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Family of 5 , keeping it separate but logical?

M

Macs4u

Suspended
Original poster
Apr 19, 2008
387
352
Stoke on Trent
Hi,

I am about to buy my wife a new iphone 5s and my 3 young kids ipad minis each.

Whats the best way to configure it all so we arent buying music more than once for example.

I was thinking to use my icloud address that i use for my appstore and email as their appstore and then register them a seperate icloud address for their email etc.

Only issue is , that my account will be swamped with kids apps etc

Any other logical way?

Matt
 
If you only want to purchase the music and apps once and share among all devices you will need to use one shared account for music and apps.
 
squeakr said:
If you only want to purchase the music and apps once and share among all devices you will need to use one shared account for music and apps.
Click to expand...

So basically the folllowing...

My Phone: Appstore and icloud is my appleid
Wifes Phone: Appstore is my apple id and her own icloud for mail, facetime etc

Kid 1: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc
Kids 2: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc
Kid 3: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc

Matt
 
That should work. Although if you wanted to set up something like yahoo mail and then add the kids email addresses to your account you can then be able to monitor their message usage also (mine are younger so this is how I do it, except everything is monitored through my own server with an email server involved so I have full control over everything). Also they are supposed to be 13 to have an Account and if under 13 it needs to be approved through a school email address.
 
Make sure to turn off automatic downloading of purchased apps (and music too, if tastes differ) on all devices, so you don't get your kids' games, and your kids don't get your productivity app or something.
 
1 account for iTunes, 1 account for iCloud

I recommend having 1 account that you will all use for iTunes purchases. You will only need 1 CC for this account and you can all share the purchases from these accounts.

You all NEED (Strongly Recommended) for each family member to have their own iCloud account for their personal information (contacts, Calendar, Bookmarks) to synch with their personal devices. If you use the same apple ID for iCloud ALL, I REPEAT, ALL information will sync with EVERY device that apple ID is on under iCloud.

Example - You and your wife have the same apple id signed in under iCloud in settings on your personal devices. She sees that she has some of your contacts and wonders why? She then begins to delete your contacts thinking she is only deleting them from her device, when in fact she is deleting them from EVERY device that as the same apple ID that she has under iCloud.

Hope this makes sense.

In short, 1 apple ID that you all share for purchases (Sign in under itunes and Apple ID in Settings app) and 5 separate apple id's for each of your family members for iCloud backups and syncing between personal devices.
 
I just use one account. This way we have a shared calendar for all and shared contacts. It makes it nice as our phones are basically identical so contacts and calendaring on her phone is on mine as well. This way we know who is doing what at any given time. Of course we each have our own email accounts, contacts, and calendars for work and personal emails accounts. We sync to iTunes so are not worried about iCloud back ups.
 
Krad3130 said:
You all NEED (Strongly Recommended) for each family member to have their own iCloud account for their personal information (contacts, Calendar, Bookmarks) to synch with their personal devices. If you use the same apple ID for iCloud ALL, I REPEAT, ALL information will sync with EVERY device that apple ID is on under iCloud.

Example - You and your wife have the same apple id signed in under iCloud in settings on your personal devices. She sees that she has some of your contacts and wonders why? She then begins to delete your contacts thinking she is only deleting them from her device, when in fact she is deleting them from EVERY device that as the same apple ID that she has under iCloud.

Hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...

I believe OP's setup does avoid this problem. Everybody has their own iCloud account. They use the OP's account for App / iTunes Stores ONLY. Believe me, his wife is never going to see any of his contacts.
 
squeakr said:
I just use one account. This way we have a shared calendar for all and shared contacts. It makes it nice as our phones are basically identical so contacts and calendaring on her phone is on mine as well. This way we know who is doing what at any given time. Of course we each have our own email accounts, contacts, and calendars for work and personal emails accounts. We sync to iTunes so are not worried about iCloud back ups.
Click to expand...

you know that you could just share calendars with each other instead of having to use the same one right?
 
