Apple Working on Allowing the Merging of Multiple Apple IDs

[fjpoblam]

I'd surely appreciate this...

Nickname I want on an email address I'm trying to phase out. The other, on my newer email address of favor (a domain-driven email address instead of a freebie) has a funky nickname I had to give it because the preferred nickname was already taken. The newer email address we used, on our newer MBPs. Dang! (User error...duh...) Reunion would be nice.

 

[SwissMac2]

I have more than one Apple ID for one country but I also have an Apple ID for more than one country because I live in a non-English language country and need English language apps. For instance, if I use the Swiss App Store I end up with a German speaking Facebook app - the only way I can get this in English is to have a UK App Store AppleID. Similarly, when I went on holiday in the UK the only way I could download a set of Ordnance Survey maps (far more accurate than Google) I needed to use the UK Store.

In Europe, despite a common currency in 17 countries, each country has its own App store (often with different prices) or they don't have one at all. So people set up accounts in other countries and then when Apple does open an App Store in them they end up with two IDs.

Apple really has a terrible record when it comes to understanding how International markets work. Its focus is almost entirely on the US, despite more money being brought in from outside of the US from a much smaller market share. It really needs to cease and desist from controlling cross border downloads and multi-layer pricing. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth when you are on the receiving end.

 

[ny3ranger]

Thank you Apple. It getting kind of crazy to be getting email on my .mac and having an iTunes account.

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I want this more than iPhone 5 and iPad 3

I wouldn't go that far man.

 

[vitzr]

The more I read about how iCloud operates, the worse the impact of multiple accounts per customer appears to be. It appears that if Apple fails to sort this out before the launch it will be a repeat of the initial MobileMe mess.

 

[dewski]

this would be a life saver, as i am newly married and me and my wife share a macbook air as our hub computer, and we also have an ipad in the house and our two iphones. we both have problems syncing our music with the same computer

 

[lonelily]

This is one of Apple's biggest flaws at the moment, and the problem is set to get worse with the imminent release of iCloud. It'll be interesting to see how Apple tackle this one...

Why not ask them to allow people to merge Apple IDs here Feedback

 

[alent1234]

That's because Europe has a crazy patchwork of laws where things like swastika images are ok in one country but not another. And its probably for tax purposes as well

I have more than one Apple ID for one country but I also have an Apple ID for more than one country because I live in a non-English language country and need English language apps. For instance, if I use the Swiss App Store I end up with a German speaking Facebook app - the only way I can get this in English is to have a UK App Store AppleID. Similarly, when I went on holiday in the UK the only way I could download a set of Ordnance Survey maps (far more accurate than Google) I needed to use the UK Store.

In Europe, despite a common currency in 17 countries, each country has its own App store (often with different prices) or they don't have one at all. So people set up accounts in other countries and then when Apple does open an App Store in them they end up with two IDs.

Apple really has a terrible record when it comes to understanding how International markets work. Its focus is almost entirely on the US, despite more money being brought in from outside of the US from a much smaller market share. It really needs to cease and desist from controlling cross border downloads and multi-layer pricing. It leaves a very bad taste in the mouth when you are on the receiving end.

 

[emaven]

How is this true?

A long time ago when it was a free service (I forget what it was called) I created a user name that was not tied to an email address. Then Apple required the user name to be tied to an email address so that original name had .Mac added to it. That created 2 separate accounts. Then when the MobileMe came along that created a 3rd name, but not another account. But I still have problems even with that sometimes.

 

[jonnysods]

Oh that would be so nice! I have a few ID's and I'd love to merge them.

 

[gikku]

two Apple IDs?

At last count I have 11

Oh, and these accounts are shared in the family too.

 

[stevenlangley1]

YES!!! The day has finally come!! well soon atleast...I hope.

 

[tdmac]

As stated above, this would be good news for those that have this problem.

On the flipside with iCloud,Apple now needs a way to better support shared libraries. In our house we all use the same ID and sync to the same machine. This alleviates the issues that other would have. But this comes with its own set of problems. For one, I have to log in each and everytime my kids want to purchase an item. Then technically they could (but haven't luckily) buy anything they want since the ID stays active for a preset amount of time to allow additional purchases.

