Family iPad 2: dedicated Apple ID? How about FaceTime?

[jollino]

Hello all,
my parents are about to get an iPad 2 (as soon as they become available again where I live) and the idea is that it's going to be connected to my iMac only for OS updates and to test my own apps on it. There will be no other computer accessible to them, in fact the iPad will effectively be their computer.

I am undecided on whether I should create a dedicated Apple ID for it using my father's email address, or just re-use mine. They are not going to need to install apps themselves, and I live one floor down so it's not a big deal to type my password; by using my ID, I would also be able to install the apps I have already purchased for my iPhone, and update them directly on the iPad. (I know for a fact that you can install apps downloaded with an ID other than the current "logged in" one, but updating them is messy both on a computer and on a device, as you have to log out and in.)
With my own ID, Home Sharing for the iPod app would also work – something they would truly enjoy as my iMac is within wifi reach from their apartment – and as for Game Center, I think it allows a user different than the system-wide Apple ID to be logged in.

The main concern is FaceTime: does the FT app on iPad 2 allow to be logged in with a different Apple ID, or does it use the system-wide one? It would be annoying if someone tried to call me using the ID rather than my phone number, and their iPad started ringing...

So, how does everybody deal with Apple IDs on "family" iPads?

 

[goMac]

I would get them their own AppleID. I've heard you can Facetime two iPads with the same id... But if they want to buy any apps they're going to get charged to you.

I believe you can play music from the iMac that is yours just by turning on iTunes Sharing even if the iPad has a different Apple ID, but I'm not 100% sure. I know when I go home to my parents I can play content from my iPad and computer onto their AppleTV even though I do not share the same Apple ID as their home sharing.

 

[nutmac]

Apple's iOS apps do not share Apple ID (App Store, FaceTime, Find My iPhone, Game Center, iBooks, iPod, iTunes, Mail). If unspecified, each will default to Apple ID from another application, but each can have a different Apple ID.

That said, I strongly recommend using same Apple ID for those that involves transaction, such as App Store and iBooks. This way, anything that was purchased using the Apple ID can be used with other devices for free.

 

[Pete the Geek]

One Apple ID, a unique email address for each device. Facetime can be associated with more than one email address in settings. So I have one email address that is associated with Facetime on all devices so someone outside the family can reach me by facetime.

Then I have a unique email address for each device. Hotmail allows you to add "aliases" to your account. I understand Google does the same using a "+". I just made "PTG_iPad@..." and "PTG_iPod@..." aliases (where PTG is my usual email address) and associated those with the relvant device. For example, tonight I'm at a hotel and have my iPod, my spouse has my iPad. I just looked up PTG_iPad@... in my contacts and pressed the Facetime icon to connect from my iPod.

 

[jollino]

Thank you all for the insights; having my own Apple ID on the iPad would simplify management, as I would be able to update all the apps at once. I have a secondary, "American" Apple ID that I created a few years back using a gift card I bought on iTunes (back when movies were a new thing, I wanted to see how it worked) and I recently used it to purchase an app that's not available in the Italian store. It syncs and works just fine on my iPhone, but it doesn't appear among the updates. To update it either on the iPhone or on the Mac, I have to manually log out from my main Italian account, log in to the American one, and then update. That's the main reason I'd rather use my own account, at least for the App Store. Being charged for their purchases is not a problem, after all it would only happen when I type my password so it's a non-issue.

Good to hear that Home Sharing doesn't necessarily need the same Apple ID, perhaps it just wants you to be logged on to iTunes (with whichever ID) and then it just looks for shared servers on the local wi-fi network, as it was the case a while back.

My question about FaceTime stemmed from it not having dedicated settings for the Apple ID on the iPhone. Indeed, other than Settings - Phone - My number and FaceTime on/off, there is nothing to configure an email address, which make sense since you use the phone number. I actually wonder if my iPhone would ring if someone called my Apple ID, as I'm using that as the App Store ID...