Yes I know this and could, but when you have to manage all the computers and devices in the household it is easier for me to use one and know it is right. This way I can edit it and not have to worry about creating permissions for the sharing and such. I do IT support all day, so when I get home from work, I don't have to not want to spend lots of time correcting things for her. She is not technically savvy (getting better) and this has been this way for at least the last 10 years, before calendar sharing was as easy as it is now. It is just so much easier as school events end up on the right calendar everytime and all events get added for sure as I always add them to the calendar thus saving her having to and me nagging her about getting it done (as it would never get done otherwise). I know at some time I will change it up, but for now I am a creature of habit and routine.
 
It would really only be a one time setup and once she is subscribed to the calendars you want her to be they will automatically show up on here device.

I just cringe at the thought of having to see everyone else's appointments next to mine on the same calendar haha. Too much clutter and I would just personally prefer to only share what is needed to be shared, but that's just me.

Glad it is working out for you!!
 
Macs4u said:
So basically the folllowing...

My Phone: Appstore and icloud is my appleid
Wifes Phone: Appstore is my apple id and her own icloud for mail, facetime etc

Kid 1: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc
Kids 2: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc
Kid 3: Appstore is my apple id and their own icloud for mail, facetime etc

Matt
Click to expand...

This is almost precisely what we do in our family of five. Everyone has their own icloud acct for email, FaceTime, etc... My kids use my wife's AppleID for music and app purchases. I use my own, keeping my music and apps separate from the rest.
 
What we do is that everyone has both their own iCloud accounts and iTunes accounts, and we have all set up our calendars to be shared if needed. For example, each one of my kids shares their calendar with my wife and me, and we can add events to their calendars as needed. My wife shares her calendar with me and vice versa; neither my wife nor I share our calendars with the kids. This works great.

Regarding apps, what we do is share our paid apps across devices by logging into the App Store on the device wanting the paid app and downloading it. This has not been much of an issue in that the paid apps that we share are few and far between. But by allowing each user to have their own iTunes account, they are free to buy what they want when they get giftcards and other funds for their iTunes accounts.

We used to do the same with iTunes music, but I now use Spotify premium and keep very little music files on my iDevices.
 
I wouldn't do this at all. You can share apps on others devises, and I only found out because my wife and I combined our music to one computer and when I get app updates, I get it asking for her pass code.

Zcott said:
Five separate IDs

Log in to other accounts to download the apps
Click to expand...
^^
my point above and I saw this when I just replied.

Music can be shared also thought Home Sharing, and that's easy. let the kids keep their own music, and you can even set up an iTunes just to buy apps.

My daughter had her own iTunes account when she was 8/9 years old for her iPod Touch. At the time I had a gmail account associated for it and I had the pass code for the email address so she could mess up the account easily. Now she's almost 16, and still use her iPod Touch with music she bought from iTunes. No way I want her music, but if she likes music my wife and I have, she can take it with home Sharing. I just had to authorize her computer with mine and my wife's iTunes account.

My wife can see my home calendar and she can see mine, and you don't need to share an iTunes account to do this.
 
squeakr said:
I just use one account. This way we have a shared calendar for all and shared contacts. It makes it nice as our phones are basically identical so contacts and calendaring on her phone is on mine as well. This way we know who is doing what at any given time. Of course we each have our own email accounts, contacts, and calendars for work and personal emails accounts. We sync to iTunes so are not worried about iCloud back ups.
Click to expand...

This used to be ok but it's not anymore. (I recently switched away from a setup like what you describe.)

For starters Siri will think you're all the same person. It syncs the "Call me x" information across all devices. So Siri requests like "E-Mail mom" or "Text my son" won't work for most of the family.

