Sorry to be so stupid but I need idiot proof step-by-step instructions.
This is my first iPhone and I can not seem to add another iCloud account. I have an iPhone 3GS on OSI6 which I have not long purchased.
The Apple ID has been set up using our joint home email account and the master iCloud is attached to that. My husband is in the process of purchasing another iPhone 3GS so we need to have another iCloud account set up so we don’t have our contacts, calendars merging together.

Trouble is every time I try to ‘Add Account’, then select
iCloud as the steps above show, an error comes up ‘User name or password is incorrect.’

The main account is linked to the Apple ID and password – how
do you set up a new iCloud account without raising an error?
I’ve tried everything and so confused – what am I doing wrong?

1. We need to share apps and music

2. Everything else (contacts, email, alerts, calendar photos)needs to be separate for each.

Frustrated. 🙁

I am not aware of any way to have multiple iCloud accounts displayed on one computer. I think using one account, and then sharing calendars and tasks from another is the closest you can get.

I know it is a big switch, but if one of you switches over to Chrome for your browser, then you could both have synced bookmarks and tabs from your iOS devices.

The dot-Mac account I had for years was working fine as a Family Pack.

My wife still uses a G4 Powerbook so that can’t be upgraded to iCloud and my daughter’s too young to sign up for iCloud – the Family Pack solution was great for us. This new thing adds nothing & has resulted in me squandering too much of muy life trying unsuccessfully to recreate something we already had.

I’ve gone back and created separate Apple IDs for the kids’ phones, so they are no longer linked to mine in that way. I then went through the process of erasing my phone and using an iCloud backup to restore its previous settings. Each time it looks like that restore process is complete, I can momentarily see all of my contacts again, but a few seconds later they’re gone, replaced by those that my son has entered on his phone.

So I guess the good news is that there is a back-up of my contacts in the cloud and available for the purposes of restoring. But do you have any good ideas for how to get them to show up again on my phone and stay there for good rather than for just a few seconds?

What would you recommend? I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks again.
Nicola Gaze

I’ve read this entire thread, and am as confused as I think I could be.

I have four family members, each with iPhone3GS running current OS5 version.

1. Need to share apps and music

2. Need everything else (contacts, email, alerts, calendar photos) separate for each.

I thought I followed the directions, used same master (existing apple id used for apps and music purchases) but with separate “sub” iCloud accounts. Big problem. All calendars and contacts merged. No we all get calendar alerts from each other’s calendars. Hours and hours wasted. So frustrated. What are the simple numbered steps I should have followed, but didn’t.

I don’t think Apple could have made this any more goofed up and unintelligible.

i want to share 2 photo streams on one pc with different user accounts. Is this possible? We have two seperate icloud ids at the moment, would you suggest using the same one to share photo stream? Currently having to log in and out of the control panel to upload photos.

Why didnt apple think of this, seems you can only use 1 photo stream per PC. Very annoying indeed.

Whats the work around solution?

Many thanks for the very detailed setup run through – a couple of things I’d like to ask:

One of the things that I would like to do is replace the iCloud account that I first made (has a nonsense name that I used for my test run, and now I’m stuck with – as I had no idea it would be hard to do a rerun)

As has been said earlier, the VERY FIRST time (and only the first time) you set up an iCloud account from your iTunes account you get a master iCloud account that is linked to your iTunes account – from there on just one Apple ID name/password (either the gmail iTunes OR the @me iCloud login) is capable of logging you into either iTunes or iCloud. Thats a handy feature -only one login for both systems – but this linking of account ONLY happens the very first time.

What I would like to do is delete the test run iCloud account (with the stupid name) and find a way to rerun the initial setup that creates the iCloud account and binds the two accounts together with a single login. Unfortunately just running the iCloud setup again only results in a separate account with an individual and different login for iTunes and a different login for iCloud.

Its possible that there may be some work-around using Alternate Email addresses, but I have not found one so far.

Do you know how to rerun the INITIAL iCloud setup? or do you know of a workaround that links the accounts?

