Apple IDs Simplified - a little

In general I am beginning this thread to open a dialog around best practices as it pertains to multiple Apple Ids in one household. To illustrate the complexity we have created in our home I will share some of the details.
We currently have:
1 iMac
1 MacBook Pro
2 iPhones
2 iPads
1 Apple TV
We have two Apple IDs between the myriad of iDevices.
ID #1 is used on the iMac, an iPhone and the Apple TV.
Used for iTunes purchasing and on two iOS devices
iCloud (address book and calendar)
FaceTime
ID #2 is used on a MacBook Pro, and an iPhone
Used for iTunes purchasing and on two iOS devices
iCloud (address book and calendar)
FaceTime
My wife (ID #2) is the keeper of all of the family photos, music, etc. She keeps the home address book and we share a calendar via iCloud. We cannot intermingle address books as mine has numerous work contacts that she does not want. Additionally, she and I do not want to mix our PhotoStreams or music, but would like to share music with each other.I reconciled some of the complexity and have solved for this as follows:
We've authorized all devices to share music, videos, apps, books, etc.
We maintain our music separately on our Macs.
On the Apple TV I added ID #1 and the iMac became visible. Then I changed the MacBook (ID #2) to ID# 1 temporarily and added it .. it then persisted and has been visible even after I changed it back to ID# 2 (good bug?)
One last note: The Apple ID for iCloud need not be the same as the Apple ID for your iTunes account. This 'feature' could provide you some additional flexibility. I hope this all helps and does not confuse too much. It was incredibly challenging to reconcile in my home, but we have everything working together nicely now.

Thanks for starting this discussion. Since I don't need my original AppleID any longer, it would be nice if Apple would let us migrate any apps and music from one AppleID to another. Why they haven't thus far is something I cannot figure out.

Similar Messages

I'm a little confused as to how Apple ID works. Do I need separate Apple IDs or email addresses for iMessage, iCloud, and Facetime?

Do I need separate Apple IDs or email addresses for iMessage, iCloud, and Facetime?
Everytime I attempt to use my Apple ID associated with iTunes with iMessage, iCloud, or Facetime, it tells me: 'Unable to verify email because it is already in use'. I've been playing around with it and find when I enter another email address other then the one associated with my iTunes account, it'll work. So it seems that my Apple ID will log me into the cloud (or whatever it may be), but I need another email address for the messages to be sent to? Perhaps somebody can clarify for me. Thanks in advance!

activation of imessage requires the ability to send an SMS message to a number commencing with +44. Do you have the ability to send international text messageswhile in Japan?

One library; multiple Apple IDs (used to purchase)

I am sure this has been answered in the forums, but I have looked and looked and can't seem to find a definitive answer, so I thought I would ask.
To simplify (as it's a little more complex than this, but for this question, it doesn't matter), we have one iTunes library which is shared between me, my wife and my two sons (four Apple IDs total), all on one account on a machine. We each purchase things on our iOS devices and sync them to the one library. We are all authorized to use everything across our devices from the library.
My question revolves around adding iTunes Match. I am interested in adding this to my Apple ID so I can have access to my music wherever I am. The others don't really need this.
If I were to subscribe, would it affect their abilities to sync with and use the music and media already in the library? What other pitfalls may I find?
Thanks in advance!

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HT1206 How do you authorize a macbook with two different Apple IDs?

I am having a little problem right now. My fiance and I both have our own accounts; he got one made by his brother and used it sometimes to buy apps and eventually he started using mines to make purchases because for a while we forgot his Apple ID log in info. My questions right now is can I authorize the one computer that we share right now under two different Apple Ids so that he can get both profiles' contents loaded onto my computer and sync them to his ipod? Just wondering because we don't have wifi and want to get all of our apps, music, etc from both accounts onto our new ipod. I managed to download all of his apps from his Apple ID onto my macbook but I tried to sync them to our new ipod and it said that we had to authorize the computer under his Apple ID and I tried it and it wouldn't allow me to do it it said to wait 90 days before I can do this because it is already associated with my Apple ID. I deauthorized my macbook under my Apple ID and tried to authorize it under my fiance's and it said the same thing. And now Idk what to do:( Can someone help me and tell me what options are available for me? Can I reach itunes support and have them merge our accounts or enable me to have 2 accounts authorized on my macbook that we share or can I find a wifi connection and be able to download all of his content from his Apple ID account from itunes purchased on the ipod touch? Please help me out I would hate to have to buy all of the stuff on his Apple ID account all over again I spent so much money on his account in the past and I don't want him to be upset either:(

