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Using two iPads with the Same Apple ID - Want Documentation

I have a new 12.9 inch iPad Pro with 1T of storage. I have not yet set my new iPad up for the following reason. I want to continue to use my older smaller iPad Pro with 128G of storage. I want to use the same Apple ID with both devices, and I want to benefit from the syncing of mail, keychain, calendar, contacts, etc. However, I want to be able to have different apps and files on these two devices because of their differing storage capacities, and I want them to have separate backups in iCloud.


I do not want most apps to sync between these two devices, nor for their data to sync.


First, is this possible?


If it is, my gut feeling is that I'd like to start by configuring my new iPad from an iCloud backup of my old device.


I would then, over time, probably eliminate some apps and files from the old device to open up some storage, but I do not want deleted apps to disappear from the new iPad.


One other thing I want to do is to set up syncing of the Photos App over all my devices, which I had not done previously because I have photos saved in Aperture, so I have been putting that off.


How do I get these two iPads to have their own backups in iCloud?


Could someone point me to some links that explain this? If it were not for Covid 19 I would just ask about it at the Apple Store and I would have had them do the initial setup of the new iPad.


I paid enough for the iPad to get some advice. If necessary I will call Apple, but I would like to read about this first.


Thanks in advance.


Terri Schurter

iPad Pro, iPadOS 13

Posted on Jun 22, 2020 11:30 AM

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Posted on Jun 22, 2020 11:46 AM

You can sync data mail, contacts, notes and calendar on both devices.


On the new ipad - settings - itunes/app store - see auto downloads - turn off those features.


Settings - general - about - set name for your new ipad, to distinguish it from the older ipad.


This will allow you to have separate backups.


Icloud photo library Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


keychain Set up iCloud Keychain - Apple Support


Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

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Question marked as Best reply

Jun 22, 2020 11:46 AM in response to Terri Schurter

You can sync data mail, contacts, notes and calendar on both devices.


On the new ipad - settings - itunes/app store - see auto downloads - turn off those features.


Settings - general - about - set name for your new ipad, to distinguish it from the older ipad.


This will allow you to have separate backups.


Icloud photo library Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support


keychain Set up iCloud Keychain - Apple Support


Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch - Apple Support

Jun 26, 2020 9:22 AM in response to razmee209

Ramee209,


And for those who may be curious, I did manage to set up my new iPad. I restored the backup from the older (smaller) iPad to the new iPad. I am so proud that I did not need to call Apple for help.


I found no need to change the name of either iPad because the new one was named Terri Schurter's iPad (2) That happened automatically.


I found that I have a backup for each iPad.


I have since downloaded over 150 Gigs of video content to one of my apps on the new iPad. The corresponding app on the older iPad did not attempt to mirror that download. Yea! The new iPad has been backed up to iCloud.


My iPads let me know which device I am using, and here you can see that I do have separate downloads for each of these iPads..



I had apparently already turned on the Keychain and Continuity a long time ago. I still need to research the switch to iCloud Photo, and that is probably next on the agenda. I have photos in Aperture on a 2011 iMac, and have recently discovered that this App is no longer supported, so I will need to extract photos on that computer and transfer them via Dropbox at some point in the future.


By the way, I had to up my iCloud plan from 200 gigs to 2T in order to backup the new iPad after downloading video, but I expected to have to do that eventually, and now I have no excuse not to use Photos backup to iCloud.


I am thinking of getting a new MacBook Pro with 2T of storage because I am exploring the use of an application called iMazing which backs up your devices in their entirety, and makes it possible to access files from your IOS devices using your Mac. I'll need the extra storage if I want to backup the new iPad with iMazing.


Having fun.


Thank you for the help.


Terri

Using two iPads with the Same Apple ID - Want Documentation

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