On Oct 21st you said :

“Each iCloud account gets its own @me address. Because I followed all of the prompts when I installed the first iOS 5 beta that had iCloud enabled (I don’t remember which one it was), I ended up with my current Apple ID’s user name as my master iCloud user id and @me account heading. Fortunately, that is fine with me. However, it would have been helpful if Apple clarified this process a bit more.

Some users, especially former MobileMe users, would probably rather go another direction here, and not create what may end up as a useless account”

That intrigues me, could you tell me why it may not suit MobileMe users, that they may end up with a useless account ?

Thanks again for your help!

Mark

Thanks for the kind word Mark. Now let’s see if I can back them up.

Your solution is actually easier than you think. First, you need to make a fresh manual iCloud Backup. Then, you need to make sure that all of the information you need to be migrated to a new account is on all of your devices before you proceede. Well, everything you keep on that device, at least. For example, if you have an iPod Touch, and have your Contacts on there, but not your Calendars, you don’t have to add Calendars to it to do this. Just make sure that what you already have stored there is up to date, and matches the other devices.

Now comes the tedious part. If you are using iCloud for any document sync, these WP be deleted from your device when you move over. So, you will need to sync them to Dropbox (if the app they go with allows), email them to yourself, or get them manually using iTunes on your computer. Your Photo Stream will also be deleted as part of this process, so also be sure to save any photos you need out of that. This is only necessary for ones not in your Camera Roll, or not backed up on your PC.

Ok. Once you are ready, you will go to Settings-iCloud, and at the bottom of the screen, tap Delete Account. Don’t worry. This only deletes it from this device. You can put it back later if things go South. You will get the prompt that your Photo Stream and Docs will be deleted. As long as you backed them up, you are ok to push this. Go ahead and do this step on each device before you proceede.

Before moving on, I would suggest that you go to iCloud.com, log in using you iTunes account, and check your Cal and Contacts, just to be sure there isn’t any info already synced there.

Once finished, you can go back to the iCloud tab and log in using your iTunes account. As you go down the list checking boxes, you should be prompted as to whether you want to delete or merge your current data. Be sure to keep your existing data here. This is the most important step, because your devices become the conduit to migrate your data to the new iCloud account.

Once everything you need to sync is checked on your first device, go to iCloud.com on your computer and heck to make sure your data is there. Now, you will need to put your Documents back on your first device. Either open the email attachments that you sent yourself, or use iTunes to put them back under the apps they go with. This way, as you set up the rest of your devices, the doc will show up, as well. Note that your Photo Stream will start over from here. Your old one still exists for 30 days, but you aren’t logged into it anymore.

Now, just repeat this process for each device, and your data should all be there, hopefully will little or no duplicates. Hopefully this guide helps you out. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

After setting my system up wrong, i’ve spent the whole weekend researching iCloud and found your article, which in my opinion must be the most comprehensive article available – so thanks so much for your great efforts!

I wondered if you could help me with my problem:

My setup is quite simple – just me and multiple Apple devices, one iTunes account that has all my purchases (on a Gmail account).

My problem is basically the opposite to that of jdsmith14 who wrote on October 18.

The first time I set up iCloud the account it made was based/tied to my iTunes account and linked to that account, so that i can log in to iCloud or iTunes withe the same *****@me username and password. To me this seems to be the best layout – one universal username and password that works for both iCloud and iTunes. BUT the problem is when I set it up I was just experimenting and used a random gobbledegook @me name- I had no idea I only had the one shot at it!, as from what you say, subsequent iCloud accounts get set up as individual and separate accounts (and don’t have the universal login feature), so the question is: Is it possible to get the system to produce another account like the first – tied to the main iTunes account?

Also, at some point you touched on the point that MobileMe users would probable prefer a separate login – could you tell me why that is? and do you think there are any disadvantages for me using a system with one universal login username/password for both iCloud and iTunes?

Thank for your help

Mark

Thanks again. You are very helpful and obviously have a good grasp on this whole process. I appreciate that!

The main thing to remember here is that none of this will affect your iTunes Store Apple ID. This has no relationship with iCloud.

I’m assuming that the sub accounts share the same, full access calendar privileges then?

So confusing!

It sounds like your best bet will to share those individual Calendars from the iCloud website, rather than sharing them all via iCloud sub accounts. This way, you have the ability to manage who can do and see what.