Take Control of Your Apple ID, 2nd Edition

Manage Multiple Apple IDs

Working with iCloud, Apple devices, and Apple’s various stores and subscription offerings is easiest when you have a single Apple ID. But I’m not alone in having two for historical reasons, and many people have even more!

In this chapter, I talk about how to manage multiple Apple IDs in an efficient and consistent way.

Use Separate Accounts for Purchases and iCloud

Many of us who are long-time Apple ecosystem participants wound up with two Apple IDs, because at one point, Apple managed purchases separately from iCloud’s predecessors (like MobileMe). When Apple fully embraced the Apple ID approach, all our legacy accounts converted. Apple didn’t offer an opportunity to merge those accounts then and still hasn’t many ...