You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

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

Can a family organizer change their Media Apple ID and still have Apple Music access?

Ten or more years ago my family shared one Media (iTunes)( Apple ID. A bit later everyone got iCloud Apple IDs. After years of transition I've slowly migrated most family members to a single Apple ID for iCloud and Media. Our old Media Apple ID now has an iCloud Apple ID so that "person" is a family member.


I'll call my iCloud Apple ID "Sam" and my Media Apple ID "Linda". My iPhone was setup as Sam/Linda when I enrolled us in Apple Music. When I changed to Sam/Sam I lost Apple Music access. I think for Apple Music to work for the Family Organizer the Family Organizer Media Apple ID must match the purchase configuration. (I don't know if I broke it for anyone else, I switched back.)


More details here: https://tech.kateva.org/2022/10/apple-music-subscriptions-stop-working.html.


I think I have to end my Apple Music subscription then remove my device Media Apple ID and revert to the default, then I have to resubscribe. I think at that point it will work for the family.


Anyone know differently?

Posted on Oct 14, 2022 5:58 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 12, 2022 7:24 PM

I was able to get this to work. I wrote it up in two related blog posts. They don't have a lot of detail but perhaps some useful clues.


The second post references the first so I'll just share that one:


https://tech.kateva.org/2022/11/migrating-from-apple-storeitunes-shared.html

7 replies

Oct 14, 2022 10:53 AM in response to jfaughnan

Hi JF, You lost me a bit on what you did and why you did it, but...


The Apple Music subscription goes with one specific Apple ID. The subscriber can open it up to family members, each with their own ID, via a Family Plan: Get an Apple Music family subscription - Apple Support


For future reference, the best way to manage Apple IDs is one Apple ID <=> one person. Every other approach will sooner or later lead to grief.

Oct 14, 2022 12:57 PM in response to jfaughnan

Incidentally I debated between making this change now or waiting 3 weeks and doing it the day after our Apple Music family plan expires. Given the complexity of Apple ID management and of family sharing I wanted to let the plan lapse.


However a Discussion response says Playlists built from Apple Music content will be lost and not restored. So I may have to try overlapping: If I cancel my Apple Music subscription w… - Apple Community


Oct 14, 2022 1:08 PM in response to jfaughnan

Ok, now this thread says the Apple retains playlist and other information for 30 days. Playlist and preferences after Cancelled … - Apple Community


I can't find any Apple documentation this however, in fact I couldn't find anything from Apple about what happens after canceling an Apple Music subscription.


If the data is retained for 30 days then I won't do an overlap. But there's no way to know for sure ...

Oct 14, 2022 2:00 PM in response to ed2345

Thanks! You wrote "cancel an AM subscription and then restart it on the same Apple ID". From my experiments content formerly from iTunes is tied to the Media Apple ID, whereas family sharing is tied to the Organizer's iCloud Apple ID. Fun, eh?


For most of my family their Media Apple IDs won't change, so this undocumented 30 day rule should help them. I think they'll be ok.


I however, will have a "new" Media Apple ID so I expect the Apple Music Playlists will disappear on those devices. HOWEVER (cough) our legacy 15yo shared Media Apple ID is shared by a 'user' who has the same ID for their iCloud ID (and that was a nightmare -- https://tech.kateva.org/2022/03/what-happens-when-you-have-apple-id.html). So I have already shared URLs for those Playlists and they should still exist when I re-add Apple Music to the same ID as used by the Family Organizer.


I give it a 65% chance of working. I have no idea what happens in this morass if I were to overlap Apple Music subscriptions so I'm leaning to letting it lapse and doing a recovery. I'll also export the most important playlists from Music.app. Save a copy of a playlist in Music on Mac - Apple Support

Oct 14, 2022 12:41 PM in response to ed2345

Yes, I know all about the grief. The problem now is migrating away from the practice of 2010. Before family sharing that's how things worked.


I was able to answer my own question. The answers are:


  1. It won't work. When a user is a family organizer and they initiate an Apple Music subscription from a device with distinct iCloud and Media Apple IDs they cannot change their Apple Music ID without losing access to the Apple Music. (It's not known if other family members are impacted).
  2. The workaround is to wait until the Apple Music subscription expires. For good luck give it one day extra so there's no Apple Music for the family. NOW remove the custom Media Apple ID and return to the default. THEN subscribe to Apple Music for family. At this point, on that device, the Family Organizer iCloud Apple ID and Media Apple ID will be the same. I'm betting Apple Music will work for all then.

Oct 14, 2022 1:18 PM in response to jfaughnan

JF,


Jim's answer in that other thread applies when you cancel an AM subscription and then restart it on the same Apple ID. In your case, where the new subscription will be based on a different Apple ID, it is likely you will be starting from scratch.


Since you have a highly customized way of managing the multiple IDs, you probably will just need to experiment.

Can a family organizer change their Media Apple ID and still have Apple Music access?

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