Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

How do we separate family's iPhones and iPads into separate devices with their own AppleID?

How do we separate family's iPhones and iPads into separate devices with their own AppleID? Everyone's stuff is linked to a single AppleID, which has created problems with receiving each other's texts, contacts, pictures intermittently. So how do we go about creating each person's own account without them losing their data, contacts, photos, etc. that they curated?


Not sure how sensitive it is to break the link, and whether that would delete things...

Posted on Aug 28, 2019 1:09 PM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Aug 29, 2019 2:31 PM

First, read the following - Family Sharing - Apple

In there you will learn how to set up Family Sharing, setting up Apple IDs for children under 13, turning on Ask to Buy, etc. Just make sure that you do not sign anyone into a new Apple ID before you save the information you want on each phone. Also, just to be sure you may want to run a backup on each phone you want to change the Apple ID just in case something goes wrong so you can restore it if necessary.


Go to Settings then select the name at the top of the page then select iCloud. If you want the existing contacts to remain then deselect Contacts and you will get a message asking if you want to keep them on the phone or delete them. Select to keep them on the iPhone. You should be able to do this for Contacts and Calendars.


Go to Settings > Photos and select the option to Download and Keep Originals. Once all photos have been downloaded to the device then turn off iCloud Photos.


If there are any notes they want to keep you need to make sure they are not in an iCloud folder but listed under On My Phone.


Once you have done the above, go to Settings, select the name at the top of the screen, scroll to the bottom and select Sign Out. Now, sign in using the new Apple ID for the device. Once that is done you can turn on the option to keep Contacts and Calendars on iCloud and turn on iCloud Photos again.


After everyone has their own Apple ID, invite them all to Family Sharing and turn on Ask to Buy if you desire.

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 29, 2019 2:31 PM in response to bboyce2009

First, read the following - Family Sharing - Apple

In there you will learn how to set up Family Sharing, setting up Apple IDs for children under 13, turning on Ask to Buy, etc. Just make sure that you do not sign anyone into a new Apple ID before you save the information you want on each phone. Also, just to be sure you may want to run a backup on each phone you want to change the Apple ID just in case something goes wrong so you can restore it if necessary.


Go to Settings then select the name at the top of the page then select iCloud. If you want the existing contacts to remain then deselect Contacts and you will get a message asking if you want to keep them on the phone or delete them. Select to keep them on the iPhone. You should be able to do this for Contacts and Calendars.


Go to Settings > Photos and select the option to Download and Keep Originals. Once all photos have been downloaded to the device then turn off iCloud Photos.


If there are any notes they want to keep you need to make sure they are not in an iCloud folder but listed under On My Phone.


Once you have done the above, go to Settings, select the name at the top of the screen, scroll to the bottom and select Sign Out. Now, sign in using the new Apple ID for the device. Once that is done you can turn on the option to keep Contacts and Calendars on iCloud and turn on iCloud Photos again.


After everyone has their own Apple ID, invite them all to Family Sharing and turn on Ask to Buy if you desire.

How do we separate family's iPhones and iPads into separate devices with their own AppleID?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.