OMG I am so ecstatic and happy right now like literally jumping and crying with joy! Lol I fixed the problem and authorized both accounts onto my one macbook (that my fiance share) by clicking on one of my fiance's apps and it instructed me to authorize the apps for updates and what not on this computer and I just chanced it and logged into his account and both of all of our apps are on our ipod touch now:D I think we can even get his music back too. I looked at his authorized computer info and it says that he has one computer authorized with his account (the one we are now using) so it worked. Share with others who are in similar situations and warn them to log into their Apple ID Itunes accounts and download past purchased APPS on all the accounts they have before authorizing one of their itunes accounts on a new or different computer and once you have one authorized you'll already have the apps from your other accounts and you can authorize all the other accounts (the underground way) by clicking on the apps associated with each account and authorizing by signing in for authorization(authorizing one app will do them all). The Menu > Store > Authorize This Computer way didn't work for me just the *double click on app associated with the other account not authorized on my computer* and authorizing it that way worked for me. The way that I got all of my fiances apps on our computer first was by just logging in and looking at Purchased on itunes store and clicking download all for all apps. Then after I did his I did all apps on mines and then music and authorized my computer under my itunes account because downloading Purchased music required it and then finally going back and double clicking the apps from the other account and authorizing it that way it is much more simpler that the Menu>Store> Authorize this Computer.
After I tried that double clicking on apps and authorization by signing in I expected it not to work because the Menu>Store>Authorize way didn't work for me it kept saying "this computer is already authorized under a different Apple ID" and try again in 90 days. The method and steps I provided should allow you to beat around that obstacle and get your apps from all associated accounts.
Thank me later and good luck to all of you I hope that it will work for you just as it had for me today:D
-Christina

Best setup of Apple IDs in a household?

Apple's FAQ does not seem to provide good guidance on using Apple IDs in a home with multiple people, particularly with the launch of iCloud today.
Here are the users/devices I have:
1) Me - iPhone 4 and iPad 2
2) Wife - iPhone 4 and iPad 2
3) Child1 - iPad 2
4) Child2 - iPad 2
To date, we have primarily used a single Apple ID for all store purchases (it isn't reasonable to think we would buy each app 4 times for example, and Apple's terms allow this kind of sharing in a household so it has been a good solution). Here are my goals:
1) Make syncing new content as painless as possible, whether it is apps, music, books, or other.
2) Allow each user of iBooks to read the same book and sync between their devices without messing up the page on other users' devices.
3) Allow each user to have their own iCloud email/calendar/contacts.
4) Allow sharing when desired between calendars and contacts.
5) Allow us all to share one Photo Stream using iCloud.
It does not seem like I am going to be able to meet all of these goals easily, particularly the last two. In my current setup, my wife uses a separate Apple ID for iBooks only. This allows us to meet the first two goals. The kids don't really use iBooks yet, but when they do creating separate Apple IDs for them would be a possibility.
For iCloud, it seems that we can either choose between 3 and 4, meaning that we can either all have separate IDs and separate mail/calendars/contacts, or we can all share. If iCloud would allow multiple accounts per device, then we could have one shared account and each also have a separate account. This would allow us to all put things on a shared calendar, but unfortunately we could not view each others' calendars for items not explicitly shared (sometimes my wife would like to determine if I am in a work meeting, for example). Perhaps the best solution is to have a separate provider for email/calendar/contacts, then to keep one Apple ID for iCloud which will act as the shared calendar/contacts (and basically would then be pretty useless for email). This would also enable 5 (one shared photo stream). It is unfortunate that I am forced to choose between either using the full features of iCloud myself (e.g., for personal email/calendar/contacts) or having robust sharing between family members. I may have it wrong though and I'm hoping others have found a better solution.
Any suggestions are most welcome!

