Q: Ever Since getting my Apple Watch, when Someone Calls my wife, her iPhone rings, my iPhone rings, and my Watch Rings

Well Done!!!

GB

I am in a similar, albeit more complicated, situation as Ziatron.  I have read this entire thread and understand the point SteveJobsFan keeps making re: having one Apple ID per individual, but I think this a major oversight on Apple's part on how people actually use Apple IDs (and it Apple's fault for not having any "family" sharing setup for the first 7 years of iOS). 

Since family sharing is a new feature in iCloud, there are many people who have been "sharing" calendars, contacts, find my iPhone, iCloud drive documents, and now (most importantly) iCloud Photo Library by using the same Apple ID between family members (especially married couples).  Currently, family sharing feels very 1.0 and it doesn't address many of the most pressing issues for families in the Apple ecosystem.

I pay for 500 GB of iCloud storage to allow for backups of all 5 iOS devices in my home and the sharing of a gigantic iCloud Photo Library between my wife and myself.  We also like having all of our iPhone photos automatically merged into the same photo library and everything is available on our (shared) iMac.  If we followed Apple's "one ID per user" rule, only one of us would have access to the entire iCloud Photo Library and the rest of the devices would have to be manually synced to the Mac.  I would also have to pay for iCloud data on each of the individual Apple ID's in our home for backups (5 GB free tier isn't enough for anyone).  Basically it would be a huge, complicated mess and expense.  It would also reduce the convenience of having a shared and automatically merged/backed up iCloud Photo library. 

The solution to this is actually quite simple. Just allow us to "share" an Apple ID for iCloud backups and Photo Library (similar to how it can be done for iTunes purchases) and require separate ID's for things like handoff, continuity, contacts, calendars, etc.  I think it would be nice to have a "master" ID for the entire family with "sub" ID's for each individual.  That way we could have more granular control over what is shared and what is separate.

Hopefully a more feature complete "family sharing" will be part of iOS 9, because the current setup is simply impractical for most families.

Ziatron wrote:

 

Also, as I mentioned, Apple IDs are not meant to be shared

Out of about 20 families that I know, every single one of them shares their Apple ID amongst family members.

 

If we had separate IDs this would greatly add to the confusion and cost of our Apple devices.   We would have to make multiple purchases for our family to utilize.

 

We very much want to have the same exact contacts in both of our iPhones. We want to have the same exact music in our iPod Classic, (not for sale).

If you are sharing your apple IDs, this is doubtless going to happen. it's okay to use the same ID for iTunes but you shouldn't have the same iCloud account. Our family of 8 also share the same Apple ID for iTunes and app store but everyone still has their own iCloud account. you're really not doing anything wrong, just make sure you, your wife and the rest of the family are using different iCloud accounts.

Good Luck!

ztark wrote:

 

I am in a similar, albeit more complicated, situation as Ziatron.  I have read this entire thread and understand the point SteveJobsFan keeps making re: having one Apple ID per individual, but I think this a major oversight on Apple's part on how people actually use Apple IDs (and it Apple's fault for not having any "family" sharing setup for the first 7 years of iOS).

 

Since family sharing is a new feature in iCloud, there are many people who have been "sharing" calendars, contacts, find my iPhone, iCloud drive documents, and now (most importantly) iCloud Photo Library by using the same Apple ID between family members (especially married couples).  Currently, family sharing feels very 1.0 and it doesn't address many of the most pressing issues for families in the Apple ecosystem.

 

I pay for 500 GB of iCloud storage to allow for backups of all 5 iOS devices in my home and the sharing of a gigantic iCloud Photo Library between my wife and myself.  We also like having all of our iPhone photos automatically merged into the same photo library and everything is available on our (shared) iMac.  If we followed Apple's "one ID per user" rule, only one of us would have access to the entire iCloud Photo Library and the rest of the devices would have to be manually synced to the Mac.  I would also have to pay for iCloud data on each of the individual Apple ID's in our home for backups (5 GB free tier isn't enough for anyone).  Basically it would be a huge, complicated mess and expense.  It would also reduce the convenience of having a shared and automatically merged/backed up iCloud Photo library.

 

The solution to this is actually quite simple. Just allow us to "share" an Apple ID for iCloud backups and Photo Library (similar to how it can be done for iTunes purchases) and require separate ID's for things like handoff, continuity, contacts, calendars, etc.  I think it would be nice to have a "master" ID for the entire family with "sub" ID's for each individual.  That way we could have more granular control over what is shared and what is separate.

 

Hopefully a more feature complete "family sharing" will be part of iOS 9, because the current setup is simply impractical for most families.

Why not use shared iCloud libraries for sharing photos? and also 5 GB is likely to be enough for iCloud backups, let everyone back up to their own accounts. as I mentioned earlier, our family of 8 has one shared account for iTunes but everyone else has their own iCloud account and it works very well. we have had this model ever since we all went out and bought the iPhone 3GS 6 years ago. I understand that you're used to your model and are reluctant to change it but just keep in mind that not everyone has your problems and apple is unlikely to address them as the current model is really just working fine for a very vast majority of users.

The best of luck

Ziatron wrote:

 

Okay, I think I've got it fixed.

 

I did the below procedure on BOTH of our iPhones

 

On the iPhone: Settings > FaceTime on the iPhones and turn off "iPhone Cellular Calls".

I performed some testing.  Now when someone calls my wife's iPhone it rings and nothing else.  When someone calls my iPhone, my iPhone rings and so does my Apple Watch.   I tried this a couple of times I cannot cause a failure, (so far).  Some future Apple update will probably break this.

