Multiple Apple IDs for child under separate Family accounts

This is a horribly messy situation and could end up taking several long replies to resolve.

Apple's mobile devices can only be associated with a single account (for most purposes) at any one time. Ideally the child would abandon use of one account and both the child and your wife would be members of you family sharing group. If your child is willing to abandon account #2 that is simplest because then your wife can reset the Watch with no account, request deletion of child account #2 account, then delete her family sharing group, then both your wife and child join your family group, set up the Watch again with account #1.

If the above does not appear to be a satisfactory solution then let us know the issues and we can maybe resolve them.

Deleting A Child’s Apple Account

One way to do this would be to log into the unwanted "child" account and request deletion of the Apple ID. You should have the ID and password from when you first set up the account.

Another way would be for the child to make the request.

From: How to delete your Apple ID account - How to delete your Apple Account - Apple Support

Section: Can I delete my child’s account?

"Your child can also request deletion of their Apple ID, which requires your approval.

The approval request will be sent via email to the primary Apple ID email address of your family organizer account. When approving the request from this email, you will go through the process of deleting the child account."

Disband a family group --> How to leave or remove a member from a Family Sharing group - Apple Support

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Apple Watch, or buy one from someone else - Apple Support

If you want your wife to be the Family Sharing Organizer you could instead transfer your child 1 account to her family group as instructed in How to transfer a child to another Family Sharing group - Apple Support. Then you can disband your group and join hers too.

Another take on this would be to keep both child accounts (but only one can be on the Watch) so that any purchases made with the abandoned account can still be shared with the new account. Note that

See what I meant by this can be messy? ;-) There's a lot of ways of dealing with this and the best way will depend upon what exactly you want or are willing to accept in the end.

roksolidxx wrote:

Hello,

I have a Family account setup for my kids' A16 iPads using using their individually newly created Apple IDs, for child one let's call the Apple ID "id1@gmail.com."

My wife has a separate Family account setup for child one for his Apple Watch Series 6, linked with her phone with it's own number and under another Apple ID we'll call "id2@gmail.com."

How can we reconcile so that "id1@gmail" can be on his watch as well? Can my wife join my Family account and still keep the Apple Watch linked to her phone? I can join her's but there has already been contacts and things setup on both iPads, specifically for child one's "id1@gmail.com"'s account.

Any suggestions or proper

Only one Apple Account can be signed into a device at a time. It is not possible to merge separate Apple Accounts but you can migrate purchases, if that scenario is applicable. But you'll have to pick one Apple Account for your child and stick with it.

About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts - Apple Support

Either your wife or you can disband the Family Sharing Group either of you set up. Once disbanded, the Apple Accounts from the disbanded Family Sharing Group can be invited to the other person's Family Sharing Group so you are all in a single group.

How to leave or remove a member from a Family Sharing group - Apple Support

I see another person posted first. While Apple does not officially support account merging, you can effect this to a very large extent if you do things carefully. That in itself is a long post so I'll save it unless you need it.

For Apple subscriptions, "You can share content that you purchase from Apple including music, movies, tv shows, apps, and books. You can also share your Apple subscriptions including Apple One."

from: What types of content can I share with my family using purchase sharing? - Apple Support - What types of content can I share with my family? - Apple Support

Third party subscription sharing depends upon the app. Check for details on the app's description page on the App Store.

If you have family level subscriptions, any person can share them, they do not have to be the Organizer.