MobileMe users experience issues in Apple's transition to iCloud - Page 2

Has anyone heard a good explanation for why they are not allowing accounts to be merged? I originally assumed that it was to prevent combining ownership of music, apps etc., that may originally have been purchased by different people (i.e. it's hard to verify that one person owns both IDs), but on the other hand, why would that actually matter?

There is no iDisk in iCloud.

Set one appleID for Settings -> Store. That's for your apps and other iTunes purchases. Set a new iCloud appleID (or your mobile me migrated ID) under the iCloud and iMessage settings. iCloud settings are for identity. "Store" settings are for DRM purchase history.

The whole thing is really unclear. I did successfully transition but I have a fairly simple set-up. I have tried to transition my wife and kids devices and accounts, but its messy. And unclear. There really should be a way of gathering and managing multiple id's. I am stuck at 2nd gen iPod Touches. They have been synced through the house iMac, using my id for purchases but with their own mm id's and emails. These devices are not compatible with IOS5. When I begin the transitioning I am told all the devices need to be upgraded to IOS5. I am sure the basic features will work (email), but what about contacts. Once I begin the process I am told that the addresses will synchronize with the Mac I am working on, but I don't want that as these are separate accounts.
I can't find any instructions anywhere so I am planning on getting a genius appointment.

There's no iDisk in iCloud. You didn't really solve the problem, you just did the make-do option.

I clicked the button, followed the upgrade. No issues. Not sure why anyone would.there's an overlap between two different services. MobileMe isn't morphing into iCloud. Maybe that's the cause of yr confusion. MobileMe != iCloud.

That's the whole point. It should be clear and simple, it's not. I have given up listening to defenders of Apple round here, they don't care what your point is, they just think Apple can do no wrong. It's rather sad actually.

Like the time I said the Air was great but the trap-door on the side was bad design, I was called a troll by practically everyone around here - then the new Air came out and the door was gone and the design was exactly like what I said in my post. Most of the idiots around here can't even think for themselves.

I allowed MobileMe to convert to iCloud. No issues.

Before I did anything, I sync'd my iPhone and iPad to iCal and Contacts.

I decided to only use my converted MobileMe account for MobileMe mail and notes. All my calendar, contacts, apps, services will go through my iTunes iCloud account. From here on, MobileMe means converted MobileMe account to iCloud.

Contacts were easy to migrate. I just deleted my MobileMe account from my iPhone and iPad and deleted all contacts and calendars from those devices.

On my mac, when I disabled contacts from MobileMe, it asked if I wanted a copy saved locally. I chose Yes. In iCal, I clicked on Calendars in the upper left corner, right clicked on each calendar, and backed it up as an ICS to my Documents folder. Then I unchecked Calendar sync from MobileMe. That cleared my Calendars. I then Enabled Calendars and Contacts in iCloud. It asked if it should merge each, and I said Yes. Then I went to iCloud and restored each calendar to the new iCal configuration.

Pain in the butt, but its all sync'd and works fine now. Only Mail and Notes can't be synced to your iTunes account.

"It Just Works" just didn't in this case, but it wasn't a show stopper.

I have a similar problem that apple support hasn't been able to fix for me either. my iTunes purchase apple id is myname. My iCloud account is myname@me.com. In the process of trying to fix something I changed the myname's account primary email to something different and now it won't let me change it back because they say myname@me.com is another apple id now. So now I can't get my purchase receipts or apple store purchases to my me.com email address! How dumb!

I have a family account with 5 email addresses (.mac and .me). The purchases from iTunes, App store etc. were done with a separate Apple-id shared by all family members.
The transition was as follows:
1. install all software updates on all devices (Mac, iOS)
2. login on MobileMe on your Mac, then you are forced to login on iCloud for the transition.
3. Then change the Apple-id in the Store or iTunes settings to the Apple-id with which the purchases were done.
So the situation is now you have your .mac email adres as Apple-id for your iCloud stuff (mail etc.). The iTunes section is linked to the Apple-id which you used to purchase stuff.
This works for all family members. So everybody has its own iCloud services with own email adress. At the same time all family members share all purchases (apps, music, films, books etc.)
For me it worked perfectly so far.....

