How many Apple ID's one each and a family one?

[LERsince1991]

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are moving in together, we both have iPhones and will be getting a shared ipad, Mac mini and Apple TV.

Obviously we should keep our own ID's for messages etc but I wouldn't want to use either of our IDs for the shared Mac and iPad as I wouldn't want messages emails notes etc being confused on the shared devices.

I was thinking of setting up a shared ID for the iPad and Mac mini, and then linking all three through family sharing.

With this method I should have good control over what albums are viewable in the Apple TV, I.e we can both add the home ID to shared photo streams to allow these events to be viewed in the tv, whilst keeping both our personal photos separate.

On the iPad we wouldn't use iMessage and would only have the shared home ID's emails in, then if we wish to view our own we can log in to a different account or something.

With the Mac mini I would be using it as a Plex server as well as for other media serving and use as a home computer for desktop design applications. I would like emails set up here so maybe I could set up three accounts: one for each and the server account. But would the server programs still work when another account is in use? Maybe I should just use one account to simplify things, but how could we separate our email accounts properly?

How do other people do this?

 

[Gav2k]

family sharing makes this simple.

 

[LERsince1991]

family sharing makes this simple.

I intent to use it as outlined above but it also further complicates things such as payments.

 

[Gav2k]

I intent to use it as outlined above but it also further complicates things such as payments.

iTunes giftcards

 

[LERsince1991]

Yeah so your not really explaining anything, so far you've said "family sharing" which I've already mentioned I plan to use in my OP, and "iTunes gift cards" which i have no idea where this comes into it.

 

[smitt]

Family sharing requires shared billing with all purchases charged to one card (or presumably an account pre-filled using gift cards).

Shared Mac

• Main multimedia account for Plex server, iTunes server (authorized with your account?), and iPhoto.
• Separate His & Her user accounts which will allow each person to have own email account and settings, as well as own personal iCloud Drive syncing personal documents and data to personal iPhone.
• Use Fast User Switching when need His & Her account access, but keep multimedia account logged in to have continued access to Plex server.
• iPhoto server is possible if using the older iPhoto 9.4.

Apple TV

• Logged in to a shared iTunes store account for purchases.
• iTunes Home Sharing to Mac mini to share local music, movies, home movies, and photos from iTunes.
• Subscriptions to shared iCloud albums populated by His & Her individual PhotoStreams

Shared iPad

• Logged in to a shared iTunes store account for purchases.
• Check email through webmail interface of personal accounts to maintain privacy.

 

[0879397]

Here's what I do as I also live with my girlfriend:

Each one has an Apple ID. On my Mac we have 2 different users, each logged in with his own Apple ID.
I have created a shared folder and pinned it to the sidebar of Finder. All of the downloads such as movies goes directly to there. The iTunes library is also shared between the 2 users.

As for the iPad, I only use the YouTube app there, so I'm logged on there. The rest of the iPad is her's.

Family sharing really makes things simpler as we can share a lot of photos directly to each other and also tasks and calendars.

 

[LERsince1991]

Thanks for the recommendations, looks like it's sorted #