About to buy first iMac but question on user accounts

[EC99SS]

Hi all
Sorry for the trivial question. We're about to buy our first household iMac and looking into a proper way to set it up with different user accounts. In this case, two of us have been Iphone and Ipad users for years but never owned a Mac.

Do you recommend setting up a separate "Household" Admin account as the Main and then having our two accounts created as individual users (with Admin rights is fine)? This is versus using say my account as the main and hers as another account. Any pros/cons?

My thoughts were to keep every separated and 'neat/clean' if you will so that it's not a mess of apps, files, emails etc.

The "Household" account would be where we keep one library of all our family pics, vacations, etc so it's in one location. In addition any files, data or what have you that pertain to the family. This way our separate accounts allow us to do our everyday, whatever it is we want to do like we have been on our individual iPhones and iPads...plus emails, work emails, hobby stuff, etc etc.

Just curious how you all did it with a household Mac.

Thanks!

 

[pmiles]

Change Users & Groups settings on Mac

On your Mac, set up individual user accounts or groups, let occasional users log in as guests, and change network account server settings.

support.apple.com

 

[velocityg4]

Best security practices is to have an administrative account just for that purpose, administration. You and your wife should reach have your own account and they should be standard users. If you have kids they should be standard users or have parental controls enabled. If you want a family account that should also be standard. You can also enable a guest account with severely curtailed access.

You don't want to run as administrator full time. Mostly to make you stop and think. If you get promoted for an admin password. Rather than just clicking OK. Although software not from identified developers requires jumping through some security now anyways.

Put shared data in the public folder. No need for a separate account. Although the Photos app may complicate that. I haven't tried multiple users with icloud sync to one library. I download all my pictures as I dislike picture managers. So you may want the family account. It doesn't hurt to try the public folder first.

 

[EC99SS]

Put shared data in the public folder. No need for a separate account. Although the Photos app may complicate that. I haven't tried multiple users with icloud sync to one library. I download all my pictures as I dislike picture managers. So you may want the family account. It doesn't hurt to try the public folder first.

Thank you for the replies. I'm mostly concerned how we can have the iMac be the final destination of all our photos in one location (with my wife and I having our own Apple IDs). I would back it up via external HD's. I don't think I can use iCloud photo library with 2 different accounts. But in looking around seems like there is no simple way. At this point, the best way may be to just backup each account to ensure the pictures are backed up. It would have been nice to just have one library even though we're ultimately using 2 different accounts (Apple ID's).

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asked:
"Do you recommend setting up a separate "Household" Admin account as the Main and then having our two accounts created as individual users (with Admin rights is fine)?"

NO.

If there are going to be two (or more) users, set YOUR account up as "the initial account" that gets created when you first take it out of the box and turn it on. This will have administrative privileges.

You're going to be "the administrator", right?

You can set the other accounts up as a regular/standard (i.e., NON-administrative) account if you wish.

You also wrote:
"I'm mostly concerned how we can have the iMac be the final destination of all our photos in one location (with my wife and I having our own Apple IDs)"

I'd keep your photos in your account.
And keep HER photos in HER account.

And perhaps create a "third" photos library, containing "contributions" from both of you?

Want to see things get messed up quickly?
Then... start "sharing" them...

 

[EC99SS]

Thank you! Sounds so simple lol yet makes a lot of sense for the photos.