It seems to be the long term Apple users who are most affected here. I have multiple AppleIDs accross various countries (I moved around a lot) and a MobileMe account. I had to choose one AppleID and sacrifice the MobileMe account as well. Lots of emails lost! Many of the older AppleIDs I no longer have access to the email accounts and so cannot validate.

I can understand there might be problems with the labels when it comes to music bought with multiple AppleIDs trying to merge, but if you haven't bought any music with a MM associated AppleID, what is the problem there?

Many MobileMe users (including myself), after migrating to iCloud, decided to stick to their @me account as their primary email
or as their "universal/unified" ID for services like FaceTime, iMessage, iChat, etc...

Yesterday, when I went to appleid.apple.com to change my primary Apple ID email from an ancient @hotmail to @me
I was unable to do so, because it was (shockingly) linked to another Apple ID! :-(
I wasn't even able to add @me as a secondary email, which was very frustrating.

I found that really annoying, because I never wanted to have 2 different Apple IDs
and I've been using @me for emails, FaceTime, iChat, etc. for a very long time now and I simply love my @me address.

Also, after I gave up with appleid.apple.com I tried to add my @me as my primary address for Mac FaceTime
just to check if I can still use it as my primary username but it wouldn't let me authorise the email
as there was a conflict with @hotmail ID!
Then I quickly tried the same thing with FaceTime on my iPhone but this wouldn't work either!
Find My Friends also wouldn't work with @me, so I had to set it up with my old @hotmail Apple ID - which was soooo annoying!!!

None of my friends know my @hotmail email address, I don't want people to use it or even know it
cos I only use it for subscriptions and other stuff like iTunes account, so I barely check it, etc...
I just simply wanted to have ONE FREAKING APPLE ID that linked to my MobileMe email!

But, something happened today, which made me realise that Apple didn't actually mess things up...
Just now, after seeing this blog, I decided to give it a go and sign in to my Mac FaceTime with the @me ID
and miraculously - it worked!
Then, I checked my iPhone's FaceTime and Find My Friends with @me logins, and they both worked too!!!!

Important note though - I have asked my housemate (who I shared a MobileMe family pack with and who had the same nightmare with two annoying IDs) to try to log in to his FaceTime with his @me but his iPhone or Mac still wouldn't let him do it! Find My Friends app also wouldn't let him use his @me, where mine didn't have any problems!

This made me think that maybe because of the amount of iCloud subscriptions - the overloaded servers didn't allow me to sign in
or maybe Apple is now working on the fix. Because otherwise, why can I use @me for iMessage, FaceTime and other stuff and my Housemate still can't?

THEN, I was thinking about people worrying about re-purchasing of previously bought iTunes items....
I don't know where did the idea come from though, because my iTunes is still signed it to my old @hotmail Apple ID
but because my Mac and my iPhone are set up with the same iCloud @me account - everything works as it should
and I didn't have to re-download anything.


After a day and night of struggle to understand it all, now IT ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE NOW!

APPLE DIDN'T (FULLY) MESS UP!!!

Imagine a family of 3 and everyone shares the same iTunes account - let's call it @gmail.com.
Dad is listening to rock, mum - pop, and daughter is a Bieber fan.
Dad has a MacBoook Pro and an iPhone, mum has an iMac and an iPad, and daughter - a white MacBook and an iPod Touch.
Parents have a MobileMe emails: dad@me.com and mum@me.com but the daughter doesn't have one.
Here coms iOS 5 and iCloud.
Parents migrate their @me accounts to iCloud and set it up on their computers and iOS devices,
daughter is forced to set up @me account in order to have iCloud and then sets it up on her white MacBook and the iPod Touch.
Now, when dad buys a new rock album on his MacBook Pro, iCloud will push it to his Phone.
When mum buys the new album of Michael Buble, iCloud will push it to her iPad,
and when the daughter takes some pictures at Bieber's concert, iCloud will push the to her white MacBook.

