Q: Multiple iPhones. Multiple Apple ID's needed?
We have multiple iPhones in our home. Do they each need a unique Apple ID for use of the 'find my friends' or other iCloud features? I'm not having luck getting it to work using one ID. Any recommendation appreciated.
iPhone 4S, iOS 6
Posted on Oct 13, 2012 7:06 PM
Find My Friends is linked to the Apple ID used on the device. If they are all using the same ID they will be seen as the same "person" in Find My Friends. Also, if you use the same iCloud account with the same ID on multiple devices, when you sync any data with the iCloud account (such as contacts and calendars) the data from all devices is merged and the merged data will appear on all devices (i.e., you'll end up with each other's contacts on your devices). To prevent this, it is normally recommended that each device have it's own iCloud account (unless they all belong to the same person). Note: you can continue to share the same ID for purchasing from the iTunes and App stores; it doesn't have to be the same as the ID used for other services such as iMessage and FaceTime. The only downside to this is that with separate iCloud accounts you cannot share the same photo stream. With iOS 6, however, you can share all or part of your individual photo streams with each other using shared photo streams. Finally, you should use separate IDs for FaceTime and iMessage. If you don't, you will end up at some point getting each other's text messages on your devices.
This article may be of interest in this regard: http://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-5-icloud-tips-sharing-an-apple-id-with-you r-family/.
Posted on Oct 13, 2012 7:19 PM