Changing apple ID and not losing apps?

Changing the Apple ID will not erase the apps or photos in Albums or in the Camera Roll. However, if the Apple ID is signed onto iCloud, then when the new ID is signed into iCloud, any iCloud-based photos will no longer be on the phone (Photo Stream photos, Shared Photo Stream Photos, iCloud Photo Library photos).

Not sure what the issue is with the educational apps, however? Can you provide a fuller explanation of the issue that you think would arise?

Cheers,

GB

I have two iPads which currently use the same Apple ID.

When you say they "use the same Apple ID" could you please specify: are both devices signed into iCloud and the App Store using the same Apple ID? Because there is a difference. Every iOS device going back to iOS 5, I believe, has two distinct places to "sign in with your Apple ID," and this is not counting iMessage and FaceTime. Some people use the same Apple ID for both, some use two different ones, still others don't even sign in to iCloud but only the App Store. It's even possible to sign out of the App Store but stay signed in to iCloud. It should also be noted that older Apple IDs sometimes had "Alternate Apple ID"s associated with them, so it's possible that when you look in iTunes & App Store settings and compare the Apple ID there to the one signed in in the iCloud settings that they may list different email addresses that are actually associated with the same Apple ID. To find out how many email addresses are associated with your Apple ID, visit appleid.apple.com and click Manage your Apple ID. Look which address is listed for your "Apple ID and Primary Email Address," this will be the one shown whenever you log in to the App Store & iTunes Store (on iOS), or the Mac App Store, iBookstore, or iTunes Store (on a Mac. Or even a PC in the case of the iTunes Store). On the Apple ID page you may also see an "Alternate Apple ID" and/or an "Alternate Email Addresses" heading which will list the 'aliases' that might appear as your 'apple id' when you are signed in to iCloud with this apple ID account.

They will both need the same educational apps - I cannot see how they can do that with one Apple ID…. Will this erase the apps and pictures she has on there now?

Signing out of the App Store will not delete anything at all. In fact, apps should continue to auto-update even without the device being signed into the Store at all. Secondly, if a device is signed in to iCloud, signing out of it should also not affect any data except for email (and iCloud Drive. see *footnote at bottom of post). But if you want to be sure, turn off, one by one, Safari bookmarks, notes, reminders/calendars, email, etc. in Settings app -> iCloud. Each item you disable should give you the option of either

• keeping the local cache of data that was being kept in sync with iCloud, or
• remove (delete) the data from your device.

When you turn one of the iCloud items off, give it a minute, and then to be sure, hit the back button at the top left corner of Settings, then open iCloud again to make sure it has completely disabled that iCloud item (sometimes the toggle doesn't stick). If disabling each item goes well, you can tap Sign Out at the bottom to disconnect the device from the iCloud account/Apple ID.

Signing out in the iCloud settings as well as iTunes & App Store settings will completely disconnect the device from Apple services without deleting anything on the device—except for emails (if you were using an @icloud.com or @me.com email in the Mail app). It will stop backing up to iCloud, and if you ever specifically enabled the new iCloud Photo Library, (released in iOS 8.0), then obviously photos that haven't fully downloaded from the cloud will not be able to be downloaded without signing in to iCloud again

*The only exception to this might be apps which are using iCloud Drive (formerly Documents & Data), but if those apps have been opened recently they should have a local cache of their iCloud Drive files. Not all apps use iCloud documents/iCloud Drive at all. To see if an installed app is using iCloud for document storage, open Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive. Furthermore, apps that have been previous downloaded, and then deleted, can actually leave documents in iCloud Drive. To see everything stored in iCloud Drive, from iCloud settings, tap "Storage _ GB Available" which should be right under the Family Sharing option, then tap Manage Storage, and look under Documents & Data. If there are more than five items here, tap Show All to reveal the totality of document "silos," which are usually (but sometimes not) titled after the name of the app that was installed and which created the data. You can also clean out iCloud Drive data by tapping an item, then Edit, then "Delete All" to remove that particular repository of iCloud Drive data. Or, some apps can list individual documents and you can delete only one or two of its documents without using "Delete All" for the app's data.

You can download the apps to the second iPad without signing it on to iCloud. The purchases are under the Apple ID signed in to the iTunes & App Store.

iCloud is primarily used to sync Contacts, Calendars, Photo Streams, Notes, Messages, and Mail between multiple devices. If you do not need those things shared on the second device, then you do not need to sign it into iCloud at all.

Documents created with the apps are housed on the device itself, although Numbers, Pages, and Keynote do have an iCloud counterpart that will store documents created out of those apps on iCloud if a device using those apps are signed into iCloud.

You do have the option of leaving the current Apple ID signed into the iTunes & App Store (Settings>iTunes & App Store) while having a separate ID signed into iCloud. You can create that second ID by going to Settings>iCloud on the device that is not signed into iCloud and clicking on the "Create a new iCloud ID" option. You can then create an iCloud ID for the second child.

As far as downloading the apps to the second iPad, you can download them via iTunes on the computer you sync with or you can go to the App Store app on the iPad, click on Updates at the bottom, then on Purchased>Not on this iPad. You will see the apps in the list with a little cloud next to them - click on the cloud to download them.

iTunes & App Store purchases are housed in iTunes in the Cloud which is not the same thing as iCloud. iTunes in the Cloud houses all purchases made under the Apple ID signed into the iTunes & App Store, allowing you to access them and download them on any device that has that ID signed into the iTunes & App Store.

Here are some support articles and sites that may help:

Frequently asked questions about Apple ID - Apple Support

Set up your Apple ID for iCloud and iTunes - Apple Support (see Use one Apple ID for iCloud and a different Apple ID for Store Purchases)

Download past purchases

iCloud: What is iCloud?

https://www.apple.com/support/itunes/in-the-cloud/

Cheers,

GB

It sounds like all you really want to do is download the apps on a new device. You can do this! It's easy—and it will have no effect on the first device. When you buy an app, Apple lets you download it as many times to as many devices as you like, and they don't even have to be yours. All you have to do is go into iTunes & App Store settings and sign in with your Apple ID. This will have zero impact on what's stored on this device (or any other device). Then from the App Store app you can redownload purchases. Easy as pie.