Best way to share iCloud with a spouse?

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Please, this is not a debate of whether Apple WANTS you to share Apple ID's/iCloud ID's, this is asking about the potential pro's and con's of sharing ID's. So all you morality brigades begone!

My wife will be getting her first iPhone on Oct 14. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea for her to use my Apple ID and soon-to-be iCloud ID. There are many reasons that I want to do this, but I'm wondering what kind of problems we may run into. Below I'm listing allthe potential consequences of doing this (both good and bad) that I can think of. Can you think of any other consequences? Or do you recommend doing anything differently?

3rd party Apps syncing :good: This is a big reason for wanting to share iCloud accounts. Ex. We can each enter our purchases into our budget tracking app and they will automatically sync with each other
sync Calendar :good: we will both easily be able to see each other's work schedule's etc
Won't need to double purchase apps :good: honestly not a driving factor, but it is a consequence and this list would be lacking if it weren't mentioned
Sync Address book :neutral: we aren't hiding any phone contacts from each other and it would be nice is many instances to have her contacts, but it would be annoying to have so many unnecessary contacts. We could create our own "group" but they don't seem very easy to manage(at least from the iPhone). Also can a person be in both groups?
iMessage issues? :bad: how would iMessage work on my iPad? Will it import iMessages from both my iPhone and her iPhone? That would be very annoying.
only 1 me.com email account? :bad: not a huge issue, but if her iPhone shares my ID then she probably wouldn't be qualified for another me.com email address?
Photostream sync... good.
Docs in the cloud... good.
iTunes in the cloud... good.
backups... shouldn't be any issues there?


I think I've talked enough for now... I mainly want to have those first two. Thoughts?

 

[rjohnstone]

You can use the same Apple ID for your iTunes account so you won't have to double purchase any apps.
The issue with using the same Apple ID for iCloud is backups.
You could run into an issue with one phone overwriting data on the other phone.
Never tried it so I can't say for sure, but I suspect it could cause a problem.
Photo stream could delete or overwrite photos due to file name conflicts.
Remember, the iPhone only increments the file name. two files with the same name could cause one to overwrite the other.

Also, iMessage won't work properly. Any message sent to you will also go to her.
You could not use it to chat each other over iMessage since it's the same ID.

In short, iCloud was designed to sync multiple devices, not multiple users.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Ouch. Sounds bad. I wish I could find out for sure about some of these things.

I don't think the backups would effect each other... because hypothetically a person could have two iPod touchs/iPads so I would assume that each respective device would be backed up in accordance with the device name. Just like how now a person can sync/backup multiple iPod touches to a single computer and give each of them different data with no issues.

Photostream... you may be right, but wouldn't each device also identify a unique (device specific) ID for their photo's... otherwise I could see this being a problem even between iPhones and iPads...

The one I'm most concerned about is iMessage. I think you may be right. Although, I could turn iMessage off in settings right? I mean I already have unlimited texts and I don't really care about sending to iPods/iPads... then it just comes down to the read receipts etc....

 

[Benito]

I thought iMessage works by either the phone number or email address NOT the Apple ID.

 

[rjohnstone]

My Apple ID and email address are one in the same.
You can use ANY email address you want for your Apple ID.
iMessage uses the email address registered to your Apple ID.
Remember... Apple is handling the conversation, not your carrier.
The phone number is used for standard SMS/MMS messaging.

@Mad Mac, you're right about the backups. The device ID's keep them separate. Just tested it.

iMessage does not work though if you're using the same Apple ID on both devices. (caveat, my Apple ID and email address are one in the same.)
Again.. just tested it.

 

[ScottW1]

Here is how I *think* it works, based on other reports...

The built-in settings app has two separate entries for AppleID: One for a "Store AppleID" and another for an "iCloud account". They can both reference the same AppleID, or they can be different -- i.e., one for purchases, another for iCloud syncing on that device.

If you share an account for purchasing Apps/Music/etc., enter that account in the "Store AppleID" on each of your family's devices. You will also have the option (on each device) to specify whether items purchased on other devices should automatically be pushed to that device. For a family sharing a purchasing AppleID, you probably want to set this to "Off" on each device. That way, every app purchased will not automatically sync to everyone else's device -- but each device user will still see all the apps/music/etc purchased by that shared AppleID under "purchased items", and can manually download selected content to his/her device as desired.

Assuming you don't all want to share Contacts, Calendars, Documents, and so forth... Create a unique AppleID for each user. On each user's device, enter their unique AppleID in iOS settings for "iCloud AppleID".

Now purchases are available to all (manually downloaded, as desired by each user), because they are grouped by the "purchasing" AppleID that you all share. But each user's contacts/documents/calendar/etc are separately synced, using their unique AppleID, on the device(s) each use.

