Is it possible to have an account icon be different on different Apple devices during circumstances like a gender transition

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Is it possible to have an account icon be different on different Apple devices during circumstances like a gender transition

I have a work laptop. I have a personal laptop. I have an iPhone. (At various points in time, these may have different operating systems installed.) I have contacts who may have saved my information on their iPhones, and who may, from time to time, under circumstances I do not fully understand, have a new picture of me suggested for my contact card on their phone.

Apple would like to help me to present the same identity on all of these, with the same name and same picture, and if I make a change in one place, it appears to updates it in the other places.

In many cases — perhaps in most cases — this would be quite reasonable. However, right now I DO NOT WANT this, as I would strongly prefer to manage my gender transition in such a manner that I come out to people on my own terms, and on my own schedule. Presenting the wrong icon to the wrong person at the wrong time is at best uncomfortable — occasionally, it may also cause injury or death, if the wrong person sees it under the wrong circumstances and chooses to inflict violence.

I would like to bring my personal laptop to places with close supportive friends, and have a login-screen icon with my preferred name, and preferred picture. For the time being, I am also using a different phone (a feature phone) when contacting these people. (It sure would be nice to switch this to an iPhone someday.)

I would like to leave the legal name, and another picture on the other devices, also for the time being.

As far as I can tell.... what I want is completely impossible, and Apple demands that I stop thinking different, instead conforming to the expectations of society in my gender presentation. One icon only, one name.

Is this the case? Is there a way to do this that is hiding somewhere? It is okay if it is very deeply hidden; I am a sophisticated user of technology employed in the management of supercomputers for a major technology company, and I am open to adjusting system settings on the command line if necessary.

... or am I just [redacted] here?

This post is tagged against my iPhone, as I suspect this is the device most likely to present the wrong pictures to my contacts if updated.

iPhone 15 Pro

Posted on Oct 9, 2024 9:48 PM

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Answer 1

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MrHoffman

Level 10

148,689 points

Oct 9, 2024 10:42 PM in response to shizuki_tomoyo

You already have the answer.

If you want to present as distinct people, then you need separate Apple Accounts. (Possibly with Family Sharing configured to ease some of the associated issues arising with purchases and subscriptions.)

Apple Accounts do not have the concept of identity compartmentalization; of sub-profiles or separate presentations or differing personalities or modes or whatever that construct might be appropriately called in this context.

If you want to use the same Apple Account, then you have one compartment available, though the associated presentation choices within can be as specific or as generic as you might wish to select.

In various contexts, I use pictures of cats or of other equally generic avatars. And yeah, a legal name change is an ongoing project too, with a previous name occasionally re-appearing in some contexts even decades later.

Running multiple Apple Account accounts gets problematic too, should consolidation be part of the eventual plan. This as migrating email accounts and aliases can be difficult.

Apple isn’t focused on enforcing legal names or such either AFAIK, outside of cases involving names that must match those related to purchasing and payment information. Other entities can choose differently here, such as the fondness Meta has for legal names, though.

TL;DR: if you need a separate compartments for identities by personal choice or preference, or for safety or legal reasons, then your only reasonably robust-against-mistakes choice is separate devices and separate Apple Accounts.

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Is it possible to have an account icon be different on different Apple devices during circumstances like a gender transition

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