iCloud Help migrating child to their own iCloud account

[TitanTiger]

So, my niece up to this point has been on the same iCloud account as her mom. Don't ask. I know it's stupid.

She got a MacBook Neo for graduation and so they're finally going to set her up with her own iCloud account. The Neo will obviously be a blank slate. But what is the best way to migrate the iPhone to the new account and preserve as much as possible in terms of photos, locally stored music, and so on? How manual of a process is this going to be?

Also, assume cooperation from the mom will be minimal. She's just not that helpful.

 

[Bigwaff]

But what is the best way to migrate the iPhone to the new account and preserve as much as possible in terms of photos, locally stored music, and so on? How manual of a process is this going to be?

It’s going to be all manual process. You’re going to need something like iMazing to export everything and then manually import to the iPhone after switching Apple account. Even then, applications, music, etc won’t “preserve” if they were purchased using “Mom’s” Apple account. You’ll need to Get/Buy them again unless you set up Apple Family sharing, which will let you “share” purchased items with family members.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

It’s not a pleasant process… but only gonna get harder the longer they wait.

Best time to do it was 10 years ago; second-best is right now.

 

[TitanTiger]

It’s going to be all manual process. You’re going to need something like iMazing to export everything and then manually import to the iPhone after switching Apple account. Even then, applications, music, etc won’t “preserve” if they were purchased using “Mom’s” Apple account. You’ll need to Get/Buy them again unless you set up Apple Family sharing, which will let you “share” purchased items with family members.

Does it have to be iMazing? Could a regular full backup to a Mac do the same thing?

 

[Bigwaff]

Does it have to be iMazing? Could a regular full backup to a Mac do the same thing?

Doesn’t have to be iMazing, but you’ll need software with export features. The iOS “regular full backup” on macOS or Apple Devices app on Windows is Apple Account specific.

I guess one could try setting up the new iPhone using “Mom’s” Apple Account, restoring from “regular full backup” or iCloud backup, then logging out of “Mom’s” Apple Account, and logging in with “new” Apple Account. Purchased apps/music/etc will either prompt for “Mom’s” Apple Account password or not play. This where re-downloading purchased content with Family Sharing can help. Not sure how photos are handled in this scenario, especially if iCloud is used. Truth is, there is no easy way to accomplish moving from one Apple Account to another in your scenario.