Signing OUT of Game Center...?

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Level 1

7 points

Signing OUT of Game Center...?

I log OUT of the Game Center, will I lose my in-app purchases and/or progress?

I've been playing an app on my iPad Air 2. I've never signed into the Game Center, as in the past this has always screwed things up for me. I have two iPads, and I've never wanted them to be synced, as they are used by two different people.

I'll try to summarize this as best as I can, but it's a little complicated, so bear with me.

In the game I was playing, one day I noticed that my in-app purchases were gone. After messing around with the customer service for the developers, they finally had me sign into Facebook so they could better "help" me. Well, when I did that, all of a sudden both iPads matched, and were both connected to Facebook. Not cool. I had kids all kinds of upset then! Everything was bonkers (not just in the game). They had me do a few more things (involving signing into and out of the Game Center) which really REALLY screwed things up... and the next thing I knew, I was "Resetting all Settings," and that's when things got super weird...

When I opened the game the next time, it greeted me at the beginning, with someone's Game Center profile. (Not mine). I still don't know how that happened, as I never did anything with the Game Center. But after checking in Settings, sure enough, it was signed in with a family member's ID.

But it's not as important to me HOW it happened. I just want to know, if I sign out of the Game Center, will I once again lose my in-app purchases and progress and all that? I'm just afraid to do anything with the Game Center unless & until someone says it's okay to do so, as historically that always ended badly.

That's all I want to do, sign out of the Game Center... But I would love it if I could keep everything to do with my game the exact same way it is currently.

iPad Air, iOS 9.3.2

Posted on Jul 11, 2016 11:49 AM

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Answer 1

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,714 points

Jul 11, 2016 3:41 PM in response to Kissmyglas

Purchases are tied to your Apple ID, so you can redownload them from that account. My (perhaps limited understanding) is that Game centre should have no bearing on those.

What is difficult is trying to keep multiple devices 'separate' when using one Apple ID. The principle of an Apple ID is to combine all your data, this is why it syncs game saves when you sign it to Game center or use Facebook etc.

In a perfect world…

One Apple ID = one person

Some apps will save progress in Game Center, whilst others do not - I haven't found a way to work out which app will do that & which one won't, personally I think it is a mess we should be able to save these game states if desired, but that could open apps up to buying & selling game progress etc.

I think the best advice is for you to create a new Apple ID for the second person & then erase the other device & set it up with the new ID. You will need to purchase apps again unless you combine the accounts under Family sharing.

I'd strongly recommend you backup the devices to iTunes on a Mac or PC before you begin, otherwise there is little you can do to get data back if it does go away when something syncs data. iCloud backups are OK, but you only have one of them so it is difficult to keep an older backup. iTunes can create a backup archive to freeze a particular state in time.

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/archive-your-iphone-backups-to-save-snaps hots-in-time

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Answer 2

Malignance

Level 5

4,511 points

Jul 11, 2016 7:00 PM in response to Kissmyglas

Hello Kissmyglas,

This most likely will not help your current situation yet it may help you to prepare for the future. Apple has made it clear that Game Center is not going to be part of the next generation iOS. There is no good answer here. Apps that handle game data via the platform could adapt if the developers so choose. Others not so much...

Love the name,

Mal

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Answer 3

Kissmyglas Author

Level 1

7 points

Jul 11, 2016 7:20 PM in response to Kissmyglas

Thank you so much, Drew! I actually understood some of that! Woo-Hoo! But I am definitely going to visit that link you gave me, that seems like I great idea. I hope that works.

The whole thing really confused me... During the course of the customer service people "helping" me, when they had me signing out of and back into Game Center, all my stuff was gone. EVERYTHING. (Everything for that app, I mean). And that's frustrating after spending so much time, energy and money on the app. So. Frustrating.

And about one ID for one person... I totally agree. In fact, on "my" iPad, I'm signed into iCloud and iTunes/App store with my Apple ID. The other iPad, the iCloud is signed in with their ID. So the two devices SHOULD be totally seperate. And they have been, all along... Until this fiasco with this app started.

And I wouldn't have thought the Game Center would have any bearing on in-app purchases and all that. I always understood it to just be more of a social-type thing for playing with other people. And for the whatever "achievements." But I guess I was wrong. It was so much simpler when I COULD just ignore the Game Center, and never bother with it.

ahhh... The good ol' days

So anyways, I'll check out that link and try to back up as many ways as I know how before making any changes.

By the way– I have asked all these questions to the customer service people for the app, but they haven't responded in about three weeks. I guess they're really busy. Or I'm too impatient. So hopefully someday, they'll answer this question too.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••

And thank you Mal, for your answer. It figures. But I am glad they're not bothering with the Game Center anymore. I'm obviously not a big fan.

And thanks for the compliment— that's the name of my business. I'm a Scientific Glassblower by day, and I do it artistically on my own time. (Ha. That could be a t-shirt)

Anyways, again, thanks for the tip!

Amanda

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Answer 4

Jul 11, 2016 11:52 AM in response to Kissmyglas

Try to remember which apps you had and get them back, (If that happens),

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