Is it Possible To Have Multiple Apple IDs & If so what are the potential benefits & drawbacks ?
Also do matters become complicated further if you emigrate to a new country eg USA to UK or vice versa ?
—–
Simon
MacMost Q&A Forum • View All Forum Questions • Ask a Question
Is It Possible To Have Multiple Apple IDs ?
Comments: 20 Responses to “Is It Possible To Have Multiple Apple IDs ?”
Comments Closed.
It is possible -- you can simply sign up for another ID. But not only is it not advisable, but it can cause a ton of trouble.
I get a lot of people reaching out to me for help because they accidentally created a second Apple ID and now have things spread across two IDs with no way to consolidate them.
Especially now with iCloud it becomes tough. You use your Apple ID account for iCloud, iTunes, the App Store, iMessage, etc. When you have two you suddenly have some music here on one account, but use the other to message, or an iPad using one account and your Mac using another. It becomes a mess trying to reconcile it all so you get all of your purchases and systems working across all of your devices.
As for as changing countries, I'm not sure not ever needing to do that. But I gather it requires a phone call to Apple to make the change properly.
So its best to stick with one Apple ID for life ?
Yes. What advantage did you see in having more than one?
See comment further down
I wish there was a way to do the reverse - consolidate multiple Apple IDs into one.
Have you tried calling Apple? That's the way to do it -- if it can be done.
@David How did you come to have more than one to begin with ?
If someone wants to consolidate multiple Apple IDs into one, what is the best telephone number at Apple to call in order to ask for their help on that task?
Depends on your location and other factors. Start here: http://www.apple.com/support/appleid/contact/
@Gary Isnt it more beneficial that one household instead of having separate IDs for husband, wife and children - there is simply one Apple ID per household - if i'm making sense
NO. I should be one per person. An Apple ID = iCloud account. Imagine sharing all of your contacts, events, apps, email, music, etc with your entire family. That would be a mess. An Apple ID is meant to be a personal thing -- one per person.
I have to agree with Gary here. Sharing an AppleID is asking for trouble down the road. You and your girlfriend live together today, and I'm sure you feel you'll live together tomorrow, but things don't always work out that way. Your children won't always live with you and will eventually have lives of their own. Even if we're talking many years down the road, you are setting yourself up for extra separation anxiety, and a lot of work.
If you have a stable family, there can be an advantage to everyone having their own AppleID but sharing one (extra) AppleID among the entire family for the purpose of making purchases only. This can save money among the family members collectively since apps and media will have to be paid for only one time. There are still problems with that, however, because everyone who is going to make purchases has to have the password and therefore full purchasing (and full use) authority, which parents might not wish to provide to minor children. And again, when the children move out for their own lives they may have a hard time leaving behind all "their" apps and media; or you and your spouse will have yet another thing to divide should your relationship not quite reach "'til death do ye part."
A better strategy than having one shared Apple ID is to simply use Home Sharing. So you can save money by sharing an app purchase. It takes some effort, but so does trying to use more than one Apple account. I don't recommend it.
My mother (92) is using my "old" iPhone 4s as a music player,but often gets notifications of updates on things that she doesn't need. She's on my Apple id, and because she's in a care facility, I like to keep track of where her phone is. Do I need to sign that phone into another id? Will I lose the ability to track if I do so?
You can sign out of your ID for all services (check everywhere). Then simply add your Apple ID as an iCloud account but turn off everything except Find My iPhone.
Gary, thanks so much for your quick reply.
How will that affect my iPhone 5? That's the one I want all of the updates on.
It won't affect other devices at all -- just the one you are signing out of.
Here's what can happen if you have two accounts: The App Store informs me that there's an update for iPhoto. Every other day. Trouble is that when I try to update I get an error message that says "To update... sign in with the account you used to purchase it."
Not good as I have no idea what name/ID this account is. @me, @icloud, @apple??? Oops.
ONE is best!
I am so confused! My family currently has 2 iPhones,3 Nanos,and now 2 new Touches from Christmas. My husband and I have one Apple ID for the 2 phones and 2 of the Nanos. One daughter has a separate Apple ID for her Nano. Now we have to figure out how to set up the 2 Touches. Our current iTunes library (mainly just songs and apps) is shared on both Apple ID accts. We now have separate individual user accounts for each of us on our computer, but should we share of have separate Apple ID's?
It works best when you follow the rule:
One Apple ID = One Person
If you have kids that are under 13, they can't have their own Apple ID. So you set them up with a device that is "one of yours."