I for one think that Apple needs a main Apple ID and then Sub Accounts. This way your kids can have there own and you could even give them an allowance. It would enable you to then choose syncing preferences, via icloud for a particular device. So if I have two devices (ipad and iphone) I may want my notes and apps to auto sync and download between devices but I do not want the same to happen with my wife or kids devices. I have this issue today with Mobile Me. We all share one account. So its all or nothing with syncing calendars and contacts. We have to manually sync contacts via iTunes so we each get what we want. For calendars my wife and I sync all and just turn off the ones I don't want to see.This way we have it pushed. For the kids we manually sync them, which means we have to be on top of it so they have all current info.

Maybe icloud has something built in already to handle this but not sure. Technically this should be able to be handled by the device ID and choosing syncing options based on the Device ID/Name.

 

[jennyp]

Seems like it DOES matter, according to this Ars Technica article -

"... if you associate that iCloud account with your device, you won't be able to access all the songs and other data you bought using a separate Apple ID."

?

 

[scottness]

I hope they allow merging of accounts from different countries, I have a US account, a Korean account, and an Australian account. As I live in more than one country and travel a lot I use and buy apps from each country. Some US apps are not available in other countries or are designed for a specific region. I have credit on each account, I would love to merge these accounts. I have them all on the same password but the 90 day issues is now messing with me. This one problem is huge and is a big negative for Apple as they target IOS devices for business people, but not international travellers that need apps from different stores due to locality issues in releasing.

Not only this, they need to be able to select English in the Korean store, I hate how the app store and website goes into Korean when I select that store, I live in Korea but cannot read it, give me English so the stores are usable.

yeah, same here. i've got apps specific for japan, but most from my us account. merging the two would be quite nice.

 

[vitzr]

Too bad @me.com is so bloody narcissistic.

 

[Triddick]

A simple solution

I have a gmail account that I used as my iTunes ID, I have used this for all my iTunes purchases.

2 years ago I decided that I would use MobileMe, I like the service and thought that updating my apple ID would be as simple as updating my email address to the MobileMe address. However this is not the case as apple say that an ID has been allocated to my MobileMe address and can't be associated with my original ID. I have never used my MobileMe address as an apple ID and continued to use my gmail account to buy iTunes content, register any new products and for apple support.

Would it not be easier for someone in my situation to simple update my original iTunes account with any email address I have including a MobileMe (iCloud) address. In the future rather than automatically allocating an apple ID to a newly created MobileMe account give the customer an option to link to an existing account.

Obviously this won't help customers who have numerous apple ID's with purchases across them all. I know people that have this issue and it becomes an issue when updating apps. So can only imagine what a chore this will be when iCloud launches.

At least we know that apple have identified this and hopefully a resolution will become available soon.

 

[cleanbreaks]

Well, it's here. Has anyone had any experience with merging Apple IDs yet? I, like many, bought all my music and apps on one Apple ID, then signed up for MobileMe at a later date, thus generating a second Apple ID. I'd love to absorb the first account and all its purchases into my MobileMe Apple ID. I'm a little afraid to sign up for iCloud today because I will have to choose which ID to associate with it. I was really hoping a solution would be in place for launch today.

 

[Tibbar]

I've used a Hotmail address for iTunes/App Store purchases for years. Today I signed up for an iCloud @me.com address. I was unable to merge or change my primary Apple ID from Hotmail to me.com

Now I have zero incentive to use @me.com email.

 

[Rend It]

This is a colossal fail on Apple's part. I'm holding off on iCloud until I see this Apple ID issue rectified and (hopefully) iCloud support for iDisk.

 

[sunfast]

It might not be very neat, but it's not the end of the world.

If, like me, all of your purchases are from some pre-MobileMe ID then you merely associate you MM ID with iCloud and leave your purchasing ID associated with the store.

See http://http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895

 

[foiden]

I guess I got lucky. I converted my Mobile Me to iCloud, so my main iCloud account is on my me.com account. I have another account I'm using for iTunes or App Downloads, etc. So technically, I have two accounts. Like the person above me, all of my purchases are from a pre-mobile me account. Mobile me (now iCloud) was strictly for synching stuff across devices not related to online purchases.

Fortunately, all devices, so far, allow you to set up a separate apple ID specific for iTunes and Apple Online Shops (including the Cloud services associated strictly with that), and another one for iCloud synching for everything else.

So in that way, I kind of lucked out in that I have that setup for myself.

 

[Boxer757]

I've read through the thread but am still not clear on my situation...

I have an apple ID that is not an email address - no @xxxxx - just an ID like a screen name. I made this ID 6 years ago or something and have used it for all my itunes/apple purchases.

