1 Apple ID & 2 People

Tech Support
1

A while ago my sister in law said to me why am I getting my husbands messages on my phone? I said do you use one Apple ID? She goes yes, I said both of you need to be on your own Apple ID. She goes I don’t think that’s the problem, I said ok. Fast forward to today, she goes to me, why am I getting my husband’s pictures on my phone how can I fix it? And sometimes my husband gets my messages on his phone. Again I said you both need your own Apple ID.

Now they still don’t think they need Apple IDs. But is there a way to keep everything separate on 1 Apple ID?

I’m thinking if they got two Apple IDs would they lose the stuff on one phone if they backed it up with a new Apple ID?

I know this whole this is laughable, it really is.

2

No, there’s no way to keep things separate with a single Apple ID.

Just send them this:

As they share an Apple ID, a single iMessage will do :wink:

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3

The right way to approach this, and the backups, is to create the second Apple ID, use iCloud+ and get one of the 50/200/1000 GB storage plans, share the storage space between the two Apple IDs and back up both phones there.

As for moving the content, some things are easier than others. Pictures can be easily AirDropped between the two iPhones after the second one is set up, which should be rather quick (don’t use shared albums between the Apple IDs as the resolution will be downsized; not sure about the shared photo library that’s available in the iOS 16 though but these are then shared, not moved between the accounts which is what you want).

Messages will be difficult or impossible to move (unless they use iMazing or some similar software).

Apple Music and other services will likely need to be set up from scratch on the second Apple ID.

4

If contacts and calendar are enabled in iCloud on both devices, they are also sharing the same contacts list and appointments.

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5

They need to remove the AppleID on iMessage and use their respective numbers as their primary.

They have to turn off most of iCloud features like Photos, Messages, Reminders, Notes etc.

Backup their iPhone on Mac.

6

Yes, that is the problem.

That would work in principle.

In reality, I think it’s likely that some sort of syncing will turned on again more or less inadvertently (after being prompted by an OS update, SIM card chenge etc.)

They may lose stuff when signing out of their Apple ID on a phone.

7

There is still a bunch of things that will continue to happen across the devices if they are using the same Apple ID that are not obvious at first. They will all appear in Find My. 2FA authentication codes will be sent to all devices. Activity and Health might be shared unless turned off. Wireless headphones like AirPods will be shared by default and Bluetooth devices will be paired with all devices (which may not be what they want). AirTags wil be an issue, if they ever get them, as ‘left behind’ notifications will be popping up on that another device, etc.

So just better separate the accounts.

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