Ask to buy going to wrong device

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Level 1

13 points

Ask to buy going to wrong device

Hi,

Our family is using Ask to buy option. The situation now is, that when my child uses ask to buy, the request goes to a random device. I might be right next to her on my iPhone when she send the request from her iPhone, my husband next on his iPhone. But the request might go to my computer which is sleeping in another room.

My son also has an iPhone, and we have an iPad as well. Now when they ask to buy, we start to go through all our devices to see where the request went to. Yesterday, the request went to my work computer which was 20 km apart from us and was also sleeping.

We didn't get a request on any other device. And we have all the latest updates (12/2022)

So we are now unable to start using apps right away.

It would be very handy if you could choose to which device the request goes to.

OR if you could choose into what device you never want to request to go.

For instance, my iPad is being used by all of us, so there is no point for the requests going to that device. Children might approve any requests on their own.

Also, I need my work computer to be signed into my AppleID, but I wouldn't want our personal requests going there.

iPhone 12

Posted on Dec 7, 2022 10:54 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

424,889 points

Dec 8, 2022 9:09 AM in response to elisa_je

Hello elisa_je,

See if this document has suggestions: If Ask to Buy isn't working - Apple Support

I don't use Ask To Buy but my understanding is that the request goes out to everything using the parent's ID. Make sure you have notifications active in Settings. Sometimes it also helps to restart devices or even sign out and back into the device to get it to take a fresh look at settings.

I have seen others make the suggestion you make and the best way to draw that to Apple's attention is to use this link to send feedback: Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 2

petterim

Level 1

12 points

Dec 27, 2022 10:24 AM in response to Limnos

i have this same problem. Both parents are added as parents so they should be able to approve purchases/downloads.

However the requests go to our old iPad Mini or Macbook. It would be convenient that both parents receive notification into iPhones like we receive any other screen time notifications (everything else works e.g. screen time requests).

Every device is in the latest supported iOS, everything is according to docs. Please fix this.

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Answer 3

elisa_je Author

Level 1

13 points

Dec 9, 2022 10:55 AM in response to Limnos

Thank you for your reply.

This is unfortunately a problem that’s been going on for a few years. Our notifications are on, we have shut down devices many times but the request goes randomly to one device.

I will use your link. Thank you for it.

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Ask to buy going to wrong device

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