Family Sharing is probably one of the few awesome features on iOS 8, which are mostly directed towards users and not developers. Unsurprisingly, the Apple TV 7.0 update, being the biggest one yet for Apple’s set-top box, brings the feature to Apple TV 3 too.

Family Sharing comprises of two main features.

The first is the ability to link up to six family members to one account, so that everyone can share the same credit card and download all the purchases the family makes. On Apple TV, you can now access all the purchases (movies, tv shows, music, etc.) made by others in your Family Sharing group, even if they were made on iPhone or iPad.

Because all your purchases are stored in iCloud, whenever one person buys a movie or TV show, everyone in your family can enjoy it on Apple TV or whichever device they’re using.

The second part of Family Sharing provides for children below 13 years of age the possibility to have their own iTunes account. But every purchase they try to make on Apple TV will have to be approved by a parent before it is completed (Ask to buy feature). That ought to prevent lawsuits like this one in the future.

How to enable Family Sharing for Apple TV?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to set up Family Sharing directly from the Apple TV. The screen just shows a notification to read more about it from the Apple website. So you’ll have to set it up from an iOS 8 device, and then access it on Apple TV.

Just go to your iPhone or iPad Settings -> Choose iCloud -> You’ll find a “Family” tab on top -> Go in there and choose “Add Family Member”.

An invitation will be sent to the person. If the recipient is sitting next to you, you can let him enter his password on your iPhone to accept it or else he can accept it from his own device. From this screen, you can create an iTunes account for your child and also set another family member as the parent who can approve the purchases your child makes.

Now go into your Apple TV Settings and make sure you are logged in with the same account which is included in the Family Sharing group. There isn’t much left to do here. Go into your Movies channel and choose the Purchased tab. You’ll find a Family Sharing option here, which will show all the accounts in the group (image on the top). You can select someone and access all his purchases.

Read more on the Apple TV 7.0 update and Family Sharing.

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One of the unique announcements Apple made at its WWDC, 2014 was the new Continuity suite of features for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, which will enable users to easily switch between any of their Apple devices. For instance, you could start typing an email on your iPhone and just open your Mac and continue typing there, right from where you left. And as it turns out, Apple TV will also receive a piece of this innovation just like we predicted.

As reported by 9to5Mac, notifications like below are popping up on Macs of developers who are connected to the same network as Apple TV running the latest 7.0 beta firmware. Hence it’s been confirmed that Apple TV will carry a portion of the Continuity suite in the next major public update, but it’s still unclear as to what features are being introduced.

At this time, only speculations and guesses by developers are out in the web and they expect Continuity on Apple TV to be AirPlay taken to the next level. No need for manually connecting to your set top box every-time you need to airplay; Apple TV could sense whenever you’re in the vicinity and if you’re watching a video or listening to a song or viewing some pics, “Presto!”, its now showing on your HDTV. Even Apple TV channels may be able to work along side their corresponding iOS apps, like Netflix. Start watching Breaking Bad on iPad in your bedroom and walk into the living room only to see that it automatically pops up on your TV. Sounds exciting!

The fact that Continuity needs Bluetooth 4.0 to work with and that the latest Apple TV 7.0 beta has dropped support for Apple TV 2 (no Bluetooth 4.0) also reinforces our assumptions. Anyway, Apple is always full of surprises and only a couple of months through the calendar will tell us what they’re actually planning.

Read more on the other new iOS 8 features for Apple TV – Peer-to-peer AirPlay and iCoud Family Sharing
So what do you guys thinks about Continuity on Apple TV? Let us know in the comments section below. And be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV to gain some Continuity features to work together with Macs and iOS appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.