So now, everyone can log in to their FaceTimes, iMessages, Find My Friends etc... with their individual @me (iCloud) email addresses
and they can still carry on sharing @gmail.com Apple ID as their iTunes purchasing account.

And they live happily ever after...

It's a big problem.

For example, years ago I set up my apple id as my gmail.com email address since Apple didn't have a free email service yet. Now when icloud came out it had me log in with my current apple id and then i created a me.com email address. Now my me.com address is linked to my apple id under my gmail.com address. I cannot delete the gmail.com apple ID (as I want to completely stop using gmail and move to me.com) eventhough my me.com email address lets me log in to itunes...but it continues to show my gmail address.

The problem is anytime you create a me.com email address it automatically is an apple id, something that shouldn't be and I didn't know until it was too late.

I want to drop gmail but cannot as it will forever be linked as my apple id and primary email address to all my itunes purchases I made prior to apple coming out with a free email service of their own.

@Prof.

This is very inconsiderate to all those older Apple account holders who through no fault of their own ended up with two AppleIDs, one at iTunes and one at MobileMe.

If you were using iTunes from the beginning before MobileMe or .Mac existed, your account user name wasn't required to be a full email address and it was not understood to be an AppleId at the time. After .Mac arrived, and if you became a member like I did, you probably used your iTunes account user name to register for the service and that username became a full email address and unknowingly became a new AppleID, but iTunes didn't acknowledge or allow a merge, mainly because it wasn't necessary when their were no Apps stores or iOS syncing at iTunes.

This was Apples oversight by not merging the accounts when they created .Mac, MobileMe, and now iCloud. I tried to merge these two AppleIDs long before iCloud was even known to the public and even when iOS was in its infancy. The problem is iTunes would not allow me to change my username, which became a AppleID automatically, to its full email address because that address was the primary email address for my iTunes BUT also another AppleID.

Over the years since this problem arose, purchase histories for equipment at Apple Online Store, Apple forum usage, and developer registrations became separated from iTunes purchase histories and has become a big problem then and it's even worse now since iCloud wants to sync everything.

How's that my fault and why do you believe Apple isn't culpable and should rectify the problem?

Thanks. I'll take the kudos but only after explanation.

On the MBP I inadvertently enter my iTunes ID and it created a new account, which of course didnt synch anything. I logged out and entered my MobileMe ID and voila! I had my bookmarks, contacts, calendar and email. Same with all other idevices.

Going to my iTunes account on all my devices and re-entering my iTunes ID took me to my accounts for music, books, apps and I was able to bring down whatever I wanted.

It's confusing and it's a pain in the ass but once you understand that your MobileMe ID is for iCloud only and iTunes ID is for iTunes only, then you should be set.

I advise going to each login area and logging back in with the correct ID.

When I set up a family account couple of years ago and integrated my wife I erroneously gave her an MobileMe ID ending with @me.at instead @me.com. But obviously this ID was never verified by email. I just found out this summer that her iTunes ID is name@me.at instead of @me.com after I purchased her an iPhone4 (as upgrade to her 3G) and set it up . This @me.at ID was used only with iTunes, but she also never got email receipts. Because an email address ending with @me.at is not a valid one (it's not possible to have a domain name me.at because it requires a minimum of 3 letters in combination with .at. She has also the same name as Apple ID ending with @me.com (which she uses for email). She never would have been able to receive a verification email to an address ending on @me.at.

Most apps for the iPhone where purchased using her @me.at ID. So, it would not be much of a problem to repurchase free apps with her @me.com ID, but payed ones she would have to purchase again to move it to her @me.com ID.

So, merging her two IDs into one would be a nice possibility and get things right.

That's a nice summary of history of having multiple IDs. I forgot all these details...

I've got two iCloud account, one linked to my iTunes store and one to my MobileMe account.

I need some sort of control panel so I can merge the accounts and split off "users" with their own contacts, calendars photo's etc.

Photostream also needs more granular control over which photo's show up on which devices, maybe an option to mark some photo's as private or folders with different sharing privileges.