I am not sure about backup... Perhaps someone else will chime in with information on how backups from multiple devices are handled, and whether there is a total size limit per "purchasing AppleID" or "iCloud ID".

 

[iPadThai]

It's really simple - since I've been testing it for a while:

1) Use one appleID which can be anything other than a MobileMe (@me.com) address for all iTunes store purchasing.

1b) You can share this appleID with any iOS device and you won't have to worry about making double purchases of the same items

2) You then use your iPad to create up to three (I think I maxxed out at three) - MobileMe (@me.com) addresses. So if you don't already have a MobileMe address, create it within the iCloud menu inside the settings menu.

3) You assign the iCloud backup and the iMessage account this new me.com address. So technically, you, your spouse can all have a me.com address and you don't worry about iCloud sync at all - they will be separate with each iOS device.

Hope this makes sense.

edit: The iCloud backups - you shouldn't use your appleID if you plan on sharing apps with family. You can just setup a new appleID (OR MOBILEME) email thru this. You can't do it on the website or anywhere else though. Up to 3 (I tried up to 3 and it said I've maxxed out the account creations) MobileMe addresses are free with each device. This way, the apps can be backed up without using the shared appleID login. It's great.

 

[MustangJoe]

Yeah looks like I'm going to be having issues with this iCloud. My Mom has an iPad and I will be getting my first iPhone. We share an account and it looks like every time she gets a song it will be going to my iPhone. Or every time I send a message to a friend that also has an iPhone she will be seeing it on her iPad. Am I going to have problems? Should I just make a new account for her?

 

[iPadThai]

Yeah looks like I'm going to be having issues with this iCloud. My Mom has an iPad and I will be getting my first iPhone. We share an account and it looks like every time she gets a song it will be going to my iPhone. Or every time I send a message to a friend that also has an iPhone she will be seeing it on her iPad. Am I going to have problems? Should I just make a new account for her?

You both can continue using the account name for the iTunes store - within each device, just make sure the APP STORE inside the settings has the same appleID account login name.

But in iOS 5.0 - there is a new iCloud settings - within that, you don't want to use the same app store login name (this is if you plan on sharing apps with family) - it's better to just use that iOS 5.0 iCloud setting menu to CREATE a new appleID (or choose a new MOBILEME @me.com address) - this way, your mom and you can have two separate iOS devices and NONE of the backups and NONE of the iMessages will get crossed.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

It's really simple - since I've been testing it for a while:

But there are some things that I do want to sync with my wife. I want our calendars to be able to sync and some 3rd party apps to sync. I assume that means we would need to share the same iCloud ID also? But would that create too many problems? I can disable iMessage if I need to.

See the problem I see with iCloud, is since there is no iDisk-like replacement how can my wife and I both view/edit the same pages document? Is it impossible to view my wifes Pages doc on MY iPad unless we share iCloud ID's?

 

[MustangJoe]

You both can continue using the account name for the iTunes store - within each device, just make sure the APP STORE inside the settings has the same appleID account login name.

But in iOS 5.0 - there is a new iCloud settings - within that, you don't want to use the same app store login name (this is if you plan on sharing apps with family) - it's better to just use that iOS 5.0 iCloud setting menu to CREATE a new appleID (or choose a new MOBILEME @me.com address) - this way, your mom and you can have two separate iOS devices and NONE of the backups and NONE of the iMessages will get crossed.

Thank you so much for the quick reply!

 

[LapsangSouchong]

Personally? It sounds like a bit of a nightmare. I can't imaging trying to share "the cloud" with my hubby.

 

[iPadThai]

But there are some things that I do want to sync with my wife. I want our calendars to be able to sync and some 3rd party apps to sync. I assume that means we would need to share the same iCloud ID also? But would that create too many problems? I can disable iMessage if I need to.

See the problem I see with iCloud, is since there is no iDisk-like replacement how can my wife and I both view/edit the same pages document? Is it impossible to view my wifes Pages doc on MY iPad unless we share iCloud ID's?

If you want to share calendars, I don't know about that - for me, if my wife is included in the calendar, I just add her as an invitee. I can see where you are coming from though - but I don't haven't used shared my calendar with the wife at all

As for the apps syncing, yea, I don't think that's possible with 2 accounts either. But for iMessage and FaceTime and iCloud backups, I'd just use a different account so that way I can share ONE SINGLE iTunes store account for purchases with the entire family. Saves me $

What you're asking for is like a sharpoint server; like msft's share point. I don't think apple has these features for ya. Shet, the iPad, iPhone's are all single user driven anyway. Maybe they will see this changing in the future.

