Family Sharing and multiple Apple IDs

Question

Family Sharing and multiple Apple IDs

I would like to set up Family Sharing for myself and my 3 daughters.

I have 2 AppleIDs -- one for iCloud and one for iTunes/App Store (each daughter also has her own separate AppleIDs for iCloud and App Store/iTunes -- we do not share accounts/IDs now). Which ID should I use for setting up Family Sharing? or.....

Should I change iCloud AppleIDs to match iTunes/App Store IDs for me and then for each of my daughters so each of us has a unique ID that covers iCloud and iTunes/App store (keeping the iTunes/App Store ID so nobody loses prior purchases and we are able to update apps in the future)? If so, do I need to delete current iCloud Accounts and set up new ones that match the respective existing iTunes/App Store AppleIDs for each of us?

I want to be sure we can share purchases in Family Sharing as well as take advantage of shared calendar (an iCloud function) and Apple Music features.

Thanks for your help in this matter that I made much too complicated by setting up 2 IDs for each of us way back when...

iPhone 5s, iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 5, 2015 11:29 AM

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Answer 1

Jason L

Community Specialist

Jul 7, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Jeffrey Drood

Hi Jeffrey,

It sounds like you have set up multiple Apple IDs for your family members and you want to know the best way to go about setting up Family Sharing with the accounts.

It would be best to use one Apple ID for each family member, as described in the article linked below.

Frequently asked questions about Apple ID - Apple Support

Apple IDs can't be merged. We recommend that you use the same Apple ID in the iTunes Store and iCloud. Using multiple Apple IDs might be confusing and might cause issues with accessing purchased content or using some services.

Also, this article provides a lot of great information about Family Sharing and will walk you through the process of setting it up:

Family Sharing - Apple Support

Cheers,

-Jason

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