I'm posting an update to my own post after a few days of working with this. The Apple ID is used in many, many places, and I start by listing them all here to define the scope of the problem. At the end, I detail how we are currently set up and what is working well after a few days of use.
iBooks - keys off what is set for Settings->Store. This affects book synchronization and must be different for two people reading the same book that each has more than one device (e.g., an iPad and iPhone) that they want to stay in sync. This is one of the biggest problems in my house because we want to stay configured on the same "Store" account so that all purchases go through one account and are available to everyone, but we often read the same books and don't want one's reading to flip pages for the other when a sync of bookmarks occurs. We also don't want to turn off syncing because we both have multiple devices and we want syncing to happen between our individual iPhones and iPads.
FaceTime - set in Settings->FaceTime. Typically each user will want to get FaceTime calls at a separate "address". You have two choices. You can use the same Apple ID and configure FaceTime to respond at different email addresses, or you can use separate Apple IDs and there is no conflict at all. For an iPhone you will already have separate phone numbers, but for an iPad people will use an email address to FaceTime with you, so the email addresses you use have to be different.
iMessage - set in Settings->Messages. This is almost identical to FaceTime. You have to provide an Apple ID, but you can distinguish different users based on email addresses.
App Store - set in Settings->Store. The Apple ID used here is what is used for purchases. This applies not just to purchases when you're in the App Store application, but also any in-app purchases, any bookstore purchases via the "Store" button in iBooks, any purchases in the iTunes app, and purchases from the "Store" button in Newsstand.
iCloud - set in Settings->iCloud. Defines one fixed set of storage, mailbox, calendar, contacts, and Find My iPhone. I'm going to split this up and talk about each area separately below. The main choice here is whether two people should share an iCloud account or should have individual ones. In addition, some people have proposed creating a third "family" iCloud account for sharing some information. Much of what could be done with a family account could be done by adding each person's individual iCloud account to all devices, so I don't treat that separately here. In addition to the reasons below, one good reason for having separate iCloud IDs is that you each get 5GB of free storage.
Mail - I don't know anyone that wants to share mail in a household, so this probably isn't a big problem and using separate Apple IDs is probably acceptable here. For someone that wants to share this much, they would probably just all use one Apple ID anyway.
Calendar - iCloud actually has calendar sharing, it's just only available on the web as far as I have found. If you log in to your account at icloud.com, go to the Calendar, and click one of the little icons on each calendar's name, you can share that calendar. My wife and I have decided to make her calendar the "main" one, and she shares it to me for viewing and editing. I can then view it on my iPhone and iPad even though I used my own Apple ID to configure iCloud. When I go to the Calendar App and select the Calendars button in the upper left, her shared calendar is listed with "Shared by <wife's name>" under it. Pretty slick.
Contacts - I wish iCloud allowed sharing contacts in the exact same way it shares calendars, but so far as I know it doesn't yet. The best solution for now seems to be to add my wife's iCloud account as a secondary iCloud account on my devices, and turn off everything except Contacts. There may be some downsides to this as secondary iCloud accounts on a device do not use push notifications. This may mean that contacts only get updated when I open them individually or open the Contacts app, for example, this needs further verification. We've just decided to not share contacts for the time being.
