iCloud AppleIDs, MobileMe, iCloud and Sharing: A Guide

[chachster]

Just confirming if I have this right.

I currently have a legacy username, not email address as my apple id that I use to purchase with.

I have a few mobile me accounts for the family.

I want to ensure that what I purchase is shared on my iPhones, iPods, iOtherDevices.

Convert my legacy username only to my primary Mobile Me @me.com address (first have to change me @gmail email on my account to the @me.com address)

Then use a separate mobile me for my contacts, mail, etc.
Then use a separate mobile me for my wife's contacts, mail ,etc

Then associate both on each to share contacts without sharing mail?

I just want to make sure I am going through the proper steps as this doesn't make apparent sense right off the start (well at least to me)

Basically I just want the apple store, iTunes, Apps, etc ($ purchases) account on all the devices and then some shared and some separate iCloud shared stuff

 

[Eldiablojoe]

dhy8386, your OP is a great post! I am hoping you could elaborate on the steps necessary to follow Scenario 2, iCloud Option 3. How exactly do I unify the purchases in iTunes? Do I reauthorize all devices (via iTunes -> Store -> Authorize This Computer) or do I just make sure I can sign into all three of our iTunes accounts on the same computer.

It's the smaller, basic steps I'm missing. I'm afraid of jacking this whole thing up.

Thanks!!

Currently, we have the three iTunes accounts (mine, hers, and ours with a now defunct old email addy), plus 4 iDevices (her iPhone 4, her iPad2, my iPhone 4, and my iPad1) and they all sync to my iTunes account via my MacBook running Lion. I also have a MM account that I use to sync my Notes, Calendar, and Contacts, but not my primary email which gets pushed to my devices via gmail.

We each have our separate Apple IDs, and I have a MM ID that is different than my Apple ID. My MM ID is now also my iCloud ID. Her Apple ID is also her iTAB and iCloud ID.

Hope this is enough information.

 

[thomamon]

Great guide!!!

 

[Slip Jigs]

Appreciate the suggestions but you are misinterpreting why I wrote this. It wasn't to be a 4 page how to. It was to address the hole apple created in the family multi device multi id environment. If people actually take time to go to Apples website, there are very detailed walk throughs of some basic iCloud and iOS5 setups. Im trying to fill in the holes. And I have been helping people out on these boards for four days and I can tell you I have come across probably 12 different variations and use cases. Simply not the scope of the OP to address every one. I am sorry i cannot do that. Just don't have the time.

Fair enough. Having read through the thread again, I wonder if you could clarify something for me, something that you have answered several times in various ways and that seems to be a common issue.

Like many, I had an existing AppleID (email address) before MM came along. After someone hacked my account, realized I could change the email address, thus changing my Apple ID. However, it would not accept my MM address, as it was considered an ID already in use. So, as far as Apple is concerned, these were two unique iTunes store accounts.

I have set up iCloud on my device using my original ID, and if I understand your instructions correctly, all I have to do is "migrate" my MM account to my iCloud account. If that's correct, then this migration creates a link between the two accounts, and Apple knows they are both "me". And how solid is this link? in other words, as iTunes store account go, do both become one? Or, is it more of a soft association within only the device?

Maybe it's because I was hacked that I don't trust this process. To get into my account, all they had to do was enter my email and birthdate to change the password, then change the email address. So depending on this linkage between accounts, it could mean that now there's yet another avenue into my "real" account - and that's the one that holds the credit card. It would be so much easier just to be able to change the email address to my MM address. One email, one Apple ID, one account. Simple.

 

[dhy8386]

Like many, I had an existing AppleID (email address) before MM came along. After someone hacked my account, realized I could change the email address, thus changing my Apple ID. However, it would not accept my MM address, as it was considered an ID already in use. So, as far as Apple is concerned, these were two unique iTunes store accounts.

Just to be clear. You had an original AppleID. You were hacked, ok. You changed it and it is now, lets say for example, name@gmail.com. Additionally, you had also created a MM account, call it name@me.com. After your hacking, Apple would not let you change your iTAB (iTunes/app store) ID to your MM address thus you kept it at gmail. But your MM address is not a Store account correct? Meaning all your purchases are under gmail and your MM @me address if for personal stuff like email, cal, contacts. Is this correct?

I have set up iCloud on my device using my original ID, and if I understand your instructions correctly, all I have to do is "migrate" my MM account to my iCloud account. If that's correct, then this migration creates a link between the two accounts, and Apple knows they are both "me". And how solid is this link? in other words, as iTunes store account go, do both become one? Or, is it more of a soft association within only the device?

