Well, one problem and one question really... I know there are a lot of iOS users here as well, so I figured I'd ask here first...

I've recently purchased a new iPad Air. I already had an iPad 2 and both my wife and I have an iPhone 5. The iPad Air, the iPad 2 and my iPhone all use the same AppleID, mine. My wife's iPhone uses her own AppleID. All very logical.

Now, I've had automated App updates enabled for a long time, so it's been a while since I had to update an App manually. This morning I see the App Store icon on the iPad Air shows a notification for 2 updates. Not thinking much about it, I go to the App Store -> updates and press 'update' on both Apple. The App Store password is asked. I enter it. It gets denied. Huh? It's only then I see that my wife's ID account is provided and the iPad asks for my wife's password and not mine. Double huh??? I check on the iPad which Apple ID it's registered with currently (configuration -> iTunes and App store), and it's still correctly registered to my ID. I logout the ID, and re-log in with my ID and password. I then return to the App Store updates, and try again. Again, my wife's ID's password is asked!!! Now, I can very easily enter my wife's password, but that's not the point. Why does my iPad, running on my ID, ask for my wife's password for two Apps that I installed in the first place?? This is a mystery to me. Any ideas? Google searches turned up empty.

The second thing I'd like to ask is this: if you ever purchased/installed something through the App Store, the App Store keeps remembering that, even if you've uninstalled the App. Sometimes this is handy, but most of the times it's not. I've got two kids and install a lot of those freebie games. These usually don't last long and get removed pretty fast again. I'd like to also completely remove them from my Apps list, in other word, get them scrapped from the "not on iPad" list as well, since they are getting too large in number and I'm never going to install them again anyway.
Anybody knows how I can do that?

Thanks!

There are two separate Apple ID logins on each iOS device.

The main one is for iCloud and other user account specific stuff. This login is set in the iCloud section of Settings.

A separate Apple ID login is used for the Apple Store. It sounds like your iPad has your wife's Apple ID set for the Apple Store. Scroll down in the Settings list until you find the iTunes and App Store section.

It is common for a family to have individual logins for iCloud on each device but share a common iTunes and App Store login for app and content purchases.

It is also possible to change the App Store login, purchase an app, then change the App Store to another Apple ID and purchase something else. This all works except when it comes time to Update, only the apps purchased with the currently logged in Apple ID can be updated.

So if you and your wife have each been purchasing apps on the same iPad but using different Apple ID then some updates won't work until you change the iTunes and App Store login. *

* This is my current understanding, going from memory.

Thanks for the tip, but when I go to the Itunes and app store section, it's my login that is shown. Could my wife's login be somewhere else still?

Thx!

When you first started the iPad Air and began to use it, what did you do? Did you restore it from a backup? If so, did that restore happen from iCloud, or from a computer? If it was set up new, did you at any point put in the ID from your wife?

The two apps that are showing in the update screen for whatever reason are bound to your wife's ID. Deleting the apps, and redownloading them should bind them to your ID. to fix the current issue. Knowing more about what path you took to setup the iPad will help reveal why the Air thinks it needs your wife's info.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4919 - Requires iTunes on a computer.

I did restore it from the backup of my iPad 2, from my computer. (I don't use iCloud, except for contacts backup etc, but not the whole device). I can't remember ever entering my wife's ID, that's what's so strange about it.


Yes, I've thought about that too and will fix it like that, but I haven't so far because I want to find out what happened. That Apps themselves (Shazam and the Apple Podcast App) are certainly Apps that I installed, and not my wife. Oh well, guess I'll never know...

Edit: I've just deleted and re-installed those two apps. Of course, since they were once installed already, I had to simply click the cloud to re-install them. What was strange was that I didn't have to enter my password when installing them. (or isn't this necessary if you've ever installed Apps before?). Of course, I have no way of knowing if it's ok now. Guess I'll have to wait until the next update and see what it says then.



Excellent! Thanks so much!

Edit: Unfortunately, it seems this method works ok for iTunes, but on the iPad and iPhone itself they are still there (taking up space ). I suppose there is no way of clearing those lists up as well?

To delete an app directly on the device, just hold on an icon until they are "shaking". Click the red X in the corner to uninstall on the particular device. I presume you've already done that before though - hence the problem. Is that what you mean?

Did you ever plug in and back up your wife's device in iTunes on the same computer account? IE, do you and your wife share the same iTunes on the computer, or does she have her own computer account and iTunes library?

Yes. Could that be a problem? (and her device is an iPhone, not an iPad)

Yes it can be. When you back up a device, it asks if you want to transfer purchases from the device back to the computer if the two aren't in sync. This includes apps with a prompt like this:

So an app backed up from your wife's phone is then saved on the computer in the shared iTunes library. Inside is a receipt tying the app to her Apple ID. When your device was restored, it pulled the apps from the computer and took her receipt with it.

Aha! That is indeed most likely what happened! Thanks for the explanation!