One of the new features unveiled at Apple’s WWDC yesterday was the ability to enable your iOS devices (except the Verizon iPhone, which does not yet have iOS 4.3.1 for some reason..) to automatically download app, book, and music purchases to your various iOS devices. While this is a cool feature (and it’s pretty darn nice of Apple to let us use it now), there are a few potential downsides that you should be aware of.
First, once you have enabled automatic download of purchases on your device (through the Store section of the Settings app), downloads happen automatically, without your knowledge, and immediately upon purchase. There is no spinning “data access” wheel-thingy (and what is that called, anyway?) to let you know that data is being downloaded. If you enabled 3G in the Store settings, you will eat data if there’s no WiFi to connect to – which could get you to your data limits much faster. It should be pointed out that these downloads will happen no matter where the purchase was – on an iDevice or on your computer via iTunes.
Second, if you share your account with other family members, what one person downloads, everyone downloads (assuming they have automatic downloads on). So while your daughter is happily rocking Justin Beiber on her iPod, you may not want his collection on your iPhone. In fact, I’m sure you don’t. However, you’re gonna get it. Likewise, if you purchase some thrash metal on your iPhone, it’s going to pop up on all the other devices on your account (and iTunes on your computer). This may not be desirable from several perspectives: Data usage on multiple devices, inappropriate content going to younger family members, and use of storage on those devices. As of now, there appears to be no way to control who gets what – it’s all or nothing. While this is great for individuals who do not share an account, for those who do, this is not an insignificant concern. Of course, you could simply give everyone in the family their own account, but that requires you to purchase items that everyone wants multiple times.
Personally, this is pretty much a show-stopper for me. I have an iPad and an iPhone, the wife and oldest child have iPhones, and the younger two kids have iPod Touches. While there are a lot of similarities in our tastes, there are also disparate needs and wants as well. No one in the family needs many of the apps that I use – especially ones that I am reviewing or are just personally testing. I don’t need the kids’ educational games or kid music albums. The wife likes her own music and apps. So while there is enough overlap to justify sharing an account, there’s enough exclusivity to warrant separate accounts. Or, in my case, to forego automatic downloads.
There’s only one other workaround I can think of – not enabling automatic downloading on any devices but mine – but that presumably won’t work for everyone; couples who each have an iPhone and iPad come to mind. It would be nice if Apple introduced the concept of “device owner” so that iTunes/iCloud would know that my iPhone and iPad are mine, and to only sync between them.
Hopefully, iMessaging won’t be as individually oriented, as I really, really, do not want to have every message that someone in my family sends going to everyone else in the family. There’s only so much of my daughter’s Beiber Fever that I can take.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
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