Are you sure. According to Tim Cook that is impossible...

I believe the main issue here is that people were creating Apple ID accounts that either they were unaware were AppleID's or the accounts eventually turned into AppleID's down the road.

That's what happened with me. My AppleID goes way back to before MobileMe existed. It has all my iTunes purchases etc. and is tied to the Mac Store and Apple Discussions forums among other things. When MobileMe came out, I opened an account, got a me.com email address and altered my AppleID so the ID was just my full name and the email address associated was me.com. This is back when Apple would allow non-email for the ID name.

Fast forward years later to the iCloud transition week and I went to try out "Find My Friends" - it says you need an iCloud account, so I went online to convert my MobileMe account to iCloud. I went back to Find My Friends, and it tells me that AppleID can't be used because the email address hasn't been verified. So suddenly I'm thinking: when did a MobileMe account become an AppleID?

I logged into the AppleID site, and I found it REAL DUMB to see that my former MobileMe ID name is the exact same as the email associated with it, and yet Apple never saw fit to see it as verified when I first opened the MobileMe account! So I click to verify it... and it can't be done because it's already verified with my ORIGINAL AppleID!

The only way I could find around this was to create a free Hotmail email to associate with my original AppleID, thus releasing my me.com address for verification for iCloud. I did this, but with the me.com address seemingly freed, I went to verify it with iCloud and it STILL said it was verified with another AppleID.

Now I tried to verify over and over and in about 1 day it eventually verified on it's own without any interaction from me (strange). But I want to know why, if Apple says we can use 2 AppleIDs, why can't they both have the same email address associated with them if they see the same person is using them? Why must I have a separate email address for it?

I could try converting my original AppleID into iCloud and transfer my MobileMe data over but I would lose my email address...

Of course the real solution is to merge the 2 accounts.

I also have had my MobileMe email address as primary addresses under both iTunes and MobileMe, and these accounts use different AppleIDs. It is absolutely possible.

In your case Bill you aren't really forced to use the MobileMe account as your Apple ID. My history with Apple ID's and .Mac/Mobile Me is similar to yours.

iCloud is a group of things, mail, calendar, contacts, music etc. On iOS there are different spots for which account to use for which service. If you want @me.com email, and to sync your calendar, contacts etc. with iCloud (iOS and Mac OS X devices) then you need to use an iCloud @me.com account. In other words, you can't use iCloud to sync your Google, Hotmail or other stuff and have to seek alternative configurations to do that.

Now your music and apps are perfectly fine using your old hotmail email as your Apple ID. Under settings on the iPhone you can go to 'Store' you can enter that account and password for keeping your music and apps up to date across devices. In iTunes you just make sure thats the account you login to when buying or re-downloading items. It's iCloud but not associated with your email, calendar or other iCloud services.

In other words, iCloud is a group of services but they don't have to be accessed using one ID for all of them. They can operate (mainly iTunes & App Stores) separately from the stuff that moved from MobileMe to iCloud (email, calendar, contacts).

I hope that helps those that have two accounts. I currently use an old gmail account for all my iTunes purchases. I've had a Mac -> MobileMe account that I moved over to iCloud, which I prefer as my default email. That is what helps the iCloud experience and will sorta suck for people who mainly use gmail, hotmail or yahoo for their personal email accounts. Things like iMessage, FaceTime and the MobileMe part of iCloud services are somewhat if not completely dependent on an @me.com address (except for where your phone number will suffice).

So how did you set that up? I tried to add my primary me.com address (from my MobileMe account) to my iTunes account, which I originally created under a non-me.com AppleID. It failed with the message that I could not add a me.com address that was already verified under a different account.

Well, this is getting old.. So Apple wants us to migrate to iCloud ... Sure doesn't seem that way.. I was assured back on Aug. 28 by the Apple Support folks over the phone, that us MILLIONS of SL 10.6.8 users were going to be able to move over to iCloud - no issue. NOW, the iCloud.com website says I can't even log into the site until I upgrade to Lion !!! I CAN'T you idiots! So, like millions of others, here we are stuck in thls limbo abyss... Maybe that's why MobileMe subs last until mid-2012.....

