iCloud | Family Set Up | Actual Experience

What happens in this scenario....

Me and the wife have different apple ID's but share the same songs and apps on one computer?
 
- Logged in to the family iTunes Store account on the 'iCloud' setting. This allowed me to create (one time only it seems) @me.com account for use with iCloud's email etc. This @me.com account gets linked with my Store account which is @gmail.com
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Could you go through this bit step by step please? If I go to Settings->Store I just have options to switch on automatic downloads for Apps and Books. It looks like it's logged in via my apple id. I have no option to create an iCloud account.

If I go to Settings->iCloud, it says my account is my apple id. It looks like my Photo Stream is 'on' to sync up but how would I know that is working? Is there a website I can see my pushed photos on? should it push them to my mac?

I should add that my UDID was added to the database by a friend so I'm not an official developer. Does that make a difference?

cheers
Matt
 
This is all VERY confusing. Apple needs to simplify things when it comes to having multiple users on one (family) account.
 
JRoDDz said:
This is all VERY confusing. Apple needs to simplify things when it comes to having multiple users on one (family) account.
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What's confusing is the way it's bring characterized in this thread. The concept is simple. You can share accounts for everything if you want. No issue there. But those of us who currently share one Apple ID with multiple people to avoid, say, purchasing the same app multiple times also want to avoid allowing other people access to our personal info (contacts, calendar, docs, etc). As I understand it, your iCloud account can be different from the Apple ID you use for the App Store and iTunes store. But you can use both your Apple ID and iCloud account on the same device.

This means that multiple people can use the same Apple ID to share apps and music. But each of those people can use their own iCloud account to sync their personal data. This is a huge deal.
 
thelookingglass said:
What's confusing is the way it's bring characterized in this thread. The concept is simple. You can share accounts for everything if you want. No issue there. But those of us who currently share one Apple ID with multiple people to avoid, say, purchasing the same app multiple times also want to avoid allowing other people access to our personal info (contacts, calendar, docs, etc). As I understand it, your iCloud account can be different from the Apple ID you use for the App Store and iTunes store. But you can use both your Apple ID and iCloud account on the same device.

This means that multiple people can use the same Apple ID to share apps and music. But each of those people can use their own iCloud account to sync their personal data. This is a huge deal.
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The way I have my family set up is, I have one master account used to purchase all apps and music for 4 iOS devices. We all have separate email, calendars and documents etc. So it seems that this will work out after all if it's how you say. thanks.
 
GingerPrince said:
If I go to Settings->iCloud, it says my account is my apple id. It looks like my Photo Stream is 'on' to sync up but how would I know that is working? Is there a website I can see my pushed photos on? should it push them to my mac?
Click to expand...

When in this section turn on Mail and it should ask you to create an @me.com address which then gets linked with your Apple ID.
 
I'm just confused on how you tell the iOS device to use multiple Apple IDs. I think this is what an individual was asking above in term of explaining how to do this in better detail.

Currently, I have a family of 4. All of us have Apple products: Macs, iPhones, iPads, iTouches, etc. We all use the same Apple ID to purchase content. This is based off my @gmail.com username.

As it stands now, with the new iCloud use for purchased content. Every single device I we own can download previous purchases without the need for syncing to an actual computer. The auto download feature is OFF by default, so this works out great for us. We can go through the content and decide what we want or don't want. On my Mac, I have a smart playlist that only shows recently added music within the past 30 days. This allows me to not have to manage what everyone is buying, and whether or not I want it. I simply go into this playlist from time to time and find the music I like and copy it over to my existing playlists.

The question is, how do we (as a family of 4) create these additional Apple IDs without losing the Master ID for purchasing content? If someone could explain this question with clarity and detail I think most of us would have that "ahhh" moment.

Also, while explaining please note most of us don't have iOS5 installed on our devices yet, so detailed explanations would go along way. This is why we are asking the question to begin with. It just seams confusing right now.

Another quick question, several have mentioned they were asked to log in with their Apple ID and only then, did it allow them to get an @me.com address. If you've already logged in with the main Apple ID, how do you switch to a different Apple ID (I'm assuming the @me.com)?

Thanks in advance
 
Why are people still using one Apple ID to share purchases among family members? THIS IS NOT NECESSARY.

All you have to do is set up Home Sharing in iTunes and you can share among different computers and devices that are using different Apple IDs. This whole thread is largely unnecessary if people actually understood how Home Sharing in iTunes works.
 
iKennett said:
When in this section turn on Mail and it should ask you to create an @me.com address which then gets linked with your Apple ID.
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hmm. it does but then says there's a server error. do I need to be on wifi? I'm currently on 3G.

and I've tried doing a backup to iCloud and it always fails. Again, is this because my apple id isn't a registered developer account?

cheers
Matt
 
CosmoPilot said:
The question is, how do we (as a family of 4) create these additional Apple IDs without losing the Master ID for purchasing content? If someone could explain this question with clarity and detail I think most of us would have that "ahhh" moment.

