Friday, July 12, 2024

Sharing an iPad with "Family Sharing" and a unique "Family" Apple ID.

Nobody expects Apple to bring Apple ID switching to iPadOS -- even though there's a version of it for managed devices. Technical and revenue issues aside, there are likely DRM contractual limitations.

So no Apple ID switches for the iPad. But there's a relatively easy way to implement a shared iPad for up to 5 people where Family Sharing can be used:

  1. Give the iPad it's own unique Apple ID
  2. Make the iPad Apple ID a family member. (See also: migrating from legacy shared iTunes Apple ID to family sharing.)
The five person "limit" is because Apple DRM / FairPlay is limited to at most 6 Apple IDs in a family group. Five for each family member, one for the family.

Caveat: Family Sharing for adults means every family member's purchases go first to the Apple Cash balance purchaser's account, next to the Organizer's payment method. Sooner or later I suspect Apple will need to fix this but it's been a problem for years. Without family sharing the shared iPad isn't useful for sharing Apple's media content.

No comments:

Post a Comment