Apple Still Working on Allowing Merging of Apple IDs

I don't think Apple would see death as a valid reason to transfer ID's and therefore purchases. I believe they've argued that purchases are not inheritable. Here's an article from last year by the NYT's MarketWatch:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-inherits-your-itunes-library-2012-08-23

The big thing that may be holding this up is that purchases are non-transferable. The public needs to successfully find a way or judgement that eliminates this obstacle.

*Cant insert a link on mobile. MR is too cheap/lazy/indifferent (?) to create an app with that functionality.

What I find infuriating is that apple will quite conveniently ignore issues and all criticism whatsoever.

As long as I can merge them into my .mac address I'll be happy.

Tilpots said:

I don't think Apple would see death as a valid reason to transfer ID's and therefore purchases. I believe they've argued that purchases are not inheritable. Here's an article from last year by the NYT's MarketWatch:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-inherits-your-itunes-library-2012-08-23

The big thing that may be holding this up is that purchases are non-transferable. The public needs to successfully find a way or judgement that eliminates this obstacle.

*Cant insert a link on mobile. MR is too cheap/lazy/indifferent (?) to create an app with that functionality.

Click to expand...

I don't think that inheritance would be considered a "transfer of ownership". And I really, really can't see anyone successfully suing a heir for enjoying the music they inherited. Likewise with splitting up an ID due to divorce: The owners are the same as before. Accounts don't own music, people do.

What Apple should do is put the fingerprint sensor on every product and also allow developers to use that resource. We could eliminate IDs, passwords, etc at long last.

Those who like passwords could of course still use them if they felt more secure.

Looks like Tim is still 'working on it'. It's been 2 years man. Come on!

Apple could def take a cue from Microsoft on this one. Microsoft Account management is great.

It's 2014

And Apple still has not been able to fix this issue. This is why I have not bought into the entire Apple ecosystem yet - this amateur infrastructure crap is frustrating.

Much better if there is one only Apple ID I StudyGeek before.

Family Sharing (when it arrives this fall) will address this concern to a large extent. The primary reason for wanting to merge is to have easy access to all iTunes/App Store purchases, which Family Sharing can do in many cases.

A single Apple ID is definitely simpler, but with iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, etc., it's become increasingly impractical - each user needs to maintain his/her own data and identity. The only hanger-on in the one-family-one-Apple ID model has been the iTunes account, for obvious economic reasons.

There are still open questions on Family Sharing. It does require a common credit card on all accounts. Will parents have enough control over spending on the kids' accounts? If the account(s) go to "None" for credit card, does that disconnect that user/family from Family Sharing? We'll see soon enough.

I can appreciate Apple's reluctance to merge accounts. A merger could be used as a form of account take-over (whether scammer-style, or as scorched earth during a bitter divorce). Ensuring that it's not a hijacking requires a fair amount of safeguards.

ApfelKuchen said:

Will parents have enough control over spending on the kids' accounts?

Click to expand...

Yes. Parents can enable "Ask to Buy." If "Ask to Buy" is enabled, parents will be asked for permission every time a child taps either the "Buy" button on an App Store or iTunes Store purchase or a button in an app to indicate that he or she wants to make an in-app purchase, and taps "Ask."

Lol, I don't make a boatload of money but I guess I'd need to add iTunes to any possible pre-nup in the future. Silly woman, you can't have my Warhammer collection, nor my iTunes purchases!