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Thank you so much for the quick reply!

you're welcome - btw, this whole iCloud thing is great! Because I use to be a mac.com member and then it turned into the me.com thing - I had to pay the family package deal for the me.com emails and that costs me $99+ a year! I've been a member for more almost 4 years now. Now it's all free!

So when you get your iOS 5.0 this Oct 12, make sure you quickly try to create the me.com emails - you know how FAST email address names are taken up!

 

[LapsangSouchong]

ipadThai:

So when you get your iOS 5.0 this Oct 12, make sure you quickly try to create the me.com emails - you know how FAST email address names are taken up!

To clarify: if we already have a me.com email address, it will still work with IOS5 and iCloud. correct?

 

[NachoGrande]

I have no problems. my wife and I both have separate iCloud accounts and we share an iTunes account. Everthing works perfectly.

 

[iPadThai]

ipadThai:

To clarify: if we already have a me.com email address, it will still work with IOS5 and iCloud. correct?

If you have a MobileMe (me.com) already, it will work the same way. I first got confused and put in my iTunes store ID login as the iCloud backup. Then I realized my family members all have iPads too and they share my same apple iD login name. that would be bad because when I sync stuff, they would use the same account and have the same sync'ed items. Not good not to mention iMessage will not work this way with the same account login.

So yes, if you have an existing me.com account, you can just use that to login into iCloud. I just migrated over from me.com to iCloud. You can actually go to iCloud.com and login with your me.com - it will help you migrate over!

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

As for the apps syncing, yea, I don't think that's possible with 2 accounts either. But for iMessage and FaceTime and iCloud backups, I'd just use a different account so that way I can share ONE SINGLE iTunes store account for purchases with the entire family. Saves me $

are you implying that I could use the same iCloud ID as my wife and still be able to iMessage and facetime her, as long as we use seperate Apple ID's?? I don't think that would be possible (or even necessarily would want to do it), but just wondering if that's what you were saying.

Also, I haven't really used calendar/iCal... I can add my wife as an invitee for the things that I want her to know about?

 

[iPadThai]

are you implying that I could use the same iCloud ID as my wife and still be able to iMessage and facetime her, as long as we use seperate Apple ID's?? I don't think that would be possible (or even necessarily would want to do it), but just wondering if that's what you were saying.

Also, I haven't really used calendar/iCal... I can add my wife as an invitee for the things that I want her to know about?

Inside the iMessage menu - it will require you to enter in your appleID login name. After you do this, it will allow you to input more than one email address you want to RECEIVE iMessages at. You can technically put in a lot of unique addresses. Your wife can technically turn on iMessages using your same appleID login name. But she will have to use a unique email address to receive at. If she puts in joeblow@gmail.com and you already used that as your receive at address inside iMessage menu setting, it will error and say this email is already in use (activated).

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Also, I haven't really used calendar/iCal... I can add my wife as an invitee for the things that I want her to know about?

Yea, just add her as an invitee and she will get that passed onto her iDevice - she can accept it and it will put her in the calendar event. That's how I do it with my wife if I need her to know some of my calendar events. She just gets added as an invitee and voila, it's on her calendar as well. You can also make different calendar categories (home, work, family, etc) - that way you can separate a specific category for you and your wife.

 

[HiRez]

Here is how I *think* it works, based on other reports...

The built-in settings app has two separate entries for AppleID: One for a "Store AppleID" and another for an "iCloud account". They can both reference the same AppleID, or they can be different -- i.e., one for purchases, another for iCloud syncing on that device.

If you share an account for purchasing Apps/Music/etc., enter that account in the "Store AppleID" on each of your family's devices. You will also have the option (on each device) to specify whether items purchased on other devices should automatically be pushed to that device. For a family sharing a purchasing AppleID, you probably want to set this to "Off" on each device. That way, every app purchased will not automatically sync to everyone else's device -- but each device user will still see all the apps/music/etc purchased by that shared AppleID under "purchased items", and can manually download selected content to his/her device as desired.

Assuming you don't all want to share Contacts, Calendars, Documents, and so forth... Create a unique AppleID for each user. On each user's device, enter their unique AppleID in iOS settings for "iCloud AppleID".

Now purchases are available to all (manually downloaded, as desired by each user), because they are grouped by the "purchasing" AppleID that you all share. But each user's contacts/documents/calendar/etc are separately synced, using their unique AppleID, on the device(s) each use.

I am not sure about backup... Perhaps someone else will chime in with information on how backups from multiple devices are handled, and whether there is a total size limit per "purchasing AppleID" or "iCloud ID".

Thanks for that clear explanation, Scott. It's good to know there's separate AppleIDs for purchasing and syncing, that's something I'd not heard before. I still wish they would implement multi-user logins on iOS (still have the problem of shared iPads, for example), but the separate AppleIDs help a little.

