I will be buying a new iPad Pro for my child in college. She has her own MBA, though all of our devices use a single Apple ID, mine. As it is now, all iOS devices I own for the family (same single Apple ID) get backed up on my MBP. This works fine, but the child in college lives away from home and I’d like her to be able to backup to her own MBA. I think I understand the difference between sync and backup. That is, if she uses her own MBA, the iPad will only sync the music, photos and such that are on her MBA. That’s not an issue. It’s primarily the apps and data they contain that is important to her. So, is there any advice you can offer about setting up the new iPad to be backed up to the MBA she has. All my devices (five MacBooks among the family) are authorized with my Apple ID.
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Mike W
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How Do I Backup a New iPad To a Different MBA With Only One Apple ID?
Comments: 8 Responses to “How Do I Backup a New iPad To a Different MBA With Only One Apple ID?”
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First, you can simply plug it into her MBA, run iTunes and then back it up. There's no conflict there. There's nothing to stop her from doing so as long as she has the passcode to the iPad, naturally.
But second, she should definitely have her own Apple ID. An Apple ID is meant to be one per PERSON. So having her user your Apple ID would be problematic even if she lived with you. Living apart from you will make it even more difficult. All apps, music, media, etc that she buys will ℅-mingle with yours and vice-versa. iBooks too, which will be an issue if she uses it for schoolwork.
In addition, using iCloud will be tough, and I imagine she will be creating documents and saving them to iCloud too. Photos as well. And iMessages,. It will be a real mess if you are using one Apple ID.
Everyone in your family should have their own Apple ID. If you want to tie purchases to one account, you can still do that with Apple's Family Sharing feature. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201088.
Untangling your devices if you are using a single Apple ID between them will be difficult. But it will only get more difficult with time, so I recommend doing it ASAP. Maybe visit the Genius Bar For some direct help if there are issues.
Thanks. No Genius Bar where I live, but so far we've had no issues with using iCloud for files and apps, books and such are not a problem. I can't use family sharing, though it does seem like a good choice. My main interest was in having a way to backup the iPad.
If you don't believe me, then read what Apple has to say at https://appleid.apple.com/faq
"Your Apple ID should not be shared with anyone else. It provides access to personal information including contacts, photos, device backups, and more. Sharing your Apple ID with someone else means you are giving them access to all your personal content and may lead to confusion over who actually owns the account. To share iTunes & App Store purchases, photos, a calendar, and more with someone else, try Family Sharing, iCloud Photo Sharing, or other easy-to-use sharing features."
I do believe you. Thanks for the info. It's just not possible to make the family sharing work here.
To make it more helpful to those who follow this site, what is a MBA?
Shirley: MBA = MacBook Air. MBP = MacBook Pro.
Thanks, I automatically read Masters in Business Administration which didn't make sense but that is also MBA!
Be nice to walk into an Apple Store, put down $899 and get a Masters in Business Administration. :)