devices.
Apart from media sharing, the feature can also be employed to share photos, family calendar and much more between devices including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac. It needs iOS 8 or later; OS X Yosemite or later; and iTunes 12.PC users can also take benefit of this feature through iCloud for Windows.
Another useful aspect of this Family Sharing feature is that it allows children under 13 years-old to have their personal Apple IDs. These accounts are handled as a part of their family group. Parents can limit access to content on their children's devices using OS X iTunes' parental controls and/oriOS's "Restrictions."