Assuming I am correct on the above, what you are saying here is that you created your master iCloud account with the name@gmail.com address, yes? And now you are considering migrating MM to iCloud. But when you say this creates a link, i am not sure I follow. Of course Apple knows you have multiple IDs but its not like your MM ID is tied to your name@gmail ID in any way. They may be tied to you as a person but I can't see how hacking one would affect the other. In all fairness, I have not looked at the AppleID support page where you can login to see your account. But I don't remember seeing my multiple IDs rolled up anywhere. They are all separate logins.

So your store account we are calling, name@gmail.com, remains isolated and tied to all your purchases. Now, if you do want to move your MM to iCloud you should do that. And if you want your iDevice to house all your old MM data - email, contacts, cal - then there are two ways to do it. I mention this in my guide but essentially you can 1) Delete the master iCloud account your created with the name@gmail.com login and redo the iCloud setup using your MM credentials (after you have migrated the account). Then, to get your store purchases accessible from the device, go into Settings>Store and logout of the MM account (which it will have created by default) and login with the name@gmail OR 2) Leave it as is, but then under Settings>Mail, add another iCloud account, your migrated MM, by entering your MM credentials. Then turn on Mail, Cal, Contacts under that account.

Unfortunately, if you want to maintain a @me address, and you didn't originally set up your iTunes store account with an @me address, you cannot have a true unified account. Apple will not let you migrate the @me account over the name@gmail.com account. You will have to have both on the device. That said, as I mentioned, i don't see how someone hacks your MM for example and therefore has access to your name@gmail.com

But I def could be wrong on this so someone else can confirm or correct.

 

[Tilpots]

How do I get the xxxxx@me.com email address to disassociate from my xxxxx@gmail.com address. I want to associate the xxxxx@gmail.com with yyyyy@me.com?

Great thread and thanks!!!

 

[flatfoot99]

If a family was just starting from scratch (most of our purchases were done with my apple id, so we could take the hit and repurchase), what would be the ideal scenerio?

Im guessing 1??? We will lose photostream sharing, but I got to think that will be allowed in the future?

another question is, will game progress saved across multiple devices be possible with icloud? (does it already do that?) For instance, im playing infinity blade on my iphone and continue it on my ipad when I get home. If this option ever exists, it will most certainly not work with scenario 2?

sorry for my rambling thoughts...

 

[jent]

Great post! I'd like to post my situation and get some feedback.

For app and music purchases I have a legacy account, which is just a username (not an email address). I also have MobileMe which I'm using for syncing. I'm currently running Snow Leopard and iOS 4.

Is it better to have everything under one account (which would have to be the legacy account since I've used it to buy my apps, which would also mean I have to change the username to a full email address), or keep my purchasing account and my syncing account separate (à la MobileMe, before iCloud)?

Going the latter route, which address would I have to give to people for iMessage and FaceTime? Could I tie both accounts to them so that people could call me on both? Could I specify one or the other?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of a single account, and well as two separate accounts? Thank you!

 

[str8up]

Read through the guides and all posts and still unsure of how I should configure iCloud for my wife and I.

Here's what we have:

Her - iPhone 4S​

Me - iPhone 4S​

Shared Ipad 2​

Here's what I want and how I did it:

All 3 devices (maybe more later) to share all purchases (apps, music, books, etc.) - I set all 3 devices to share the same Apple ID in the store setting.​

Both our iPhones to have it's own contacts, calendar, reminders, notes, mail, bookmarks synced with iCloud. - Each phone has it's own iCloud account.
​

What I can't figure out is how to have one Apple ID for the Find My iPhone feature so that we can both use that to locate all our devices. Also a little unsure of how iMessage plays into this as well. It would be nice if the photos we took on our iPhones gets shared to the iPad also, but that's not as important right now.

Thanks!!

 

[flatfoot99]

iTunes Match is also tied to the iTAB ID. So for example, if you have uploaded your entire library via iTunes Match, which was inclusive of songs purchased through iTunes and songs ripped via other means, all your music is now stored in the cloud [dont think iCloud though]. If you want that available, you have to turn on iTunes Match on the iDevice. BUT THIS HAS CONSEQUENCES. Turning on Match will wipe clean your current Music library on your iDevice. Instead, your Music app (not the iTunes app) will show all the same songs you just wiped (assuming it matched 100%) except that they will all be available for download. Meaning, you will need to redownload all the songs you want in your library. Each family member can do this or not do this as again, Match is tied into the ITAB ID. Each family member can also choose to download whichever songs they want. They will not be synced across devices.