Find My iPhone/iPad - If two related people have separate accounts for this, then they cannot see all of their devices in one place in Find My Phone. They can know both Apple IDs and passwords and log into Find My Phone with the appropriate set of credentials to see a particular device. For example, if I want to find my iPhone or iPad I log in with my Apple ID, and if I want to find my wife's iPhone or iPad, I log in with her ID. I have found the Find My Friends app to be a good replacement for this, but it is a different feature in that it follows a "person" and not a "device". My wife configures whether her friends are following her iPhone or her iPad, and whereas Find My Phone can find her with either, Find My Friends requires that she be carrying the right device to be useful. She almost always has her phone, so this is a satisfactory switch. This may have other disadvantages though. For example, if she ever hides her location in Find My Friends from her other friends (this is a switch you can turn on and off when you want privacy), she will also prevent me from finding her. That may be her intent :), but Find My Phone wouldn't ever allow that. We have found that Find My Phone avoids a lot of the "are you almost home" calls to each other. Find My Friends looks like it will offer a lot more features and be better for that rather than misusing Find My Phone the way we were before.
Photo Stream - I currently have no good solution for photo stream. From Apple's support documents it appears that the secondary iCloud account solution would not work, but I have not tried it. For now I simply am not using it. I sync all of our photos to a PC, then back out to each device once a week. The PC also uses home sharing through iTunes to share with an Apple Tv. I would still have to do this anyway as Photo Stream is only for storing your last 1,000 photos and as such isn't very useful to me (we have over 12,000 photos since my kids were born 4 years ago).
Other Cloud Data - iCloud is storing a lot of other data, like bookmarks, that two people may or may not want to share. In my case, my wife and I visit pretty different websites, so we don't want to share bookmarks. We also don't want to share Notes or Reminders, so this works out good. If we did want to share these, then adding a secondary iCloud account would probably be the best solution.
Apple could do a few things that would almost completely alleviate my current problems. First, allow specifying a separate ID in iBooks for the purpose of page/bookmark syncing. I may want my wife and me to purchase books on the same account, but I want to separate our syncing of bookmarks. Second, if iCloud Contacts had a sharing feature just like iCloud calendars do, we would be in good shape with contacts. We have a very similar set of contacts, and we have no desire to maintain them separately. Third, allow inviting others to a Photo Stream much like Find My Friends. Then our whole family could share one Photo Stream.
So in the end this is how we have our devices configured:
1) We each have a separate iCloud account (i.e., we use our individual Apple IDs for this), and only one iCloud account is configured for each device. This means that we each get our own mail, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and Find My Phone. My wife shares her calendar to me so that shows up in my iCloud account (you can do this from the web on icloud.com). The only downside I have noticed is that we do not currently share contacts in any way and we would like to, but we could do this by one of us adding the other's iCloud account as a secondary account on our devices. For some reason I just don't like that solution and am avoiding the secondary account. We also do not use Photo Stream yet.
2) We share one Apple ID for all purchases. This is okay most of the time, but is a pain for iBooks as noted above. What often happens is my wife signs out of my Apple ID and logs into her own if she will be using iBooks, but then she has to switch back again whenever she makes any purchases (including in-app purchases).
3) For FaceTime and iMessage we happen to use separate Apple IDs, but it is the email addresses that matter so this isn't significant as far as I can tell. For a household sharing an email address, you might prefer separate Apple IDs for this.
4) My kids do not yet use email or any of the iCloud features other than Find My iPhone (which really I use on their behalf in case their devices get lost). So for now iCloud for them uses my Apple ID just for Find My Phone, and the other services are disabled. We have their restrictions (under Settings->General->Restrictions) locked down so they do not have access to Safari, the App Store, iTunes, or FaceTime. Thus, they don't have any bookmarks to sync or other services to configure. The biggest pain point for them will be when they start reading more (they are currently 2 and 4) if iBooks continues to leverage the App Store account for bookmark syncing. Even then it will only be a problem if we all read the same book at the same time, which is less likely than it is between my wife and me. Once they are old enough for their own email we should be able to repeat the above to give them their own iCloud accounts. We will then all likely share mom's calendar for family events (perhaps in addition to individual calendars), and we will all add each other in Find My Friends.