Hummmm.... Any ideas?

I have no problem with icloud.com under SL. It works just fine.

So, I am/was a MobileMe user with a Family Pack. First, you can have a different account for the store than the iCloud. Second, it is nearly impossible to merge accounts, though I thought I saw some news a few weeks ago that they were experimenting with a method to do so.

One thing lost here, the issue with a preexisting AppleID that was different from your MobileMe ID was true under MobileMe, too. This has been there since the inception of .Mac. This is not an iCloud issue; it has been about the DRM from the Apple Store. Once the music match program is in effect, it will only matter for the media that has DRM, not for your music.

I have kept a different appleid for ordering music and apps that my family shares on all of our iOS devices. When I transitioned to iCloud, I moved my MobileMe and then went to the systems preferences on my devices that I also transitioned to iCloud and changed the Store account to the store account. It worked fine.

twentyniner's got it right, it works fine. It even states it on the pages as you transition to iCloud. You can use the separate accounts. I was worried because I WANT two different AppleID's. I don't want to share my mail, calendar, etc. But I want to share my music and apps with my family.

Anyone else remember how angry Steve Jobs was, at the fiasco that happened with Mobile Me a few years ago? He would not be happy at this. My guess is neither is Cook. Sounds like they needed to bake iCloud a bit longer, to make sure it was ready to eat.

Yup, stick with MobileMe as long as possible, or at least till this fiasco gets straightened out. I had to stay with it, cause my desktop can't be upgraded to Lion, cause I need my old Quicken. My Air has Lion on it, but I am keeping MobileMe for now. I ain't fixin what ain't broke at present.

Steve use to say that repeatedly about MobilMe which, after a rollout problem, became an excellent product. For me, MobileMe worked flawlessly to keep my Lion, iPhone 4, iPad, Snow Leopard & Leopard Machines in the house all up to date. Due to an unfortunate accident with my iPhone4 ('it sucks to be you' per AT&T & the Apple Store), it also flawless kept my old but currently-in-use 3G synced as well. I have to laugh when the MobilMe control panel now says, "your MobileMe account has been "upgraded" to iCloud." Aside from abandoning some of the services MobileMe provided (disks pace for iWeb) & eliminating smart mail boxes in Mail, etc., the iCloud has relegated all of my other devices to Junk status. Gone is the calendar from the 3G phone & the contacts don't sync, same with the other computers. I kept Snow Leopard so I can run Quicken without purchasing the reduced-featured program they offer now. The Leopard has HP two-sided printing capabilities which have been lost (abandoned) by HP & Apple upgrades. I've spent a lot of time at Apple support to hopefully find out how to configure all of these devices by going into settings & reconfiguring each one. My iPad works great but the 3G is not allowed to apply IOS5, so it won't work. The whole 'two Apple ID's' thing is the least of my worries at this point. Interesting to note, when I try to configure iMessage to my me account, it says it can't verify it because the email address is already in use. You can click on a box which then asks, "do you want to create an Apple ID account?" I can see a lot of people doing that, whether it will eventually be used or not. I haven't figured that one out yet, as, '"I'm, one of the stupid ones!" The continuing question at Apple is probably, "I wonder what Steve would say?" I think they already know the answer.

I too was unaware an @me account created an AppleID. That really seems to have been a very bad idea on the part of Apple. I <think> I have figured it out, but time will tell. I used my original (non-me) ID for iCloud and it seems to have worked. The Mobile me account is mostly deactivated as it was migrated to iCloud. I've been using Apple computers since 1982. This was one of the more confusing processes they have ever made me go through.

I really don't see the issue and was able to convert to iCloud just fine. Sure, haveing one ID would be nice but it isn ot all that bad having two. One is your iCloud ID and the other can be your iTunes ID. That is how mine is set-up anyway.

That's what is screwy about how Apple merged services over time. I had .Mac before MobileMe and at that time Apple didn't insist that .Mac and iTunes were a conflict. In iTunes my account username was just XYZ and at .Mac it was XYZ@mac.com and iTunes allowed that email address to be the primary email for the account. It was of course also the primary for .Mac.

