[Macworld]

Post your comments for How to configure iCloud if you share an Apple ID here

[atomicshed]

i see that you can share calendars but what's the best route to share an address book between 2 or more iCloud users?

[fjpoblam]

Yes (as commented in a previous story), I finally set things up as you described here. With all these shenanigans, though, we're beginning to rethink our strategy. I'm not sure how much we need iCloud, and we may, indeed, try to steer clear of it. I feel iCloud (as shown by its Calendar handling on my MBP) should have no right to destroy data on the client computer (e.g. at logoff).

Gmail sync appears more appropriate for Contacts and Calendar. iTunes can handle purchased materials, of course, and apps are self-updating. The only materials left for iCloud may be Bookmarks, Photos, and Docs. Perhaps we may find workarounds for those, too, until a more intelligent design is provided for iCloud.

[SusanPitman]

People in the Apple forums are freaking out because they don't know how to have, like, 5 family devices, signed in with the same Apple ID, use iMessage as "separate people." Your article here has the answer! I linked to it on my forum post :: https://discussions....368158#16368158 :: thank you so, so much!

[reifer]

"One of us could, of course, have kept the App Store Apple ID as our iCloud account, but this approach seemed a bit easier for us to keep straight"

How is it easier to give up your Apple ID, which I assume is your email address, and come up with a new email address that you have to tell everyone has changed???
I have an email address that I got when Apple first started giving them to us. I don't want to give it up? But my wife does use some of my iPhone apps and obviously might want to watch a movie I bought, etc. She has her own email address that is part of our MobileMe Family plan and can easily set up with iCloud using that address but, if I use my current email which is also the Apple ID for purchases, can she share some of the things I buy?
Also, another question: My wife is not eager to make any changes. She won't even let me upgrade her computer to Lion. I have always used my computer as the host of her iPhone but, it has a different email address and password, etc. Can I keep doing that? Is it ok for her to continue with MobileMe even though her account is part of my family account?
thanks

[LexFriedman]

reifer, on 14 October 2011 - 03:51 PM, said:

"One of us could, of course, have kept the App Store Apple ID as our iCloud account, but this approach seemed a bit easier for us to keep straight"

How is it easier to give up your Apple ID, which I assume is your email address, and come up with a new email address that you have to tell everyone has changed???
thanks

Great question. There are lots of ways to do this. It so happened that we used a non-personal email address for our main Apple ID; since we own our own personal domain, we have access to unlimited email addresses. ("Macworld@example.com"; "Apple@example.com"; and so on.)

Even if you don't own your own domain, services like Gmail make this pretty easy. Gmail specifically lets you add qualifiers to your email address that still point right to your inbox.

So:

example@gmail.com
example+icloud@gmail.com
example+apple@gmail.com

all go to example@gmail.com, but look like different addresses for registration purposes.

[johnbrks]

You mentioned that the Mac will sync documents. Have you actually gotten it to sync a document with iCloud? I know this is in the iCloud system preferences, but iCloud doesn't sync any documents on the mac.

[consumer_x]

I am not Lex, but...

reifer, on 14 October 2011 - 03:51 PM, said:

I don't want to give it up? But my wife does use some of my iPhone apps and obviously might want to watch a movie I bought, etc. She has her own email address that is part of our MobileMe Family plan and can easily set up with iCloud using that address but, if I use my current email which is also the Apple ID for purchases, can she share some of the things I buy?

You can keep your email address for iCloud and use it for iTunes Store.
Your wife can create an iCloud account from her own MobileMe, and still use *your* iTunes Store account (it is a separate login option on your iDevice).

reifer, on 14 October 2011 - 03:51 PM, said:

Is it ok for her to continue with MobileMe even though her account is part of my family account?
thanks

Yes.
Can Family Pack members move their MobileMe accounts separately to iCloud?
Yes. The master account holder and each family member can move their individual accounts whenever they like, as long as they do so before June 30, 2012.
http://www.apple.com...transition.html

[Michial]

This is confusing. I've never used MobileMe but was asked to create one for mail. We use our regular apple id for the iCloud "account" but the new MobileMe account I created only asked for a username@ me but no password and it shows up in the advanced options. It wouldn't sync in the mail app for lack of password. What is it for? do I need both it and my reg apple I'd? Thanks.

[rmfarkas]

Is there a way to do somewhat the opposite. I have one email address that I use for I tunes, but another for email. I would like to combine them. Is that possible?

[JohnHN]

One issue that I haven't seen covered: on a Mac, in System Settings -> Mail, Contacts & Calendars, it is possible to subscribe to more than one iCloud account. Only one iCloud account can be the main account, used for Photo Stream for example. But the others can be used for synching calendars and contacts.

One could, therefore, keep a master calendar and contacts on one person's iCloud account and then have everyone else in the family subscribe to that iCloud account for synching their calendar and contacts. But configure Mail, Contacts & Calendars to synch calendar, say, using only one account; otherwise you will have multiple listings.

[TosaDeac]

JohnHN, on 15 October 2011 - 05:04 AM, said:

One could, therefore, keep a master calendar and contacts on one person's iCloud account and then have everyone else in the family subscribe to that iCloud account for synching their calendar and contacts. But configure Mail, Contacts & Calendars to synch calendar, say, using only one account; otherwise you will have multiple listings.

I know that previously with MobileMe my wife and I shared a Calendar and Address Book synced to my two Macs and then I used my MobileMe email on my iPhone and she used her archaic Yahoo account for email on her iPhone. Once she relinquishes her phone I'll have to see if you can have multiple iCloud accounts and selectively sync on selective features the same way.

[glrichard]

atomicshed, on 14 October 2011 - 03:08 PM, said:

i see that you can share calendars but what's the best route to share an address book between 2 or more iCloud users?

The way I solved the issue with my girlfriend and I (since we shared one apple ID only because of app purchases) was to turn home sharing on with the main computer and apple ID. She now uses her older, original apple ID for iCloud, syncing the phone, etc. But we can share Apps and the such with Home Sharing.

[sricc]

This all good, but what happens when one or more persons of the family are still using a Mac that can not run Lion. I have wondered what will happen to them when Mobile Me ends next year. Will they be able to move to iCoud and use 10.5 system. Most have had a Mobile Me account for years.