Another quick question, several have mentioned they were asked to log in with their Apple ID and only then, did it allow them to get an @me.com address. If you've already logged in with the main Apple ID, how do you switch to a different Apple ID (I'm assuming the @me.com)?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I will have a stab LOL stating the steps I took:

I logged into iCloud on my iPhone using my @gmail iTunes Store Account and by default it had mail, cal, tasks etc all turned off. When turning on mail for the first time I got asked to create an @me.com address which is now linked with my iTunes Store Account. If I were to log into iCloud with my @me.com address it works but then the user ID will change automatically to @gmail.

When I used my wife's iPhone I went to add a new mail account and 'iCloud' is now an option just like exchange, MobileMe etc currently are. Selecting iCloud allows you to create a new account which i did for my wife. I logged in to iCloud with this.

Your 'Master ID' will simply be used in the 'Store' section on settings.app
 
newagemac said:
Why are people still using one Apple ID to share purchases among family members? THIS IS NOT NECESSARY.

All you have to do is set up Home Sharing in iTunes and you can share among different computers and devices that are using different Apple IDs. This whole thread is largely unnecessary if people actually understood how Home Sharing in iTunes works.
Click to expand...

I will need to look into this!!!! Still not sure LOL
 
newagemac said:
Why are people still using one Apple ID to share purchases among family members? THIS IS NOT NECESSARY.

All you have to do is set up Home Sharing in iTunes and you can share among different computers and devices that are using different Apple IDs. This whole thread is largely unnecessary if people actually understood how Home Sharing in iTunes works.
Click to expand...

Really? Could you please explain as that would be really helpful?! I thought home sharing enabled sharing between computers using the same AppleID. Also, how does this work for apps? Music is easy to copy over regardless and individual songs never 'update'. If my wife updates an app on her phone bought with her Apple ID will the updated version be pushed to my phone? Can I update her apps on my phone without logging out of my account and into hers?
 
Damitri said:
Really? Could you please explain as that would be really helpful?! I thought home sharing enabled sharing between computers using the same AppleID. Also, how does this work for apps? Music is easy to copy over regardless and individual songs never 'update'. If my wife updates an app on her phone bought with her Apple ID will the updated version be pushed to my phone? Can I update her apps on my phone without logging out of my account and into hers?
Click to expand...


It's very simple. Just choose an Apple ID to be used for Home Sharing for everyone. It really doesn't matter whose is used. Then everyone keeps using their own Apple ID in iTunes. These are two separate places to add an Apple ID and they are used for different purposes. And they can be different. It is important to understand that the single Apple ID used for Home Sharing is only used to link up multiple different computers which can be using entirely different Apple IDs.

On my computer, they are the same because I chose to use my own Apple ID as the Home Sharing "master account" on everyone's computers. However, on my wife's computer her iTunes store account, MobileMe, etc. are her own. On her iDevices she uses her own Apple ID as well.

Of course, you also need to make sure everyone authorizes everyone else's Apple ID on everyone's computers. You get up to 5 authorizations on each computer and iDevices are not counted. Apparently iCloud is boosting this number up to 10.

By the way, this is also how you get multiple different Apple ID iTunes Accounts to show simultaneously under "Computers" using Home Sharing with the Apple TV2.
 
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newagemac said:
It's very simple. Just choose an Apple ID to be used for Home Sharing for everyone. It really doesn't matter whose is used. Then everyone keeps using their own Apple ID in iTunes. These are two separate places to add an Apple ID and they are used for different purposes. And they can be different. It is important to understand that the single Apple ID used for Home Sharing is only used to link up multiple different computers which can be using entirely different Apple IDs.
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Thanks I did not know this. I will think about it and see if there is any advantage to doing it this way for us.

So when your wife syncs her iDevice to her library does she have automatic access to all your songs, videos and apps? By automatic I mean do they appear in the normal music/apps sync tabs so that she can select what to put on her devices?
 
Damitri said:
Thanks I did not know this. I will think about it and see if there is any advantage to doing it this way for us.

So when your wife syncs her iDevice to her library does she have automatic access to all your songs, videos and apps? By automatic I mean do they appear in the normal music/apps sync tabs so that she can select what to put on her devices?
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Yes. With Home Sharing, my wife can grab my stuff (purchased from iTunes or not) and place it in her iTunes library and vice versa. Once it is in her library it is hers for all practical purposes. She then just syncs her iPhone to her computer and it is on her device.

I can even set up Home Sharing to automatically sync her purchases into my iTunes library and vice versa.

The only small difference is when she goes to update all her apps, the popup will ask her to enter the password for my Apple ID as well if any of the apps that need updating were originally bought by me. And same for me of apps bought by her using her Apple ID that I have on my device.

It works really well. Many people just don't understand Apple gives you the ability to do it. The Fairplay thing is pretty fair indeed in my opinion.
 
Damitri said:
Really? Could you please explain as that would be really helpful?! I thought home sharing enabled sharing between computers using the same AppleID. Also, how does this work for apps? Music is easy to copy over regardless and individual songs never 'update'. If my wife updates an app on her phone bought with her Apple ID will the updated version be pushed to my phone? Can I update her apps on my phone without logging out of my account and into hers?
Click to expand...

