[jayes]

I know most people prefer their own contact lists, but my husband is thinking of exchanging his dumbphone for an iphone.. finally! He only has a few phone numbers on his phone and they are all duplicated in my contact list. We would like him to be able to use my contact list on his iphone. We have two iMacs and both are synced to my contacts as it holds every single person in the world we know.. and thensome! If he gets an iphone, is it possible for him to use my apple ID, my contact list, my calendar but HIS email and his own messaging abilty? We would like to keep those functions separate. If it makes any difference, my contacts are kept in Gmail as well as my calendar. (remnants of my droid days)
And if that makes things messy... is there are way to copy my contacts list and get it over to his phone? Would not worry about any new contacts updating.. we can do it manually for the three people in the world who are not there already.
Thanks...

[kch50428]

Yes... check out http://forums.imore.com/guides-how-t...-separate.html for ideas on how to proceed... You basically want to share one AppleID/iCloud log-on for the things you want to share - be it purchases, calendars, contacts, etc... and have a separate AppleID for your husband's phone for his own email.

[jayes]

Thank you for your reply.
I checked out the link but am not sure if it is helpful in this case as I have almost $100 in credits on my apple ID and thus don't want to abandon it for a new sharable apple ID.
Since he has no need for downloading apps.. he really just needs the new phone to bluetooth to his new car... he can just use his own apple ID.
Can I make a copy of my contacts to put on his phone? I won't worry about it updating.
Would that scenario be less complicated? We both have Google calendars and right now he shares his with me. I could do the opposite on his phone I suppose.

[Fausty82]

Thank you for your reply.
I checked out the link but am not sure if it is helpful in this case as I have almost $100 in credits on my apple ID and thus don't want to abandon it for a new sharable apple ID.
Since he has no need for downloading apps.. he really just needs the new phone to bluetooth to his new car... he can just use his own apple ID.
Can I make a copy of my contacts to put on his phone? I won't worry about it updating.
Would that scenario be less complicated? We both have Google calendars and right now he shares his with me. I could do the opposite on his phone I suppose.

You dont need to abandon anything. Simply create a new Apple ID and use it solely for the things you want to share. My wife and I use a separate Apple ID to share phone contacts, photos and calendar items with each other's iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Keep the old Apple IDs for your App store purchases or anything that you dont want to share...

[warcraftWidow]

You dont need to abandon anything. Simply create a new Apple ID and use it solely for the things you want to share. My wife and I use a separate Apple ID to share phone contacts, photos and calendar items with each other's iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Keep the old Apple IDs for your App store purchases or anything that you dont want to share...

In this case I think she needs the opposite. Have her husband create a new Apple ID but only toggle on mail, iMessage, FaceTime. And also use the new Apple ID for iTunes store and App Store. Then add the existing account that is synced with gmail and toggle on contacts, calendar and anything else to be shared.

[jayes]

So many potential options. Appreciate everyone brainstorming.

I've got an idea of my own. Would this scenario work?

My husband starts out using MY Apple ID when he sets up his phone. This would allow him to download any apps he wants that I have already paid for and have access to my $100 credit in the Apple store. In SETTINGS, under Mail, Contacts and Calendar, we do as follows. Set up the first account using MY gmail address and we toggle CONTACTS on. We also toggle CALENDAR, but not mail. Set up a second account: Hotmail. We use HIS email address and thus he gets HIS mail. Under ICLOUD, we toggle Safari.. we have our two iMacs syching bookmarks etc. and my iphone synchs with it too. We would also turn on Photostream and thus allow any photos he takes to synch to iPhoto on our iMacs. He can also toggle FInd my Phone. His phone would now show up any time we used this app along with my iPhone, our ipad and mini. As far as Notes, reminders and passbook, he'd probably never use these functions and I'd leave them turned off. So that leaves iMessage to contend with. That's a biggie. I'd like to be able to text him as well as keep our texts separate. Since he has his own telephone number, under SETTINGS, MESSAGES, SEND AND RECEIVE, I would only check off his phone number. In that case, would our texts be separate?

Something else to add. Since I highly doubt he would be purchasing apps, or care much about those I have purchased, I would be willing to give him his own Apple ID if it made things easier. In that case, can we still set up contacts and calendar using my gmail address and his mail using his hotmail address? The one negative I see is that his photostream will not synch to our iphoto since that is attached to my apple ID. And he's on his own with Safari. While I'd prefer photostream and safari to synch, it's not a deal breaker.

So will either of these scenarios do the trick? (Hoping it's the first.. seems so simple if it works!)

Thanks again for your help.