I ended up with 3 Apple IDs over time. How can I get it down to one account?

I ended up with 3 Apple IDs over time. When I sink my iPad, some apps won't sync because the app was purchased under a different account?
How can I get it down to one account and be able to sync all of my iTunes purchases (apps, music, etc.) on my iPad and iPhone?
This is driving me crazy! grrrr. :-)
I have .me; .mac and .icloud accounts.
- Dave
Running OS X 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) on iMac, using iPad 4 (64GB) and iPhone 5.

Thanks. I was afraid of that. Darn Apple....we use Apple products because they are elegant and easy to use, why can't apple simplify the ID issues??? :-)
Thanks for the reply.

I seem have two apple IDs - on for an icloud address and one for everything prior.

I seem have two apple IDs - one for my new icloud email address and one for ipad/purchases which has been active for 6 months.
Can I change this to simplify it, or should I follow instructions to ensure everything is matched?

I am logged into the same things on both my iPhone and my MacBook Pro, except for mail. I use a gmail IMAP account and everything there already works on both machines. The iCloud account on my iPhone uses one Apple ID and the one on the Mac uses the second Apple ID.

How do I get two different Apple IDs to cooperate?

So, I've had my iPhone 5 for a little over a year now and just yesterday went out and bought my first Mac. When I got my phone I didn't anticipate getting a Mac and thus used my gmail account as my Apple ID. I was advised by a friend of mine that everything works wonderfully if I use an iCloud.com account, so I created one when setting up my Macbook. The end goal is to get everything across all my iDevices (iPhone, iPod, iPad, and now a Mac) to show up properly.
So here's my situation. I want to either:
     -make my two Apple IDs cooperate such that I can see all my contacts/main/messages on my Mac
     (or)
     -systematically transfer everything over from my gmail.com Apple ID to my iCloud.com account and then change which Apple ID I'm logged into in my iPhone
From what I've gathered so far, it's supposed to be awesomely easy to do on one account but it can be a pain in my situation.
I'd appreciate any help or advice given.

That's correct. I was led to believe (and perhaps misled) that the *@iCloud.com domain name on the account would give me different functionality.
Weird thing is, I was able to access and send messages on my Mac last night and now it won't communicate -- attempting to add the gmail account to the Messages app on my Mac yields a message that it can't verify the account because it's already in use by, you guessed it, another Apple ID.

HT1206 I buy apps in my iPhone using different Apple IDs. Which Apple ID should I use to authorize the computer when synchronizing iPhone with iTunes?

I buy apps in my iPhone using different Apple ID. Which Apple ID should I use to authorize the computer when sync iPhone with iTunes?

Hi again,
After a little further research, it appears that you would need to create separate iTunes libraries in order to be able to continue to purchase and download previously purchased items on the same computer, for two different Apple IDs. Sorry - but my husband and I have had the library we sync with authorized for so long, that we have not run into this issue, but it appears that you will get an warning when you try to authorize the second ID on the same computer, indicating that another ID is already associated with it.
So, you will probably have to set up separate iTunes libraries for each ID:
http://www.imore.com/how-use-multiple-apple-ids-one-computer-and-itunes
Sorry for any confusion - hope this helps!
Cheers,
GB

Setup Family Share with Two Apple IDs

Apple has long prevented customers from merging two Apple IDs associated with the same person. With Family Share I thought I might be able to finally share all of my purchases between my two Apple IDs. But I'm not sure how to go about it. One Apple ID is associated with an @mac.com e-mail address. The other @me.com. But when I go to add the former Apple ID account, I get a message that I can't add my own account as a family member. So I'm a little stuck.
Shouldn't I be able to add my other Apple ID as a "family member", so that I can access all the purchases made through it?
Has anyone done this, is there a trick to making it work? Can I re-assign my other Apple ID to a "different user" account to bypass this problem?

Hi Woodwyn,
Happy Holidays! As I understand it - there are two possible scenarios you can try if you have iTunes Store content on multiple Apple IDs. Review the information below and try the path the best suits your situation.
Scenario 1 - Change your Apple ID to a different address
You could rename the Apple ID that you are not currently using as your primary Apple ID for the iTunes store to a different email address, like a Gmail or Yahoo account. This article explains how to do that:
Change your Apple ID - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202667
Change your Apple ID
Learn how to change the email address that you use as your Apple ID.
In most cases, your Apple ID is also the primary email address of your Apple ID account. You can change your Apple ID to any other email address you control, as long as it's not already in use as an Apple ID. If your email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com, it's already an Apple ID.
Use these steps to reset your Apple ID:
Sign out of iCloud, the iTunes Store, App Store, FaceTime, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, and iMessage on each device that uses your current Apple ID for these services.
Go to My Apple ID.
Select Manage your Apple ID and sign in. Forgot your password?
Select Edit next to Apple ID and Primary Email Address.
Enter the email address that you want to use as your Apple ID, then select Save Changes. Apple will send a verification email to that address.
Open the email from Apple, then click Verify Now. Didn't receive the email?
When the My Apple ID page opens, sign in with your new Apple ID email address and password. When you see a message that verification is complete, you can start using your updated Apple ID.
Update the features and services that you use with Apple ID, so that each one is using your updated Apple ID.
If you need to change the Apple ID that's signed in to your iOS device, use these steps to sign out, then back in with a different Apple ID.
Scenario #2 - Get all of the content from multiple Apple ID's onto one iOS device
Set up your Apple ID for iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204053
Can I merge multiple Apple IDs into one?
No. You can't merge two or more Apple IDs into a single one. You can, however, use one Apple ID for iCloud services and another Apple ID for Store purchases (including iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match). See “Using one Apple ID for iCloud and a different Apple ID for Store Purchases” for details.Can I change the name of my Apple ID? 
Yes. For example, if you get a new email address, you can change your Apple ID from your old address to your new address. @mac.com and @me.com Apple IDs cannot be renamed.I have purchased music, apps, or books with multiple Apple IDs. How can I get all of this content onto my iOS device?
First, copy all of your purchased content so that it's on the same Mac or PC with iTunes. This computer should be the one you sync your device with.
iTunes for Mac: How to copy purchases between computers
iTunes for Windows: How to copy purchases between computers
Next, authorize your computer to play content with each Apple ID in iTunes. After your computer is authorized for all of your content, it can be synced to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.How do I restore an iOS device from an iCloud Backup if I use different Apple IDs for iCloud and store purchases? 
When you're first prompted for your Apple ID during the restore process, enter the Apple ID you use for iCloud. After your device restarts, you will be presented with another Apple ID prompt before items from the App Store and iBooks Store begin restoring. This time, sign in with the Apple ID you use for Store purchases.
I hope this information helps ....
- Judy

