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Jetheat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 13, 2008
241
2
I have an iMac and I connect my iPhone to and so does my wife.

The problem is, when I want to upload or organize something on my iPhone, I see all of my wife's data, photos, contacts etc... all mixed in there.

Is there a clean way to have two completely separate accounts within the same copy of iTunes and with the same Mac User Account.

I wanna separate all her data, music, movies, contacts, apps and everything else that is unique to her, from my stuff.

How do I do that?

At the same time, there may be a few bits and bobs that we may both want to have. Is there a way to share those items while keeping the rest separate?

JH
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
You need separate Mac user accounts.

You could use iTunes home sharing to share some of the stuff between the two of you.

Remember you can have fast user switching on so it's easy to swap between Mac accounts.
 

Jetheat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 13, 2008
241
2
You need separate Mac user accounts.

You could use iTunes home sharing to share some of the stuff between the two of you.

Remember you can have fast user switching on so it's easy to swap between Mac accounts.

Thx, I don't wanna go down the hassle of using another account. I've had one account for the last 7 years and wanna keep it that way.

Just need to find a way to do it within iTunes.

I did read about Libraries, but I don't think that deals with contacts, bookmarks etc...

JH
 

Thraun

macrumors regular
Dec 18, 2008
159
41
Abbotsford, BC
As far as I know, multiple user accounts on the Mac is the only way to do it.

It's certainly the easiest, fastest, simplest way.
 

glenthompson

macrumors demi-god
Apr 27, 2011
2,982
842
Virginia
You can have separate iMac user accounts and still use the same iTunes account so you can share music and apps. Even with separate use accounts, you can share needed data on the iMac.
 

mscriv

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2008
4,923
602
Dallas, Texas
If you don't want separate user accounts on the computer you could consider having separate iCloud accounts on your individual iPhones. If you share an iTunes account then you have the advantage of sharing apps, music purchases, etc.. This way you don't have to buy stuff twice.

With separate iCloud accounts you can sync your iPhones to iCloud directly and successfully maintain separate contacts, to do lists, photostreams, etc..

The other thing you can consider is how you manage your data within iTunes and how you sync it. If you want to keep things on your local computer then you can set up playlists for music, albums for photos, and group lists for contacts. Then only select the specific lists, albums, and contact groups that you need on your phone. This way you and your wife can ensure you only get the stuff you need on your phone and there is no crossover. Another option is to manually manage the data on your phone and only sync what you need. Again, this should avoid crossover of data.

I hope you find one of these options or something else that can be a workable solution for you.
 
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jrs22

macrumors 6502
Aug 1, 2012
355
59
My approach is much like the recommendation of mscriv. I have one user account on my MBP and use itunes to synch my ipad, my iPod, and my son's ipad. I have one icloud account for my MBP, ipad and ipod, and my son has a separate one for his ipad. I set up the three devices for manual synch so his music and my music, books, etc. are in one library. It took a bit of time at first to check off what went on his ipad vs mine, but once we were set up synch is easy and we don't share data.
 
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