HT204053 What's the best way to set up a family of devices in order to use one apple id for purchases on itunes and the app store?

Question

we are trying to face time between devices, but it won't work whn multiple devices are tied to one apple id.
How do you designate one id to pay for purchases and one so that we can facetime from device to device?

Answer 1

The ID used for purchasing is in Settings>Store.  This ID does not need to be the same one used for other services such as FaceTime, iMessage, etc. (in fact you're far better off if you use separate Apple IDs for these other services).  To change the ID used for iMessage, go to Settings>Messages>Receive At, tap the ID at the top, sign out, then sign back in using a separate (and unique) ID.  You can similarly change the ID used for FaceTime in Settings>FaceTime.  To sycn data with iCloud such as calendars, contacts, etc., without merging your data across devices, set up different iCloud account with different Apple IDs for each device.  You can go to Settings>iCloud and turn off syncing for your data, and when prompted, choose to keep the data on the device.  Then scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Account.  Then set up a new iCloud account using a different Apple ID for each device and turn data syncing back on in Settings>iCloud.
This article may be of interest: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-5-icloud-tips-sharing-an-apple-id-with-you r-family/.