IPhone Music Limited to 5 Apple IDs?

When I synch my iPhone using iTunes on my Mac Pro, I get a message that some songs were not transferred because songs are limited to 5 Apple IDs. This just started happening when I started to use my "me.com" Apple ID. Given that I have been a loyal Apple used for many years and probably accumulated many IDs, I may have over 5, but some are obsolete. Is there any way to tell which songs are associated with which IDs, or even determine which IDs Apple thinks I am using?
I would like to simplify into using just "me.com" or "iCloud.com" for everything. Is there any way to do that?

I'll go backwards with my response.
Having restored my phone and reset all settings, operated phone as a new phone, didn't sync anything back onto it, etc., I installed only Tune in radion and it didn't play. I wiggled the dock cable about -the volume indicator kept changing and for a brief moment sound played. But, not for long.
I am thinking that there's something wrong with the dock connector.
Previously I had:
Checked all settings, plus switched off Bluetooth - didn't work.
cleaned headphone socket and switch on side which mutes sound - didn't work.
Restored the phone, without restoring any of my backed up data. Tested phone as a new phone - didn't work. Tried:
      voice memo - this was fine
      changing ring tones - this was fine
      playing a song from iTunes store - not ok.
      As a New Phone, installed one App - Tune In Radio - no sound. Get speaker icon at bottom, but no indication of its setting. When I click on sound mute on/off switch at side of phone, above volume controls, I see volume level, but can't control it.
Reset all settings, so had to switch of bluetooth again and re-enter WIFI. No affect on sound.
I've tried the above with and without headphones.
So, after much time wasting, my Music App and Tune in radio apps don't work, but ringtones and voice memo works.

Apple IDs and icloud

Hi I have now updated all apple gadgets to allow icoud etc. I am one of the unlucky ones who has an Apple ID as I have a dot.me account and a separate Apple ID for Itunes... ( I know its my fault as i was one of the bad people who apple products before they became so popular!)
My problem, my iphone4 has now the dot.me apple ID overall and the itunes apple id for store... all OK it seems... however my ipad has the dot.me ID for its main ID, yet when I try and put the itunes apple ID into my IPad, it tells me this ID isnt an Apple ID and needs verification... I have used this ID for years on itunes , and its the ID I am using here!!!
Any help please?
PS .A little tip apple, before launching these things allow us early adopters to merge Apple IDs!