In addition, more and more apps and games are storing their data and saved states into iCloud so you'll start running into more and more problems with apps as time goes on. (Public Photostreams is a good example of a place where your "everyone shares" plan no longer works very well. Watch as you all comment on a photo and have it all appear to come from the same person.)


The best method these days is this:

1) Main iCloud account: Everyone gets their own iCloud account. Turn off contacts and calendars in here.

2) If you don't use iCloud email, set up your personal e-mail second.

3) The FAMILY iCloud (Don't use dad's...make up a whole new iCloud account JUST for this.) Set this up after you set up the main iCloud account but use this one for contacts and calendars.

4) App Store: Log in to everyones phone using dad's account

5) Facetime and Messenging: They already should, but make sure they match everyone's own main iCloud settings.


xxBURT0Nxx said:
I just cringe at the thought of having to see everyone else's appointments next to mine on the same calendar haha. Too much clutter and I would just personally prefer to only share what is needed to be shared, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

Even within a single account you can make different calendars. I have a [me], [wife], family, and work calendar all within a single account. You can turn any of them off but still have the ability to turn them on when you need them.
 
^^ sorry but why not just share the calendars instead of making an entire account to all have the same single calendar??? Seems kind of dumb when i can just share a calendar and you can subscribe to it if we want to share a "kids activities" calendar or something. I mean with a family of 5 you are going to get a very cluttered calendar by putting everyones activities on one single account. Do I really care if my wife has a meeting at 10:30 that I need to see that on my calendar? Does she care that I have a client conference at 1:00??? I doubt she wants to see my work appointments, nor do I want to clutter my calendar with hers.

Also, I would not want to share my contacts with other people in my family. I don't want my parents contacts, I'm sure they don't want mine either. Why would everyone want to be tied to the same calendar and address book. Maybe for very young kids, but anyone over the age of 10 surely is going to start to save their friends numbers etc. so why would I want to clutter up my already huge contact list with the rest of the family.
 
I appreciate everyone's opinions but there is no absolute. I offered my setup and in no way said this was the correct or only way to do things. This setup works for me and my family and has for the last 8 years without a hitch, none the less I appreciate other opinions and options.

As for Siri, it works fine with that the way I have it set up as Siri grabs the information off the device and not the Apple ID associated. Each device has its own designation and that is what Siri operates off of. The contacts an be set up so that mom and dad are specifically set for each device (although we don't use this feature and are not heavy Siri users). I have tested it and it works flawlessly.

Having one shared calendar for family events is what we have (as each adult have their own for their work) but this way all kids as shared events are easily seen and accessed by all.

FaceTime and messages work flawlessly as well and are correctly associated, sent, and received on their respective devices but this also gives the parents a way to control their children's activities and monitor correct usage (unfortunately a necessary evil in these days).

For each to have their own account technically you must be over the age of 13 or if under the age of 13 it needs to be associated to a school account and school authorization needs to be given. I know that this is like Facebook where one just lies about age, but is is within the TOS.

Once again, I am not forcing my ways upon others just offering solutions. In fact, I have had several geniuses ask me more in detail about my setup when they were impressed with the response of the system and the ease of use. When we bought new devices before they were paid for and out the door, I had the old and new switched over and completely configured remotely, as I was able to access everything hosted on my servers from the store. One genius noted he had never seen a device configured fully that quickly, let alone all 4 we had with us and gave me a big thumbs up and noted he wished more users (and even himself) had such set ups to quicken the process.
 
Last edited:
OP has the correct system.
Changing Ids causes confusion for App Store sign ins.

OP; make sure to have restrictions on the iPads.
Not just for Store but also for changing accounts and deleting Apps etc.
 
Densi said:
Can contacts be shared in any way, like calendars?
Click to expand...

I don't believe that entire lists can without using the same iCloud account unless you use a third party server to do it, like a shared google account list added separately, or card dav server.

You can send individual cards to users to share information or possibly export the entire list from say the contacts on a Mac and then import onto another user account to share the information.
 
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