When MobileMe arrived on the scene, Apple insisted these addresses were AppleIDs and would not let me change the XYZ iTunes username to the full email address or even change the iTunes primary email (it would not verify) now that Apple considered both usernames as AppleIDs and thinks they are different people with different AppleIDs, but all personal info is the same for both accounts. Go figure.

So my iTunes AppleID is XYZ with a primary email address of XYZ@me.com (since @mac is now an alias to @me). My MobileMe AppleID and email address is also XYZ@me.com. Apple won't merge them and now with iCloud they really should. It was their doing, not mine.

Agreed. And for couples and families this is the way they would likely want it to work. One Apple ID for iTunes buys and each person has their own iCloud so contacts etc aren't getting jumbled up

But they don't. You can use that hotmail Apple ID for iCloud AND use the old MM as well. It's all about what you want to do.

Personally I use my not mobile me for my iTunes purchases and my MM for email etc. This is great for me because I use my mobile me address for my Facebook, twitter etc and if anyone tries to hack into my iTunes off that email they won't get anywhere because its not an iTunes account. so Apple actually gave me a bit of added security with that lack of a feature.

When they get sued by someone because his ex figured out his ID and password and 'stole' his account, it would matter

Of course it's a problem for many users if not in your case and users have to try to work through all the possible scenarios where this could affect them because Apple didn't have the professionalism to do it themselves.

Apple is merging two services and their data into one, with synergies between them being described as iCloud features. This is partly driven by the product withdrawal of MobileMe which they have been unable to fix. Now they have bungled the migration process to iCloud, which means they have not learned the lessons from the MobileMe failure and this bodes ill for the quality of iCloud.

A minor issue but still an issue: all my contact photos have been cropped during the migration to iCloud... Which is okay for contact sheets, as these all display square pics anyway. But when calling people their full screen pics are bad now. So I will spend my time updating them all....

A lot of these problems happen because Apple has a blind spot for data processing.

This means they regularly destroy people's data, have buggy syncing in all their MobileMe apps and regularly damage features used to support people's daily workflows. Apple is good at many things but they lack the culture, skills and software tools to do data processing. If you use data or have created processes, then it's like having a virus. Apple can fix this, but they have to become aware first.

Do not read this topic if you're dozing off, you will become incredibly confused

Something unique happened to me in the transition. Please try to bear with me.

I signed up for iTools years ago; that created the @mac.com address I currently use. Then .Mac arrived and iTools transformed into a paid service, and I jumped ship. Despite not having access to it anymore I continued to use my @mac.com address as an Apple ID, most notably for iChat/AIM.

A year or two later I subscribed to .Mac; this is where my memory fails. I remember having my @mac.com ID and an identically named, separate Apple ID. At some point these somehow became one, though I have no idea when or how. Perhaps it's possible that I just quit using the non-.Mac ID altogether but forgot.

After MobileMe and iCloud rolled out I kept using my @mac.com address. Here is where things got a little weird. I converted my @mac.com ID into an iCloud account with no hassle on my iPad running iOS 5. Later, I went to my MacBook running Snow Leopard and Mail.app was rejecting my password despite updating the IMAP and SMTP info. I was boggled, but finally changed my Apple ID password to a new one and since then the MacBook has been fine.

Now, if I go to iCloud's web interface and enter myID@mac.com the login goes smoothly. If I merely enter myID it says that, "This Apple ID must be converted to an E-Mail address" and offers to either update or cancel. Not knowing what will happen, I cancel.

While things are working for me, I wish I understood A) why my IMAP password quit working, and B) why is the iCloud web interface asking me to convert an ID that already exists as a successfully migrated iCloud E-Mail???

The final question regards my aliases from .Mac/MobileMe. If I delete any from my iCloud settings will I be able to add new ones afterward? It offers the option to delete in the iCloud web settings, though I'm not sure if adding is possible since I have reached the alotted number and don't want to delete any for experimentation's sake.