Updated to iOS5 and it says I have to use an email as my user ID. I changed it to an email and also changed the information in iTunes. It appears as if everything is fine now? It didn't wipe out purchases from my iTunes library made with the old ID.

If I'm reading correctly the only people having problems are those with @me or @mac accounts and another ID. So really I didn't create a second account, I've just changed my ID on the account I've always had. Is this correct? Am I in the clear?

Sorry if this is obvious/I'm not picking up on the nuances here. Just want to be sure I am in the clear...

 

[swh]

For the record, I have @mac.com and @me.com, and whether I'm using iCloud, iTunes, or whatever...it does NOT matter which ID I use.

Its one account. Just two different ways to login. If you're a MobileMe member, and the above is You Too, don't fret.

You're right, but if you have been using a gmail, hotmail or other account outside of the apple .me or .mac domains, you are SOL.

Here's to hoping they give us the option to combine them.

The reality is that all of our purchases reside in a database or multiple databases. This means that they can run a routine to combine them all (purchases and IDs) into a single user account and then we can all be happy.

 

[swh]

Back in the day when you signed up for a .Mac account, it by default, became an Apple ID, even if you already had an iTunes account with hundreds of purchases.

I'm in that boat.

My choice right now is to:

A) Give up my iTunes account and lose all of my music and movies (and the Apps I developed under that account) and stick with my MobileMe Apple ID

B) Give up my MobileMe account, and getting new email addresses for my family (yeah, I have a family MobileMe account that provides email addresses calendars, and storage/iDisk for me, my wife, and my son.) and start over from scratch.

Apple created this problem by not letting .Mac users use their existing accounts when they signed up for .Mac.

The second problem I have, is that my MobileMe account is a Family account with multiple email addresses, calendars, and storage space.

How does that map onto an iCloud account? As MobileMe is our main web service for mail, calendars, etc, I haven't been willing to risk losing it through migrating to the beta of iCloud.

I probably will hold off on using iCloud for real until this issue is resolved.

For family accounts, you will have to pick the primary email address (apple ID) used to create the instance of MobileMe. All your other family members will have to have their own accounts as well. This means that your kids purchases under your account (for iTunes, Mac App Store) will be under your main AppleID, and if they want those apps, videos & Music, they will have to use the main AppleID, or repurchase them.

Not the greatest solution. The solution/work around will be to pick the one AppleID you want to use, and then manage all the purchases on the various devices under that one ID (a pain) or set each member of your family up with separate AppleIDs and then use those credentials on the separate devices under the iCloud set up. This is also a pain because they will have to repurchase apps, music, and video that they won't have registered under their new IDs.

The bottom line here is that it will be a hassle for anyone with family accounts.

SWH

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I just wish I could delete 1 or more of the "5 Computers restriction" that died a long time ago. Without me being able to log in to deauthorize the computer, it's still on my "5 allowed" list and I need access to my iTunes for a new computer(s)

You do have the ability once a year to deauthorize ALL computers from the list. And then just re-add your current PCs or Macs to remove the old ones from the list.

In iTunes, go to Store, View My Account. If you haven't signed in, you'll have to sign in first, and then you will see, right under Country, the option to "Deauthorize All."

Then re-authorize your current computers.

SWH

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I hope they allow merging of accounts from different countries, I have a US account, a Korean account, and an Australian account. As I live in more than one country and travel a lot I use and buy apps from each country. Some US apps are not available in other countries or are designed for a specific region. I have credit on each account, I would love to merge these accounts. I have them all on the same password but the 90 day issues is now messing with me. This one problem is huge and is a big negative for Apple as they target IOS devices for business people, but not international travellers that need apps from different stores due to locality issues in releasing.

Not only this, they need to be able to select English in the Korean store, I hate how the app store and website goes into Korean when I select that store, I live in Korea but cannot read it, give me English so the stores are usable.

Have you thought about having a vpn (i.e. witopia) that will allow you to be in any country, and "phone home" via vpn to access a single store? I do this when I travel and it works really well.

Of course each country's store doesn't carry all apps in other stores, so your sort of stuck, but it may help.

I haven't seen anything about combining AppleID's for other country's stores with an AppleID associated with a US AppStore account.

That would definitely make life easier for you.

 

[swh]

this would be a life saver, as i am newly married and me and my wife share a macbook air as our hub computer, and we also have an ipad in the house and our two iphones. we both have problems syncing our music with the same computer

Just authorize the MBA with both AppleIDs and that should solve all of your syncing problems. You can authorize more than one AppleID to a single computer.