Locking down my children's iPhones

Hi all,

I'm in the process of locking down my children's iPhones and started off with restrictions.

Having also changed the photo stream and anything shared with iCloud, the only thing I'm struggling with is how my email contacts appear when they compose a new eMail? It's probably because I'm using the same account details on all devices but I prefer this over creating accounts for each since they are Ten and Twelve years.

Could anyone shed some light on how to stop this this email address sharing, also any other suggestions which would be a worthwhile consideration.

Thanks

I would seriously consider creating one or two accounts specifically for them. You hold the credentials, you set the restrictions and you can manage the contacts effectively.
The minute you try and create subsets of your contacts you'll end up having to micro-manage every contact change

Apple seriously need to look at their setup because at the moment the one account works fine because I can use it for all of us for apps, I control the credentials, find my iphone, one account in itunes, etc. It only seems to be the contacts thats a problem

There are several ways to control contacts and all the other artefacts. But you seem determined to do it your way and no other, so good luck with that.

Use the single Apple ID for apps, iTunes, etc. Then setup separate iCloud accounts to manage contacts.

mrplow said:

There are several ways to control contacts and all the other artefacts. But you seem determined to do it your way and no other, so good luck with that.

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I'm determined to look at all avenues and take on board what people recommend, if that means doing what works for us, then that is my choice.

In an ideal world or a flexible iSetup solution, I would be able to select what I share between units regardless of having the one account, creating several removes seamless factors like monitoring all devices from one account using find my iphone.

If I disable iCloud on all devices I'll lose that ability. I understand that iMessage is sharing the contacts because all devices use the same accounts.

I'm used to sitting around a table and thrashing out solutions to people problems and receiving constructive comments, if those simply replied the way you have we wouldn't get very far would we.

bobtomay said:

Use the single Apple ID for apps, iTunes, etc. Then setup separate iCloud accounts to manage contacts.

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Thanks for that, something to consider. Could I setup multiple accounts and then just set that for iMessage to remove the contact sharing issue when texting, which I guess it refers to when emailing too?

To setup separate iCloud Accounts, you are going to need different email addresses for the other 2 devices, no matter which way you go.

Setting up iCloud Account on all devices and with that, you will want to read the iCloud FAQ's as well, so you can clarify what/why/how/when you do do it.

TattooedMac said:

To setup separate iCloud Accounts, you are going to need different email addresses for the other 2 devices, no matter which way you go.

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Agree, so it's either keep as is and share contacts (with children) or separate accounts that I manage and control.

It was oh so simple when only I had iDevice's but now my children have it show's the limitation of the units parental control

marcopolo said:

Agree, so it's either keep as is and share contacts (with children) or separate accounts that I manage and control.

It was oh so simple when only I had iDevice's but now my children have it show's the limitation of the units parental control

Click to expand...

To be honest, i manage 2 iPhone for a 10 and 12 yr olds, and they both have there separate account, and they have there own friends so they have there own contacts. I have set up the restrictions, mainly to stop In App purchases and Movie Adult content, and it works well. It makes it easy that one has his own Mac, but the other just buys off the iTunes store and backs up to iCloud.
Its no buggy for me, and if they need credit, its so easy to send them a gift card, and for them to redeem it, because they have their own email on the phone too. . . Works well for me

Decided on setting up separate account for each in the end. Anyway, deleted the iCloud account on each and added their own but each unit is still displaying my contacts when they start a message?

The contact aren't stored in contact but their names appear when starting to type names in the To:

Any ideas?

Think I found the reason, when using a single account for all units (probably iCloud) all the message contacts, in this case 'text recipients' and 'not phone contacts' are shared.

Although some settings can be unshared regardless of using a single account, once these are they are not removed from each device even when unique iCloud accounts are configured later on.

The only way to remove them in one go is to backup and then wipe the unit. The workaround is to delete them individually; when composing a message, in the To: press 'i' on the contact which is not yours and select 'delete from recent'.

Seems this is a real gripe with many owners that goes back a few years and I can see why!