JungleNYC
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: Switched to "family" ID system, now can't sync photos :(

A few months ago we just used one Apple ID for everything (3 phones, iPad, 3 macs). And ONLY started running into problems when I started getting my wife's texts, and her friends were Facetiming me, etc.

 

So, after lots of questions (here and elsewhere) we went ahead and set my wife up w her own Apple ID. And as the head-of-family, I accepted her, etc. Everything is A-ok in iCloud in terms of recognizing both accounts.

 

HOWEVER…before, we each got to see ALL of the photos we took. And they all 100% automoatically backed up to the main family computer.

 

NOW it doesn't work that way. We have "iCloud photo sharing" turned ON on all the devices, but only the ones w/ the original Apple ID auto-sync back to the main computer (and other devices on the main ID).

 

What the heck is going on here? This SHOULD work, right? It did before.

 

I'm getting very worried that my Wife's photos are not being synced to the computer, where we arranged to have the "originals" stored.

 

Help??

Posted on Mar 10, 2016 11:44 AM

by Winston Churchill,Apple recommended
Winston Churchill Winston Churchill
Level 10 (103,728 points)
Apple TV
A:

I really don't advocate anyone sharing an ID, it leads to all sorts of issues, I suspect we all take photos our partners aren't interested in and perhaps would delete photos our partners wouldn't. I for one wouldn't want any 'Take That' photos in my photo album. However that being said, it sounds to me as though your problems were with sharing the same ID for messages and FaceTime, there isn't actually any reason you couldn't share your ID for iCloud and use separate ID's for messages and FaceTime.

Posted on Mar 10, 2016 2:04 PM

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JungleNYC

Q: Switched to "family" ID system, now can't sync photos :(

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  • Helpful answers

  • by javaliga,Apple recommended

    javaliga javaliga Mar 10, 2016 12:16 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 4 (3,514 points)
    iCloud
    Mar 10, 2016 12:16 PM in response to JungleNYC

    According to this article, I think you described it right:

     

    iPhoto: Overview of iCloud Photo Sharing

     

    All I can suggest is to check if Photo Sharing is setup on your Mac according to this:

     

    Photos for OS X: Turn iCloud Photo Sharing on or off

     

    and

     

    Photos for OS X: System Photo Library overview

     

    Some other helpful resources might be:

     

    iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ - Apple Support

     

    iCloud: Set up iCloud Photo Sharing

  • by Winston Churchill,Apple recommended

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Mar 10, 2016 1:29 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 10 (103,728 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 10, 2016 1:29 PM in response to JungleNYC

    It's working as expected, you each have different accounts, your photos shouldn't sync with each other and the Photos app on your computer can only sync with one account.

     

    You should set up a user account on the computer for the wife to use for herself, that way she can sync her own photos with her own photo app on the computer.

     

    Any photos you want to share with each other you should put into the 'Family' shared album, which got created when you set up family sharing.

  • by JungleNYC,

    JungleNYC JungleNYC Mar 10, 2016 1:53 PM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 1:53 PM in response to Winston Churchill

    It may be "working as expected" according to Apple, but as a family this is unnecessarily cumbersome. Everything was fine w/ ONE Apple ID, until things started getting wonky last fall.

     

    I even had to purchase another iCloud storage plan for my wife, which was annoying (in all honesty).

     

    Thanks for the reply though

  • by Winston Churchill,Apple recommended

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Mar 10, 2016 2:04 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 10 (103,728 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 10, 2016 2:04 PM in response to JungleNYC

    I really don't advocate anyone sharing an ID, it leads to all sorts of issues, I suspect we all take photos our partners aren't interested in and perhaps would delete photos our partners wouldn't. I for one wouldn't want any 'Take That' photos in my photo album. However that being said, it sounds to me as though your problems were with sharing the same ID for messages and FaceTime, there isn't actually any reason you couldn't share your ID for iCloud and use separate ID's for messages and FaceTime.

  • by JungleNYC,

    JungleNYC JungleNYC Mar 10, 2016 2:05 PM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 2:05 PM in response to Winston Churchill

    Interesting. I didn't see an option to do that…how would one make that happen?

     

    tx!

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Mar 10, 2016 2:13 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 10 (103,728 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 10, 2016 2:13 PM in response to JungleNYC

    On the phone:

     

    you sign in for iCloud at settings > iCloud, you'd simply use the same ID there. However you sign in for messages at settings > messages > send and receive, you'd each enter your own ID there, same thing with FaceTime (settings > FaceTime)

  • by ManSinha,

    ManSinha ManSinha Mar 10, 2016 2:15 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 6 (10,250 points)
    iPhone
    Mar 10, 2016 2:15 PM in response to JungleNYC

    On the phone

    Settings - Messages - iMessage - Send and Receive - click on the Apple ID and choose sign out - then sign in with a different one

  • by LACAllen,

    LACAllen LACAllen Mar 10, 2016 6:25 PM in response to JungleNYC
    Level 5 (4,869 points)
    iCloud
    Mar 10, 2016 6:25 PM in response to JungleNYC

    It may be "working as expected" according to Apple, but as a family this is unnecessarily cumbersome. Everything was fine w/ ONE Apple ID, until things started getting wonky last fall.

     

     

    How about "working as designed"

     

    As pointed out, the family's photo needs should be covered via the shared Family album that everyone can contribute to.

     

    Winston's idea will work too, but keep in mind you will now all share contacts, calendars, notes, Safari bookmarks and browsing history and all the other iCloud services that are synced between devices by using the same Apple ID for signing in to iCloud.

     

    You may have to pick your battle.

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Mar 11, 2016 1:25 AM in response to LACAllen
    Level 10 (103,728 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 11, 2016 1:25 AM in response to LACAllen
    but keep in mind you will now all share contacts, calendars, notes, Safari bookmarks and browsing history

    That's not entirely necessarily so, It's possible to log into 2 ID's (a primary and secondary), there are some things that you must share if you each use the same ID as a primary such as Photos and documents, but you can turn contacts, calendars, notes etc off for the primary and use the secondary ID for these so that they aren't shared.

  • by LACAllen,

    LACAllen LACAllen Mar 11, 2016 8:49 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 5 (4,869 points)
    iCloud
    Mar 11, 2016 8:49 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    Winston Churchill wrote:

     

    but keep in mind you will now all share contacts, calendars, notes, Safari bookmarks and browsing history

    That's not entirely necessarily so, It's possible to log into 2 ID's (a primary and secondary), there are some things that you must share if you each use the same ID as a primary such as Photos and documents, but you can turn contacts, calendars, notes etc off for the primary and use the secondary ID for these so that they aren't shared.

     

    Which why I also said >>>and all the other iCloud services that are synced between devices by using the same Apple ID for signing in to iCloud.<<<

     

    Unless I just don't grasp how one signs in to iCloud on one device using 2 different Apple IDs.