Do you want to give your child a portable device but are wary of them having unfettered access to the internet? Luckily there are ways to limit what your child can see and do. If you are invested in the Apple ecosystem, this blog will give you an idea of the things you can do to safeguard your children and give you peace of mind.
But first things first. Strangely enough, it took me a while to get on the Apple bandwagon. The first iPhone came out in 2007 but it wasn’t until six years later that I finally got one. It was a 4S in black. I thought it was pretty cool. Actually, my wife got an iPhone before I even did. But before I go there, here is a list of all the Apple devices I had before an iPhone and then after. The year in (20xx) is the year I/we got the device.
iPod Nano 3rd Gen. (2007) – I refused to use iTunes so I loaded music via Winamp
Apple TV 3rd Gen. (2010) – our first taste of iTunes movie rentals, Wow!
iPad 2 – (2011) – the front facing camera was important for video calls to the US
iPod Nano 6th Gen. (2012) – my wife and I each had one
iPhone 4S (2012) – in white for my wife, she loved Siri
iPhone 4S (2013) – in black for me, I didn’t want to be left out
MacBook Pro 13 in. (2013) – our first Mac, I never looked back
iPhone 5S (2014) – in white for my wife as an upgrade from the 4S
iPhone 6 (2015) – my replacement for the 4S
Apple TV 4th Gen. (2016) – the remote was a lot better
iPhone 6S (2017) – an upgrade for my wife, current phone of my oldest
iPhone 7 (2017) – the camera was a significant upgrade from the iPhone 6
iPad Pro 9.7 inch (2016) – after 5 years with the iPad 2, it was time
HomePod (2018) – as a birthday gift for me wife
iPhone X (2018) – I used it first, after I got the 11 Pro my wife inherited it
Apple Watch Series 4 (2018) – I waited for the bigger screen
iPod touch 7th Gen. (2019) – to bring my youngest into Family Sharing
iPhone 11 Pro (2019) – my current iPhone
MacBook Pro 16 in. (2020) – the MacBook from 2013 was slowing down
iPad Air 4 (2020) – 2nd iPad, the iPad Pro is linked to the AppleID of my oldest
Beats Flex (2021) – they don’t fit in my ears very well. No AirPods for me then
Apple Watch Series 6 (2021) – initially for my oldest child, but then for my wife
Compiling this list took some time and was a lot of fun. I had to search my emails, Amazon order history and other sources. I wish I had kept some of the earlier devices. The picture accompanying this blog was all I could find in the recesses of desk drawers. From my initial hesitation about iTunes to 13 active (in bold) Apple devices is a big leap. I’m also not a Fanboy if you’re thinking that. If you notice above, none of the devices are first generation, or if they are (HomePod) they were purchased well after the device came out. I also don’t stand in line to get the latest Apple device. I just happen to find Apple has the best ecosystem out there.
For the first five years or so my wife and I used my AppleID. There were a few advantages to this and greater disadvantages. I’ll get into these in a bit. The point of this blog though is to go over the advantages of Apple Family Sharing – this requires at least two IDs. Sometime in 2016 I finally made the leap to two AppleIDs for a family of four. Up to that point we put up with the little niggling things that occurred by using one ID on two phones. The biggest advantage was that all pictures taken by either one of us landed in the same photo library. This is something that Apple has still not truly fixed for me when using two or more IDs. The problem with one ID on two phones was that Apple was constantly trying to sync the status between the two devices. This meant that if my wife called me I would not see that there was a missed call because she had already seen this on her phone. The other issue was unread mails on our one email address. The mails were marked as read by one or both of us but we could never tell who had done it and if we had really read the email or not. Bottom line: if you are still using one AppleID, stop now. There is a better way.
Even if you don’t have kids (we have two) having two AppleIDs is way better than one. Calls and emails belong to each person, FaceTime works properly (trying calling yourself on FaceTime – it’s all linked to your AppleID) and everyone has their own contacts and photos (here’s where things are not yet great – maybe more on that later). The real benefit though of multiple IDs is Family Sharing. This works very well for two people but even better with three or more. I’ll dig into the details in the next post.