Apple does not allow merging of accounts > Frequently Asked Questions About Apple ID
I have an apple ID that I have used for years for my itunes. Then I got a me.com account,with another Apple ID.
Regarding two different accounts read here > Creating an iCloud account: Frequently Asked Questions

How to consolidate Apple IDs

I have three Apple IDs; let's call them bill, [email protected], and [email protected] They each seem to have a place in my use of Apple technologies, and I would like to combine them all, which may actually mean deleting some things and may just mean not using some things anymore (after changing to what I do want to use). Sorry, I am not sure. I know there are MANY articles about this, but I can't figure out what is correct and what doesn't work, etc, etc. Note that this is different from just changing an email address in iCloud (although I may have mixed that type of thing up in here too).
At various times, it seems that any of these can come up and ask for a password; I just changed to an iPhone 6, and at one point in the migration process from my older iPhone, I was asked for the password for "bill", which is an Apple ID I got WAY BACK on I think the second day Apple IDs needed to be applied for. Well, enough background .
I would like to rid myself of any need to remember passwords for the Apple IDs bill and [email protected], and just use the one that happens to be my email address. I know this will potentially involve at least:
     - changing Apple IDs for iTunes songs I bought many years ago, or, if that is not possible, then registering my new phone
     - changing something in iCloud
     - changing something in FaceTime, iMessage, and perhaps many more apps
I am a little concerned about turning off iCloud to change something, because of the warning messages that come up. Can I just turn off iCloud, make a change, and turn it right back on, and the next sync will re-establish EVERYTHING (so, nothing is lost?)?
Thx,
Bill

No matter what reasoning you may have, you cannot consolidate or merge Apple IDs. This is not allowed. Apps and music content purchased through iTunes is locked to the Apple ID used to purchase/download them. That cannot change either, so when it comes time to update and app, you need the Apple ID used to purchase it. If you want to just use one, then delete the content that was purchased/downloaded by the other IDs and download/purchase with the one you want to use.

Should I have different Apple IDs for different family members or one?

We are four members in a family, sharing the same iMac computer but each having a separate device (such as an iPod, iPad and iPhone). I'm wondering if it would be best to have separate Apple IDs for each family member to manage things like iMessage, iTunes purchases and so on. I'd appreciate any advice you can provide. Cheers!

The ideal would be to have different Apple IDs for each member. This will allow them to set up their accounts as they like and be able to use iCloud without worrying about the possibility that other members can see their personal data. However, if you want to purchase an app for all the members, you will have to purchase it for each account

How can I use 2 Apple IDs in Itunes? I have 2 IOS Devices. They each have there own AppleID. What is the proper way to sync both of them to Itunes?

How can I use 2 Apple IDs in Itunes? I have 2 IOS Devices. They each have there own AppleID. What is the proper way to sync both of them to Itunes? I wanted my teenager's AppleID to be different from mine so that she couldn't charge stuff to my AppleID, therefore I created me another one. Now when I go to Sync either device, it tells me that this IOS device can only be synced with one AppleID. Then I get a message to erase it, not going to do that, lol. If I logout as one ID and login as the other, will it still retain all synced information on the PC from the first IOS device? If I can just log in out of the AppleID, then I have no problem doing that as long as the synced apps, music, etc stays there for both. I am not trying to copy from one to the other, just want to make sure I have a backup for the UhOh times. If logging in and out on the same PC of multiple AppleIDs is acceptible then I need to be able to authorize the PC for both devices. Thanks for the help. I am new to the iOS world.

"Method Three
Create a separate iTunes library for each device. Note:It is important that you make a new iTunes Library file. Do not justmake a copy of your existing iTunes Library file. If iTunes is open,quit it.
This one may work. I searched and searched on the website for something like this, I guess I just didn't search correctly, lol. I will give this a try later. My daughter is not be back for a few weekends, therefore I will have to try the Method 3 when she comes back for the weekend again. "
I forgot to mention that she has a PC at her house that she also syncs to. Would this cause a problem. I am already getting that pop up saying that the iPod is synced to another library (even though she is signed in with her Apple ID to iTunes) and gives the pop up to Cancel, Erase & Sync, or Transfer Purchases. My question arose because she clicked on "Erase & Sync" by mistake when she plugged the iPod to her PC the first time. When the iPod was purchased and setup, it was synced to my PC first. When she went home, she hooked it up to her PC and then she erased it by accident. I was able to restore all the missing stuff yesterday using my PC. However, even after doing that it still told me the next time I hooked it up last night that the iPod was currently synced with a different library. Hopefully, you can help me understand all this. She wants to sync her iPod and also backup her iPod at both places. Both PCs have been authorised. Thanks

Apple IDs Simplified - a little

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