Dyy8386 (thanks again for all your work!)

Will we be able to have multiple itab ids tied to this? If not, im not leaning on the fence anymore.... me and the wife will have to have 1 itunes account.

 

[dhy8386]

Dyy8386 (thanks again for all your work!)

Will we be able to have multiple itab ids tied to this? If not, im not leaning on the fence anymore.... me and the wife will have to have 1 itunes account.

iTunes Match is tied to an iTAB ID so you can't mix and match directly. But, what you can do is add multiple computers to iTunes Match under the same account or fill your library with multiple iTAB account music and then do your iTunes Match under the main iTab you want to use going forward. In other words, pack your library with all your music, then make sure you are signed in under the proper iTab before you will kick off match. The other option or scenario is that you have multiple computer with multiple iTAB Ids (home computer, wife computer, kid computer). You can also add multiple computers to iTunes Match, but again you will have to be logged into the main iTAB account before you start Match so it all goes to the same place.

Make sense?

Of course all subject to change since its not out yet.

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If a family was just starting from scratch (most of our purchases were done with my apple id, so we could take the hit and repurchase), what would be the ideal scenerio?

Im guessing 1??? We will lose photostream sharing, but I got to think that will be allowed in the future?

Without going into the pros and cons of all options, i would think photo stream would at some point be allowed to access multiple accounts but maybe not. I prefer option 1. One iTab account, multiple iCloud IDs so that everyone gets their 5 free GB of storage. While it may seem like a good idea to share one account for photostreaming, having played with it, not sure that is as important as the fact that the pics are all just autosaved in the cloud in case of disaster.

To your point about auto game saving and doc syncing, to me that would be messy if everyone shared 1 iCloud. I think it can be done, game saving, but up to the developers to implement.

No need to repurchase all your music unless you don't want your family to have access to your iCloud as well (meaning, you use the same iTAB ID for you as your iCloud).

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Is it better to have everything under one account (which would have to be the legacy account since I've used it to buy my apps, which would also mean I have to change the username to a full email address), or keep my purchasing account and my syncing account separate (à la MobileMe, before iCloud)?

Not sure one is better that other. If its just you, you could just keep it consistent and unified, one ID to rule them all. Keep in mind though, iCloud will not work on SL so you will need to upgrade to Lion 10.7.2 as well as migrate your MM account to iCloud - assuming you want to continue a legacy MM account as your iCloud ID.

Going the latter route, which address would I have to give to people for iMessage and FaceTime? Could I tie both accounts to them so that people could call me on both? Could I specify one or the other?

iMessage and FaceTime can be given any ID you want as well as multiple IDs. You could give it your iTAB, MM, Yahoo, and GMAIL AppleIds (if you actually had 4 of them) if you wanted to. This can all be set in the settings. It doesn't matter which one you pick, but if you want consistency across your iDevices, just pick the same one.

 

[jent]

iMessage and FaceTime can be given any ID you want as well as multiple IDs. You could give it your iTAB, MM, Yahoo, and GMAIL AppleIds (if you actually had 4 of them) if you wanted to. This can all be set in the settings. It doesn't matter which one you pick, but if you want consistency across your iDevices, just pick the same one.

Can you also choose which appears when making an outgoing FaceTime call or composing an outgoing iMessage?

 

[dhy8386]

Can you also choose which appears when making an outgoing FaceTime call or composing an outgoing iMessage?

I assume so. Best to try it.

 

[Slip Jigs]

Just to be clear. You had an original AppleID. You were hacked, ok. You changed it and it is now, lets say for example, name@gmail.com. Additionally, you had also created a MM account, call it name@me.com. After your hacking, Apple would not let you change your iTAB (iTunes/app store) ID to your MM address thus you kept it at gmail. But your MM address is not a Store account correct? Meaning all your purchases are under gmail and your MM @me address if for personal stuff like email, cal, contacts. Is this correct?



Assuming I am correct on the above, what you are saying here is that you created your master iCloud account with the name@gmail.com address, yes? And now you are considering migrating MM to iCloud. But when you say this creates a link, i am not sure I follow. Of course Apple knows you have multiple IDs but its not like your MM ID is tied to your name@gmail ID in any way. They may be tied to you as a person but I can't see how hacking one would affect the other. In all fairness, I have not looked at the AppleID support page where you can login to see your account. But I don't remember seeing my multiple IDs rolled up anywhere. They are all separate logins.

