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logan-c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
15
5
At first we were a single iPod family. One itunes, one device to sync. Life was easy. Then came another iPod, still, living the high life. And another. Then came the iPod Touch. It needed an AppleID, no big deal. Then came an iPad. Hmm, let's make a new AppleID, linked to a new credit card. Confusion. iPhone5...used the first AppleID. Hmmm.

Now enter soon 4th iPod...another Touch. Introducing another member of the family to Apple. Potential confusion. A third AppleID?

What would happen if I created a 4th AppleID called, hmmm, OurFamilyAppleID, and pointed everyone to that one. Would iMessage stop? Would we all get the same iMessage across our device family? Yuck. This may be a question: We'd all share the same apps, music, movies, books. This would be fine.

How does a family make all these work, especially one that has grown from just a single device?
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,244
127
Portland, OR
We have a common apple id that we use for anything in any of the stores. That way we all have rights to the content.

We use individual apple ids for anything personal including email, messages, syncing, etc.

The devices (and Macs) allow different apple IDs for the stores and for personal information.

/Jim
 

logan-c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
15
5
What happens, on the device level, when I change my AppleID, do my apps and content vanish off the device and I need to resync and re-add? Do I loose my data if the apps vanish?
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,244
127
Portland, OR
What happens, on the device level, when I change my AppleID, do my apps and content vanish off the device and I need to resync and re-add? Do I loose my data if the apps vanish?

I do not know how to "change" an apple ID... at least as far as the stores go. That is why we have held a dicipline of always "buying" everything with a single Apple ID. You might want to check with Apple to see if it is possible to merge or otherwise combine multiple Apple IDs. I do not know the answer.

My main point is that the Apple ID that you use for stores... can be different for the Apple IDs you use for personal information. The devices are set up to allow different ID for the two purposes.

/Jim
 

AnorexicPig

macrumors 6502
Dec 12, 2012
378
31
Winnipeg,Canada
If you will change your Apple ID on your device,then apps won't vanish,they wil stay but you can't redownload them again (they will go away from the purchased section) as well as they won't update.

Have a single Apple ID linked to a common credit card for all devices for iTunes store purchases and have different iCloud IDs for iMessages and Facetime-works perfectly.
 
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