Two current Apple IDs, need to combine everything into one..

[tbayrgs]

So I've been using Apple's services to some degree since just before the first iPhone. My original Apple ID is a .mac address and it's the account I've used on the iTunes/App/Mac App store ever since--is tied to every all apps, music, video, or Mac software I've ever purchased. Unfortunately, all of my cloud services are tied to a second Apple ID that was created with the release of MobileMe (ugh..🙁), which has either a .me or .icloud address. My bookmarks, iCloud Drive, reminders, backups, keychain, and now photos are all tied to this address.

The problem is that now that my kids are getting older, I'd like to have them each use their own Apple IDs for their own content and thus, would like to set up family sharing. The problem is that using either account causes headaches of a different variety. Use the .me account and it doesn't include any of the content bought to date. I don't know how much but considering it's been 8 years, it's a pretty significant chunk of change. If I use my older .mac address, I have the content but nothing else, including my keychain, backups, and photos.

Any advice on best way to handle this? I'm guessing my only choice if I want to save my app purchase history is to use the older account and move what I can over from the .me account. My biggest concern presently is moving my photo library from one iCloud account to the other.

 

[hojx]

So I've been using Apple's services to some degree since just before the first iPhone. My original Apple ID is a .mac address and it's the account I've used on the iTunes/App/Mac App store ever since--is tied to every all apps, music, video, or Mac software I've ever purchased. Unfortunately, all of my cloud services are tied to a second Apple ID that was created with the release of MobileMe (ugh..🙁), which has either a .me or .icloud address. My bookmarks, iCloud Drive, reminders, backups, keychain, and now photos are all tied to this address.

The problem is that now that my kids are getting older, I'd like to have them each use their own Apple IDs for their own content and thus, would like to set up family sharing. The problem is that using either account causes headaches of a different variety. Use the .me account and it doesn't include any of the content bought to date. I don't know how much but considering it's been 8 years, it's a pretty significant chunk of change. If I use my older .mac address, I have the content but nothing else, including my keychain, backups, and photos.

Any advice on best way to handle this? I'm guessing my only choice if I want to save my app purchase history is to use the older account and move what I can over from the .me account. My biggest concern presently is moving my photo library from one iCloud account to the other.

https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT201771

Your .Mac account works interchangeably with iCloud. Simply use your existing .Mac username with @icloud.com.

 

[tbayrgs]

https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT201771

Your .Mac account works interchangeably with iCloud. Simply use your existing .Mac username with @icloud.com.

Thanks for the info but this only applies if you move the account to iCloud by August 2012. I never moved the older account to iCloud services and thus was not able to replace the .mac on the username with .icloud. Ultimately, I just had to select a new .icloud username to be able to use Mail--it's now linked to the old .mac username and I can sign into the account with either.

But more importantly, I wasn't concerned with the actual address but rather moving all of my pertinent data from the second Apple ID to the older one that I was using only for apps and media.

I did go ahead and manual move the info--wasn't too bad as I was able to keep a local copy of my keychain info on one of my Macs when I signed out of the iCloud account and it merged it with the other account one I signed into that one. I had also set up Photos on the Mac to keep copies of original photos on that machine so once I activated Photos on the .mac address, it started uploading them to that account. Overall, was mostly just tedious work and took a couple hours setting up all of my Apple devices. So far, so good.

 

[spades1412]

I ran into a similar situation and here is what I did. I have one account that I use for iTunes and App stores. That was my original account. Later on with iCloud I created a new Apple ID specific to me. For the last few years, I would log into all iCloud services (iCloud, messages, FaceTime, and anything else that is personal to me) using my newer AppleID. I would log into iTunes and App stores using my old account. My wife and 2 children would each log into iCloud with their separate iCloud accounts and iTunes & App stores with the same account I use. This allowed us to each have separate iCloud accounts and share years worth of purchases between all of us.

Now with Family Sharing, I am the "Organizer" I use my separate iCloud account for me. Family Sharing lets you also use a different account for Family Purchases. I log into my old iTunes and App store here to share from. Because the purchases from this account are shared by me, my whole family has access to them.

Now, on my Wife and 2 Children's devices, they are each logged into both iCloud & iTunes & App stores using their personal iCloud accounts. This was a change from how I had it set up previously. Instead of all 4 of us logged into the same account for iTunes & App store, only I am logged into that account and set up to share from it. They are each logged into their personal iCloud accounts and share from those. Family sharing allows us to have access to each others purchases. The credit cards used with the Organizers iTunes & App store account is the same credit card used for each of the family members accounts as well.