So your store account we are calling, name@gmail.com, remains isolated and tied to all your purchases. Now, if you do want to move your MM to iCloud you should do that. And if you want your iDevice to house all your old MM data - email, contacts, cal - then there are two ways to do it. I mention this in my guide but essentially you can 1) Delete the master iCloud account your created with the name@gmail.com login and redo the iCloud setup using your MM credentials (after you have migrated the account). Then, to get your store purchases accessible from the device, go into Settings>Store and logout of the MM account (which it will have created by default) and login with the name@gmail OR 2) Leave it as is, but then under Settings>Mail, add another iCloud account, your migrated MM, by entering your MM credentials. Then turn on Mail, Cal, Contacts under that account.

Unfortunately, if you want to maintain a @me address, and you didn't originally set up your iTunes store account with an @me address, you cannot have a true unified account. Apple will not let you migrate the @me account over the name@gmail.com account. You will have to have both on the device. That said, as I mentioned, i don't see how someone hacks your MM for example and therefore has access to your name@gmail.com

But I def could be wrong on this so someone else can confirm or correct.

Yep, you got it right 100%. I did the migration from MM to iCloud, and set up my iCloud account on both my devices using my MM, or as it is now iCloud email address. I kept my original Apple ID as the store login. So it's the device that serves as the hub and the link beetween accounts exists only on the device. So that's fine.

Thank you for your help.

And by the way, the migration added the 20GB of MM storage to the base 5GB of iCloud storage.

 

[jay06340]

Yep, you got it right 100%. I did the migration from MM to iCloud, and set up my iCloud account on both my devices using my MM, or as it is now iCloud email address. I kept my original Apple ID as the store login. So it's the device that serves as the hub and the link beetween accounts exists only on the device. So that's fine.

Thank you for your help.

And by the way, the migration added the 20GB of MM storage to the base 5GB of iCloud storage.

First of all, i'm a french and i'm sorry for my level of English...

I have a MM account that I want to migrate on iCloud.

I have some questions about this migration.

For that I understood :

1/ I have to go on http://www.me.com/move to migrate my account.
2/ I have now MM active both on my mac (10.7.2) et iPhone (iOs 5) to synchronize, Contact and Calendars.
3/ What I have to do on my Mac and my iPhone for my MM account ? Delete MM account before install iCloud account (System Preference/iCloud on iMac et Preference/iCloud on iPhone) or i can have both MM and iCloud active on Mac and iPhone simultaneously ?
4/ On my iPhone, in Setup / Mail, Contact, Calendar, I can delete my MM account and register my iCloud account, but for the iMac, where it is ??
5/ I have all my contacts and calendars synchronize on my iPhone thanks to MM and I really don't want to lost them during the migration!!

Thanks U all in advance and sorry for Shakespeare's language..

 

[Waffmeister]

I messed up when first setting up my devices using the @me.com address and then changing to my @name.com Apple ID, nothing worked... so my solution was to reset all of my iDevices and use the @me.com ID that was created. Looks like everything is working this time around, but I guess I'll be stuck with the old ID for app updates for the rest of my life...

 

[flatfoot99]

I started a new thread, but might be better here with the experts....

Me and the wife share the same apple id but have different icloud accounts. We both have an iphone and ipad. I have all the options checked, but some apps download to all devices while others only download to some devices or none at all. Is this a screw up on my part having seperate icloud accounts, or is apple still ironing out the bugs?

Did you test your scenarios with "automatic downloads"? Will they only work if you share an icloud address, or is apple still ironing out the bugs?

 

[tivoboy]

snow leopard?

Is it possible to do the MobileMe transition to icloud even for computers that are still using snow leopard, or does it have to be lion upgraded?

I used MM to sync my iCal, contacts to my Mobile Me and then sync to two ios devices, which all works very well, but I don't want to have to upgrade my daily driver laptop YET to lion.

 

[IC3D]

Yeah, I lost my Apple id to an e-mail address, and I am not happy about it.

 

[gianly1985]

The most versatile setup imho: 3 AppleIDs per user. (1 being shared)

1) 1st AppleID ("The Store") ----> shared or sharable in the future
- iTunes Store (+ iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match)
- MacAppStore
- iBookstore (uhm...what about iBooks bookmarks?)
- Apple Store online, retail, support, etc.