It does work with the exception of apps. if an update comes up for a app on the iphone it will ask for the apple id and password on the iphone and you would need to put in the correct one to update and if it is another family memebers you would have to now that password.
unless you are good at keeping up on app updates on your computer it can be a pain
 
newagemac said:
Yes. With Home Sharing, my wife can grab my stuff (purchased from iTunes or not) and place it in her iTunes library and vice versa. Once it is in her library it is hers for all practical purposes. She then just syncs her iPhone to her computer and it is on her device.
Click to expand...

Great info - Thanks again!
 
frunkis54 said:
It does work with the exception of apps. if an update comes up for a app on the iphone it will ask for the apple id and password on the iphone and you would need to put in the correct one to update and if it is another family memebers you would have to now that password.
unless you are good at keeping up on app updates on your computer it can be a pain
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly, it only asks for the password just like it does for your own purchased apps. I only share with my wife so I only have to remember one extra password. Still, this only applies to app updates and only when one of her apps needs to be updated. Not a bad tradeoff in my opinion.
 
OP, let me see if i'm understanding this correctly...
1 master iTunes account that I share with my wife so we don't have to pay for apps twice (iTunes Home Sharing is not an option for me as out property is out of reach for the closest ISP so no internet at the house).
I just downloaded ios5 on my iphone 4 and created a NEW iCloud @me.com email for myself.
Whenever i get my wife's i4 on iOS5, and use the same iTunes account, I should have the option to setup a new iCloud @me.com acc for her phone. From my understanding, the @me.com account is what does all the syncing to iCloud (bookmarks, photos, music, apps). So @me.com addresses will allow multiple users of the same iTunes account to have independent account on iCloud.
Is that right?

Problem is.. how will iPad or Mac decide which bookmarks, music, PhotoStream to tap into? Will there be a place in Lion to log in with your iCloud account?

This is where it gets a bit fuzzy for me...
 
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You guys are making this way to hard. Here is how it works. Me and my wife:
Under app store settins we both log in with the same account we have always shared for purchases (my MobileMe). Under the new iCloud settings we are each logged into a seperate account, mine being the MobileMe (well it will be when I can transfer it, for now I used a new dummy iCloud account), and hers is logged into a brand new iCloud account. Very simple, allows us to continue purchase sharing, but keep seperate contacts, calendars, etc on iCloud.
 
rick98761 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

You guys are making this way to hard. Here is how it works. Me and my wife:
Under app store setting log in with the same account we have always shared for purchases (my MobileMe) under the new iCloud settings we are each logged into a seperate account, mine being the MobileMe (well will be when I can transfer it, for now I used a new dummy iCloud account), and hers is logged into a brand new iCloud account. Very simple, allows us to continue purchase sharing, but keep seperate contacts, calendars, etc on iCloud.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought... And it makes sense.
 
rick98761 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/534.32 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

You guys are making this way to hard. Here is how it works. Me and my wife:
Under app store settins we both log in with the same account we have always shared for purchases (my MobileMe). Under the new iCloud settings we are each logged into a seperate account, mine being the MobileMe (well it will be when I can transfer it, for now I used a new dummy iCloud account), and hers is logged into a brand new iCloud account. Very simple, allows us to continue purchase sharing, but keep seperate contacts, calendars, etc on iCloud.
Click to expand...

Rick,

Thanks for the info. This is what I wanted to know and you stated it very eloquently! I think I now have it figured out. And will set up our home accordingly.

Can I ask this? How does Photo Stream work under this set up. It would be nice to share our photos to, but I suspect they are handled via the iCloud ID and not the master ID.
 
CosmoPilot said:
Rick,

Thanks for the info. This is what I wanted to know and you stated it very eloquently! I think I now have it figured out. And will set up our home accordingly.

Can I ask this? How does Photo Stream work under this set up. It would be nice to share our photos to, but I suspect they are handled via the iCloud ID and not the master ID.
Click to expand...

They are handled by the cloud id, I have not found a way to get my photo stream to show up on my wife's computer.
 
rick98761 said:
They are handled by the cloud id, I have not found a way to get my photo stream to show up on my wife's computer.
Click to expand...

Looks like the family member that takes the most photos with their iPhone should set up the computer to their iCloud account. Everyone else will have to manually migrate their photos into iPhoto just as we do now. This is not all bad, as I'm sure from time to time my wife and I may take photos that we don't necessarily want shared. From the keynote, once the picture is taken, it is immediately on the other devices (assuming on WiFi). This could be bad if an awkward picture was taken and not deleted yet.

Which brings me to my second question. I take a photo on my iPhone and it gets sent via Photo Stream to my iPad (immediately). I now look over all the photos I've taken (on the iPhone) and decide several of them didn't turn out very well. I then delete these photos. Do they get deleted from the iPad as well (since I haven't moved them into any album yet)?
 
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