I hate rebranding, because it is marketing BS. I even installed a browser extension that reverts "X" back to "Twitter" including the bird logo.
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'Apple ID' Expected to Change to 'Apple Account' Starting With iOS 18
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I could be wrong here, but I believe the original Apple IDs (that originated because of the iTunes Music Store) were actual ‘IDs’ and not third party email addresses. In fact, I don’t think an email address was even required at first. At some point they dropped the ‘IDs’ and the login simply became the third party email.
This was all separate from iTools/.Mac at the time. Those also evolved into Apple IDs, with their own email addresses.
This is why a lot of people have now have two Apple IDs. Merging should really be an option.
This was all separate from iTools/.Mac at the time. Those also evolved into Apple IDs, with their own email addresses.
This is why a lot of people have now have two Apple IDs. Merging should really be an option.
I’ve been begging Apple to all me to merge my old and new AppleID accounts for years!
Ok. Maybe I’m mistaken but I thought they changed that recently. Apple Support can do it, as far as I know, and it takes a bit of time. (But I might be mistaken.)
There are those of us who are ancient and had an original AppleLink ID that was not connected to an @xxx.yyy domain (1987). Talk about a nightmare bringing that up through eWorld, mobileMe, etc. and explain why I can't merge all this to one email/ID? I can buy a house or a car not leaving my desk in my house (I have done both) using my computer. I don't want to hear about proving my identity or it's too difficult to do. ********. I have this terrible family account with me as the head and me as the child just to keep all the things I have paid for over the years mine. Remember when you could buy a special edition U2 iPod (no judging)? You could also by the "Complete U2" from iTunes with all of U2's music (at the time). That iPod is long dead and that music collection not replaceable for the last 17 years. Yep, hooked to one of my previous email addresses and impossible to merge. Figure it out Apple!
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Maybe an apple account will link multiple apple IDs.
I know that some people have created family groups just to connect their various Apple IDs.
I’m really hoping that this is more than just a rebranding and they do something to help the messy account situation. Because of the mess, despite signing into iOS with a primary Apple ID, you can change the Apple ID individually for most every service. Just going through the settings app… iTunes, App Store, FaceTime, iMessage, Game Center, Home Sharing, etc.
I had a coworker once who told me that at one point everyone in their family used the same Apple ID on their iPhones. This was so they all had access to the same purchased music and videos. Once iMessage was released, they continued to all use the same Apple ID and adjusted the send and receive settings to only receive messages sent to their respective phone numbers (and not the Apple ID). I thought that was nuts, but it worked.
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Merging accounts and freely changing email addresses is super-advanced functionality never before implemented by anybody. No wonder Apple is having a hard time with it.
Doing work for millions without pay and generate nil monetary value? Ewww Apple would hate it to the core.
But if you think about it deeper, what’s the true relationship between customer and a company? Ultimately a transactional one. We buy products and/or services, they deliver. It’s a transaction in its core.
Every year Apple has to try hard to push more people into buying their own devices, services and whatnot and thrive via tons and tons of transactions. “Account” is not really out of place here. Plus, google and Microsoft also don’t call them “Google ID” or “Microsoft ID” either.
Is is. But the essence of marketing is to make it feel like something more. Like more than a relationship than an exchange of goods or services for money. "Account" makes it seem like the latter. "ID" the former.
Does the name matter? Nah, not really. But could it make it feel like it matters? Sure.
maybe kind of like how google one lets you share cloud storage / other benefits between multiple google accounts
Wish Apple would respect customers with consistent product branding.
Current iPhone should reflect release year, iPhone 23. Can differentiate after that with iPhone 23 Pro Max, etc.
Other devices:
- MacBook Pro 24 M3.
- MacBook Air 23 M2.
- Apple Watch 23.
- Apple Watch 23 Ultra.
Etc.
Similarly for OS’s:
- macOS 23 Ventura.
- iOS 23. (Currently: iOS 23.4.1).
- TVOS 23.
Etc.
Would make it easier to keep straight.
From a marketing perspective would put a psychological pressure on customers to upgrade as they fear falling behind. The abstract nature of a generation number is less effective at conveying this.
A side benefit would be that Apple could clean up its hella messy online documentation, e.g. “feature available in iPhone 23 and newer”.
Current iPhone should reflect release year, iPhone 23. Can differentiate after that with iPhone 23 Pro Max, etc.
Other devices:
- MacBook Pro 24 M3.
- MacBook Air 23 M2.
- Apple Watch 23.
- Apple Watch 23 Ultra.
Etc.
Similarly for OS’s:
- macOS 23 Ventura.
- iOS 23. (Currently: iOS 23.4.1).
- TVOS 23.
Etc.
Would make it easier to keep straight.
From a marketing perspective would put a psychological pressure on customers to upgrade as they fear falling behind. The abstract nature of a generation number is less effective at conveying this.
A side benefit would be that Apple could clean up its hella messy online documentation, e.g. “feature available in iPhone 23 and newer”.
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Yes and no.
AppleID is simple, straight forward and aligns with Apple’s typical naming scheme.
Apple Account is more cumbersome, less descriptive and does not match Apple’s typical naming scheme.
So I do think there’s a quantifiable difference there, though the bigger question for me is WHY they chose to do this. From a user perspective it’s neither a net gain or loss, but clearly Apple gains something from it. What?
Would be nice if it allows
a) merging of multiple accounts,
b) purging of unwanted accounts, and
c) ability to change the iCloud email address that folks set up that matched a compromised yahoo, gmail, etc. accounts that became spam magnets. (This was partly mitigated by the introduction of hide my email but being able to disassociate it from the yahoo user name to something less predictable would be good.)
Change is part of time passing. I like the idea of the name. Things can't stay the same.
To separate Wallet contents (ID’s) from Apple acct administration.
That top bar in settings could be sweetly labeled Apple Account in larger font size, and the list of contents could be left for the user to discover inside) because there’s so much content in there.
While these are some good ideas, I don't quite understand the desire to merge multiple accounts. I can understand wanting to share benefits+cloud storage across multiple accounts. However, the whole reason for having multiple accounts is to keep data separate for security and privacy. This way, when iPhone finally implements multiple user profiles, one can use one account in one profile, and another account in another profile, thus helping to keep data completely separate for privacy/security.
And I can understand some breadcrumb sharing between multiple accounts, but not a complete merge, which would kind of defeat the purpose of multiple accounts (privacy/security) in the first place. Another thing they could offer might be something like app-specific sharing of content between accounts.
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