2) 2nd AppleID ("The Cloud")
- iCloud (Contacts, Calendars, Photo Stream, Documents & Data, Storage & Backup, Bookmarks, Reminders, Notes, Find My iPhone, Find My Mac, Back to my Mac)

3) 3rd AppleID ("The Publicly Known")
- Facetime
- iMessage
- iChat
- your public email


it feels kinda safer to keep 1 and 2 private. to hack them, people will have to guess both the appleID and the password.

Keeping 1 separated from 2 can also be a "just in case" kinda choice. What do you have to lose by doing it, after all?

 

[flatfoot99]

The most versatile setup imho: 3 AppleIDs per user. (1 being shared)

1) 1st AppleID ("The Store") ----> shared or sharable in the future
- iTunes Store (+ iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match)
- MacAppStore
- iBookstore (uhm...what about iBooks bookmarks?)
- Apple Store online, retail, support, etc.

2) 2nd AppleID ("The Cloud")
- iCloud (Contacts, Calendars, Photo Stream, Documents & Data, Storage & Backup, Bookmarks, Reminders, Notes, Find My iPhone, Find My Mac, Back to my Mac)

3) 3rd AppleID ("The Publicly Known")
- Facetime
- iMessage
- iChat
- your public email


it feels kinda safer to keep 1 and 2 private. to hack them, people will have to guess both the appleID and the password.

Keeping 1 separated from 2 can also be a "just in case" kinda choice. What do you have to lose by doing it, after all?

good idea! does it work?

 

[gianly1985]

good idea! does it work?

No reason why it shouldn't. Both OSX Lion and iOS5 are multiAppleID-friendly. You just have to be careful about where to insert what. (instead of the convenience of just having to remember 1 appleID and 1 password, which anyway is probably the best scenario for regular non-techsavvy non privacy-paranoid users)

One could even add a 4th AppleID to use just for GameCenter...maybe you wanna be private about what games you play or at what time of the day you play, besides GameCenter exposes your full name (to everyone or just to gamecenter-friends, depending on the settings) and has a (disablable) "find me by email" function. So you might wanna use a (at least slightly) fake full name for this particular appleID. A thing you definitely don't wanna do on the appleID1 ("The Store") you spend tons of cash with (real money to have fake purchase receipt registered to "Zapp Brannigan"?), and to a lesser extent appleID2 and appleID3. (it's worth noting that the full name associated to an appleID can be changed at anytime using the "my apple ID" page)

 

[gianly1985]

must-read

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-secrets-features-of-icloud-2011/

9. You’re limited to a maximum of 10 devices. With the ability to re-download content from everywhere, Apple has limited the number of devices that can participate in iTunes in the Cloud for a given account. The new terms allow for a total of 10 devices, five of which can be computers running iTunes. This means you could have five iOS devices and five computers authorized, or one computer and nine iOS devices, or any combination of the two.

Fortunately, this limitation only applies to iTunes in the Cloud features—you can still sync content directly from an authorized iTunes library to an unlimited number of iPods or iOS devices; the limitation only applies to authorizing devices to re-download or automatically download content directly from the iTunes Store.

 

[dhy8386]

must-read

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/instant-expert-secrets-features-of-icloud-2011/

Good find. Ill update the OP. The 10 limit device thing has been around for awhile because of app store.

Number 8, FYI, is looking like its not true.

Also, someone emailed me that their is an unfortunate side affect of sharing contacts (i.e., main contacts though iCloud, and then adding another iCloud account to share another persons contacts). Apparently this screws with Siri where Siri gets confused who you are vs the other person. It also can confuse the relationships as your dad may not be, for example, your wife's dad.

I havent tested this but it seems like it could in fact be a problem. Anyone else confirm this?

 

[gianly1985]

To be clear, the 10 devices limit is only on re-downloads, automatic downloads and PC-free cloud restores of a blank iOS5 device (since for the "iTAB side" of the restore process the same criteria of iTunes in the Cloud apply).

If you have an iTAB-AppleID-authorized Mac or PC around, you can still sync iTAB-products with INFINITE iOS devices that share the same iTAB appleID.

Apple servers ---> max 10 iOS devices (minus 0-5 iTAB authorized Mac/PCs)

Apple servers ---> iTAB authorized Mac/PC ---> infinite iOS devices


In a completely PC/Mac-Free future (or present for some families?), then yes it will actually be a limit. Though not a very strict one. It's 5 iPhones and 5 iPads for a family of 5. Reasonable.