1) Use one appleID which can be anything other than a MobileMe (@me.com) address for all iTunes store purchasing.

Yeah, this is the big problem for me, since I've been using my .Mac/Me.com account as an AppleID all along for purchases. Until Apple lets us merge or transfer AppleIDs, I'm not sure how to resolve this without losing all my purchase history (which I'm way too invested in to abandon).

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

Inside the iMessage menu - it will require you to enter in your appleID login name. After you do this, it will allow you to input more than one email address you want to RECEIVE iMessages at. You can technically put in a lot of unique addresses. Your wife can technically turn on iMessages using your same appleID login name. But she will have to use a unique email address to receive at. If she puts in joeblow@gmail.com and you already used that as your receive at address inside iMessage menu setting, it will error and say this email is already in use (activated).

Cool. but if we use the same iCloud ID they will both be SENT from the same #? so if the iCloud is joint@me and I activate husband@me and she activates wife@me can I send iMessages to wife@me from my iPhone? or am I just forcing this too much?

Yea, just add her as an invitee and she will get that passed onto her iDevice - she can accept it and it will put her in the calendar event. That's how I do it with my wife if I need her to know some of my calendar events. She just gets added as an invitee and voila, it's on her calendar as well. You can also make different calendar categories (home, work, family, etc) - that way you can separate a specific category for you and your wife.

Cool thanks. Can we have them in different categories? (I.E. my wife sends me something in the "work" category, but I want it to be in my "wife" category")

 

[LapsangSouchong]

If you have a MobileMe (me.com) already, it will work the same way. I first got confused and put in my iTunes store ID login as the iCloud backup. Then I realized my family members all have iPads too and they share my same apple iD login name. that would be bad because when I sync stuff, they would use the same account and have the same sync'ed items. Not good not to mention iMessage will not work this way with the same account login.

So yes, if you have an existing me.com account, you can just use that to login into iCloud. I just migrated over from me.com to iCloud. You can actually go to iCloud.com and login with your me.com - it will help you migrate over!

Fabulous. Thanks for the info.

 

[knownikko]

Thanks for all the useful info hashing this out.

I'm in the exact same position as the thread starter - wife and I share a Mobile Me account and it works great - having the same contacts and calendars between us works really well. The only concern I have with moving to iCloud is iMessage.

 

[iPadThai]

Cool. but if we use the same iCloud ID they will both be SENT from the same #? so if the iCloud is joint@me and I activate husband@me and she activates wife@me can I send iMessages to wife@me from my iPhone? or am I just forcing this too much?

Good question: If you used: joe@gmail.com as your iCloud login name and your RECEIVE AT address inside iMessage is set to: joe@yahoo.com, as long as you give the joe@yahoo.com name to your wife, she will just simply pop up iMessage and create a new message putting in the joe@yahoo.com email address in the TO field line and it will be sent to you.

If you're wife uses the same joe@gmail.com as the iCloud login name inside iMessage, it will work the same way. She just needs a different RECEIVE AT email address. So she randomly chooses one of her emails: susan@gmail.com. All you have to do is just compose a new iMessage and put in susan@gmail.com in the TO field and voila, it will be sent to her. The iCloud login names under iMessage set has nothing to do with the messages being sent out.

How this all works is that you must ACTIVATE a RECEIVE AT email address if you want to use iMessage. The iCloud login is just used to turn on the feature which is off by default. You will just input your iCloud login and then start adding RECEIVE AT email addresses. You can even make four or five unique RECEIVE AT email addresses inside iMessage and give those out. Anytime someone wants to write to you via iMessage, they just use one of those RECEIVE AT addresses you setup.

I would just use a different iCloud login name for each device so that your app (data) will be backed up and also your music, documents, etc.

Cool thanks. Can we have them in different categories? (I.E. my wife sends me something in the "work" category, but I want it to be in my "wife" category")

You will have to open up iCal to see; I know I have done this - and if all else fails, you can just duplicate events and assign them different categories. Your wife will see the category I believe. Don't quote me on that one though. I've yet to do the category with her - just happen to use one category for events I invite her to be involved with.

 

[LapsangSouchong]

Sorry to hijack, but now I'm officially confused (not hard to cause, trust me).
I have my university email addy as my iTunes/appleID. everything apple related is under that.
I have a me.com email address.

Am I going to have an issue?
I'm not remotely tied to my me.com address. Couldn't care less, really. I just use it to forward my university email to.
But, obviously I am tied to my iTunes/appleID...

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I would just use a different iCloud login name for each device so that your app (data) will be backed up and also your music, documents, etc.

hmm... yeah I may have to do that. But I really wanted my wife and I to be able to sync a 3rd party app through iCloud