Ages ago the recommended setup for wife/husband was the following:
Personal ID 1: husband@email.com (Country A)
Personal ID 2: wife@email.com (Country A)
Shared ID 1: itunes@email.com (Country B - USA)
Personal ID was used by husband/wife separately so they don't interfere each other in their personal settings / calendars / contacts etc. Shared ID was used for common purchases. Those remembering stone age know that recommended setup was to register iTunes to USA in order to take advantage of iTunes store. I believe iTunes store was not available internationally at that time and US gift card was preferred option to use.
Fast forward 2023 year Apple has introduced range of "sharing conveniences" to make life easier and harder for those on older setups.
On Personal ID 1 I pay for iCloud+ with 200 GB of storage which I share across family members. I was thinking about adding ATV+ membership, however it seems Apple One family would be much more cost effective given I would also get Apple Music and Arcade. One of the reasons I never got Music or Arcade is that they are tied to the App Store ID and not personal ID like iCloud, so there would be no way in sharing it between husband and wife since they are not using their Personal IDs as App Store IDs.
If I would start fresh today, I would just buy Apple One under my Personal ID 1 and share it with my wife's Personal ID 2. I would not use Shared IDs for App Store purchases anymore, especially that since enforcement of 2FA using Shared App Store ID is sometimes problematic.
As you may understand by now the main problem in sorting this out are the purchases accumulated on the Shared ID account across several years, including apps, books, audiobooks, music etc.
Solutions I was thinking about:
1. Add Shared ID as a family member, as this way theoretically speaking whatever bought on the iTunes Shared ID should be available to others - or am I wrong?
2. Convert the Shared iTunes ID into a child's account, I have 2 kids and one of them doesn't have iCloud account yet. Not sure if such conversion is possible, but I think it should because when you add child to your family it is asking whether child already have their own email.
3. Not sure if it is possible to add family members who have their accounts registered in different country than the rest. However technically the Shared ID iTunes account is not a fully featured Apple ID, it was created long time ago for the purpose of iTunes account.
4. In case if the change of country is required on Shared App Store ID from Country B to A in order to become a family member, the question whether and what purchases I would lose.
Please share other thoughts if any. I wonder what users have done in a similar case scenario as the one above.
Personal ID 1: husband@email.com (Country A)
Personal ID 2: wife@email.com (Country A)
Shared ID 1: itunes@email.com (Country B - USA)
Personal ID was used by husband/wife separately so they don't interfere each other in their personal settings / calendars / contacts etc. Shared ID was used for common purchases. Those remembering stone age know that recommended setup was to register iTunes to USA in order to take advantage of iTunes store. I believe iTunes store was not available internationally at that time and US gift card was preferred option to use.
Fast forward 2023 year Apple has introduced range of "sharing conveniences" to make life easier and harder for those on older setups.
On Personal ID 1 I pay for iCloud+ with 200 GB of storage which I share across family members. I was thinking about adding ATV+ membership, however it seems Apple One family would be much more cost effective given I would also get Apple Music and Arcade. One of the reasons I never got Music or Arcade is that they are tied to the App Store ID and not personal ID like iCloud, so there would be no way in sharing it between husband and wife since they are not using their Personal IDs as App Store IDs.
If I would start fresh today, I would just buy Apple One under my Personal ID 1 and share it with my wife's Personal ID 2. I would not use Shared IDs for App Store purchases anymore, especially that since enforcement of 2FA using Shared App Store ID is sometimes problematic.
As you may understand by now the main problem in sorting this out are the purchases accumulated on the Shared ID account across several years, including apps, books, audiobooks, music etc.
Solutions I was thinking about:
1. Add Shared ID as a family member, as this way theoretically speaking whatever bought on the iTunes Shared ID should be available to others - or am I wrong?
2. Convert the Shared iTunes ID into a child's account, I have 2 kids and one of them doesn't have iCloud account yet. Not sure if such conversion is possible, but I think it should because when you add child to your family it is asking whether child already have their own email.
3. Not sure if it is possible to add family members who have their accounts registered in different country than the rest. However technically the Shared ID iTunes account is not a fully featured Apple ID, it was created long time ago for the purpose of iTunes account.
4. In case if the change of country is required on Shared App Store ID from Country B to A in order to become a family member, the question whether and what purchases I would lose.
Please share other thoughts if any. I wonder what users have done in a similar case scenario as the one above.