Help setting up two iPads

[jazzer15]

I just purchased a new iPad Air and my wife is going to take my prior iPad 2. I am trying to figure out the best way to set up the accounts and IDs.

At the moment, I have iTunes on my iMac and am the only one with an Apple ID and account. My wife has a PC but I am likely to wind up doing all of the tech related stuff in connection with her iPad. We would like to share some apps and music, but each of us will have some of our own things that that the other is not interested in. She would have her own contacts, etc.

Is there any easy way to accomplish this? Would I be better off setting up iTunes on her PC or setting up both iPads to use on my iMac? Should she have her own Apple ID? This is all new territory for me so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I just purchased a new iPad Air and my wife is going to take my prior iPad 2. I am trying to figure out the best way to set up the accounts and IDs.

At the moment, I have iTunes on my iMac and am the only one with an Apple ID and account. My wife has a PC but I am likely to wind up doing all of the tech related stuff in connection with her iPad. We would like to share some apps and music, but each of us will have some of our own things that that the other is not interested in. She would have her own contacts, etc.

Is there any easy way to accomplish this? Would I be better off setting up iTunes on her PC or setting up both iPads to use on my iMac? Should she have her own Apple ID? This is all new territory for me so any help would be appreciated.

No reason to install iTunes on her PC unless you want to. In my house we have 3 iPads and this is how we do it.
All use a common apple id for purchasing content. On each iPad you can then select which apps and content you want to install.
This is your primary Apple id.
We then all have separate Apple ids we use for email, iMessage, FaceTime, notes and contacts.
All are backed up to iTunes on my iMac.

 

[jazzer15]

No reason to install iTunes on her PC unless you want to. In my house we have 3 iPads and this is how we do it.
All use a common apple id for purchasing content. On each iPad you can then select which apps and content you want to install.
This is your primary Apple id.
We then all have separate Apple ids we use for email, iMessage, FaceTime, notes and contacts.
All are backed up to iTunes on my iMac.

Thanks. What do you do with iCloud, if anything?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Thanks. What do you do with iCloud, if anything?

Personally I don't bother. I use iTunes to back up on my iMac which is easy enough to do. Others can advise on the benefits of iCloud, but I believe it's just switching it on. The only thing to watch is the amount of free iCloud data you can store.

 

[xshawn]

Good idea. iCloud works the same, just use your separate id to backup each ones copy.

No reason to install iTunes on her PC unless you want to. In my house we have 3 iPads and this is how we do it.
All use a common apple id for purchasing content. On each iPad you can then select which apps and content you want to install.
This is your primary Apple id.
We then all have separate Apple ids we use for email, iMessage, FaceTime, notes and contacts.
All are backed up to iTunes on my iMac.

 

[mscriv]

In my opinion the easiest way to accomplish what you want is to continue to use your iTunes Apple ID as the only one for purchasing new content like apps and media. This way you will only have to purchase content once, but can access it on both devices.

As for contacts, email, notes, etc. I would set up each iPad with your own individual iCloud accounts. This way there will be no crossover of this information between the devices.

With this set up you can back up each device to iTunes on your iMac while the iCloud stuff will be backed up to iCloud and can be managed online from any computer or device.

 

[mpantone]

Apple actually supports multiple iCloud accounts, however some services will only run on the primary iCloud account for a device.

Here's the Apple support doc:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4020

Create separate Apple IDs for each person, plus a shared family account ID.

• johnsmith@icloud.com
• marysmith@icloud.com
• smithfamily@icloud.com - the family account

Ideally, you would just create separate logins on a Mac for this, then log back into the primary user's account (we'll say it's John).

Set up John's iDevice with his iCloud ID, set up Mary's iDevice with her iCloud ID.

Things like iOS app purchases, Mac app purchases, and digital content (movies, music, books, etc.) would be purchased using the family account. Make sure you log into the iTunes Store or Mac App Store using the family ID, purchase, and download.

Finally sync desired digital media content and apps to each person's device. The initial setup is definitely easier using wired syncing to iTunes on the computer. This could be as simple as setting up a "John's Playlist" and "Mary's Playlist."

The optional step is go to each person's device and add the family account as a secondary iCloud account:

Setting > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Accounts > Add Account > iCloud

This allows each person to see the family iCloud account for several services, some examples listed below.

Mail: use the family iCloud account to sign up for certain mailing lists (let's say a kid's school, softball league, church).
Contacts: use the family iCloud account for shared contacts like the school's teachers, insurance company, minister, relatives, neighbors.
Calendars: use the family iCloud account for shared calendars like the kid's music lessons schedule
Notes: grocery list

 

[charlituna]

Thanks. What do you do with iCloud, if anything?

Same ID in App Store, iTunes Store etc

Different id for iCloud, messages, FaceTime and Game Center. She can make one off an existing email.

iTunes can be on the PC if you like or a separate user account on an Mac if there is one in the house.

Make sure she is backing up to her iCloud account or a computer at least once a week.