Steve Jobs fan,  I do appreciate your help, and some others as well.  After posting this, I will give you all some points.   It's almost 2 AM in my location so I'm getting a little punchy.   I will spend some more time trying to learn about family sharing, but as I understand it, it adds a level of complexity to my life that is already too complicated.   I have a lot of home automation stuff in my new house and it requires almost continuous maintenance. When I was a kid all we had was a telephone by the front door and Yellow Pages, we were perfectly happy!

Again, thanks for sticking with me on this issue.

Don't use family sharing. just make a third account for iTunes purchases. you can sign it in on up to 5 macs and unlimited iPhones. this way works perfect and is really just very simple. Family sharing is confusing even for nerds like me.

hope you get it figured out,

The solution is simple. Everyone create their own apple Id, and use family sharing for everything else. As for contacts you can send them v-cards for the common people in your lives. I cannot imagine an entire family all sharing the same contacts. This really is easy to do as my girl friend and I have been doing this for months. It is also highly recommended to have your own apple id, to avoid having to fight over who gets to keep the account in court over a divorce.

If you had read the OP's posts, you would understand that the OP very specifically stated that he does not want separate Apple IDs. That was suggested early on in this thread. When the OP explained that he did not want to do this, we then worked with him to meet the his needs.

Obviously separate Apple IDs are preferred. But not everyone wants to go that route.

GB

I understand he does not want separate id’s but I was only trying to show him a scenario of what could happen if he were ever to go to court over this issue since it has happend to people in the past and they’ve lost thousands of dollars in purchases. I have read through the entire thread and would disagree with some of the methods suggested, and still believe he can achieve what he want to do with having only 2 separate id’s, one for him and one for his wife. I’ve been doing this for months now and it is very easy to share everything including photos with someone else. Your solution is to create 2 new id’s and keep purchasing under the existing id which i disagree with. However I do apologize if I was not helpful. Good luck!

yas9in wrote:

 

Why not use shared iCloud libraries for sharing photos? and also 5 GB is likely to be enough for iCloud backups, let everyone back up to their own accounts. as I mentioned earlier, our family of 8 has one shared account for iTunes but everyone else has their own iCloud account and it works very well. we have had this model ever since we all went out and bought the iPhone 3GS 6 years ago. I understand that you're used to your model and are reluctant to change it but just keep in mind that not everyone has your problems and apple is unlikely to address them as the current model is really just working fine for a very vast majority of users.

The best of luck

Thanks for the suggestions, but they still don't really address the key issue I'm having with Apple ID's. 

• The very fact that Apple allows for granular control of the Apple ID associated with iTunes/App Store purchases is an acknowledgment that many of their customers share an ID with family members for some of their services. I will do exactly as you are suggesting the minute they expand Family Sharing in a way that is more flexible for couples who want to have synced data (photos, contacts, etc).
• Shared iCloud libraries are limited to 5,000 photos per album.  Also, this removes the automation in our backup system (i.e. all photos synced to iCloud AND our shared iMac at home - which has redundant backups using Time Machine, Backblaze, and SuperDuper! App)
• They would still result in my wife and I having two separate libraries of photos (we take hundreds of pictures of our 3 month old daughter and 2 year old son every week).  The only work-around for this would be to manually sync the "non-primary" device using USB from time to time.  That device would also not have access to the full iCloud Photo Library (with 50,000 photos from the past decade).
• When editing family videos in iMovie, my wife's library of photos/videos would have to be manually imported to the mac (shared photos/videos don't appear in iMovie). 
• Creating photo books would be more difficult with two libraries (something we do at least once a year for each child)
• 5 GB it NOT enough for any iOS device used for photos/videos.  We would easily have to pay for more storage on each device to backup all of our camera rolls (not to mention the use of iCloud Photo Library).
• Not trying to be mean, but how to you know that the "vast majority of users" are doing things the way your family does?  The majority of the people in my social circle are in the Apple ecosystem and a large percentage of them have been struggling with these exact problems  since the release of iOS 8 and Yosemite. 

I am simply hoping that Apple will create a way for couples to share a joint photo library (this is a huge issue for parents and it clearly isn't addressed in the current iteration of their software).  Until then, I have no choice but to do what the OP has done, which is to disable many of the most interesting new features in iOS AND OS X and both of our shiny new Apple Watches.

I think that the simplest solution is for increased granular control of multiple Apple ID's for different features in iOS/OSX (i.e what we currently have for iTunes and App Store purchases).  A more elegant solution would be to improve the current Family Sharing system in a way that acknowledges that many families share more than just iTunes purchases.  We share our lives together and want that data to be in the same place.  Perhaps the current system will work for me when my kids are teenagers, but it will never be a good solution for my me and my wife.

Regarding the problem of divorce, our society lets married people buy homes, file joint tax returns, and have children - I think we can handle joint iTunes and shared photo libraries too.

I did say that he could set up a separate Apple ID for one or both of them. I agree that the simplest way to go about all of it is to have two IDs. My husband and I have two IDs but we share an iTunes library, so we both have access to eachother's purchases.

No need to apologize. I just didn't think you were aware that the OP was fairly adamant about keeping a single Apple ID, and the only problem they were having was the Continuity issue, which is easily resolved by the iPhone Cellular Calls setting in FaceTime.

So, didn't mean to be discouraging. Others reading this thread may find your solution to be the one they are looking for!

Cheers,

GB