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This comes close to an opinion question, but I hope that someone can give a definitive answer.

I have written a game app and I save game data locally. But I also will want it to be cloud capable and I am currently writing the code but I keep hitting a mental barrier. In several places in the iCloud and Game Center documentation it says if I change Apple ID, I need to delete the local save game data/file cache. This is contrary to how my app currently works, which is OK if I can figure out the right way to do it. In the ICloud documentation it says to either user the cloud or don't use the cloud and only ask once, but there is a button in the settings to turn the iCloud Drive on and off.

The core of my dilemma seems to be that an IOS device is not tightly linked to one Apple ID. I understand that multiple devices can be associated with one Apple ID, but not why it should be true the other way around.

This can be seen as either added capability or enough rope to hang oneself. As a user I can, using my Apple ID, get on to another device not associated with my Apple ID and:

  • download an App/Song

  • log into Game Center and play a game we both own.

  • etc.

I know Apple deals with this and now I have to do the same.

As App Developer I see a world of questions about what this might mean, like "Well I'll do this or that but what do I do the first time this other thing happens?", etc.

For example, initially I thought I could consider "local" store the same as a very long airplane mode, and when the cloud became available I could sync the delta to the cloud and across devices, but this does not address changing Apple ID. Do I blow away the local data, keep the new user from playing the game, only allow local or cloud but not both?

Now Apple is adding Multitasking, and a login to iPad's used in schools, the problems become even worse.

I keep trying to find some profundity that will steer me to the correct answer but I am at a loss on how to deal with Apple ID changes.

Sojourner9
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  • Remember there are two Apple IDs on the device; the iTunes account and the iCloud account. The example you gave of downloading an app/content etc is the iTunes account and I would't expect this to have any impact on the user's saved games. Game Center is linked to the iCloud account and if this changes then I would expect 1 of two things to happen: if there is existing save data in the new iCloud, this overwrites the local data. If there is no save data then the local data is uploaded – Paulw11 May 19 '16 at 01:05
  • And shared iPad shouldn't be an issue as iOS partitions user data, so your app will only see the one user's data at a time. – Paulw11 May 19 '16 at 01:16
  • Thanks Paulw11 for your interest and your suggestions are helpful. Part of my problem is that I use my personal iPad to develop this app and if I log out of iCloud to test the interconnections is says it will remove all iCloud data which I am loath to do. I can log into GameCenter with a different AppleID than I login into iCloud and it pulls the nickName from GameCenter but loads the Game Data from the account logged into iCloud, there is no error. I haven’t tried the other way around. – Sojourner9 May 20 '16 at 17:10
  • Is there documentation on iOS partitioning user data, a quick google search did not show anything, what login does it use, iCloud? I count at least 5 different ways to access the iCloud. – Sojourner9 May 20 '16 at 17:14
  • I only looked quickly on the Apple education site and there was a section for it/management that talked about the new multi user stuff. I would assume that the entire storage is partitioned and when a given user logs in then everything is swapped, settings and all, so it would be completely invisible to an app. Are you writing an educational game? If. It then this probably isn't an issue for the moment. – Paulw11 May 20 '16 at 20:16
  • As far as changing iCloud on your iPad, it will remove the local data, it it wil put it back when you log in to your iCloud again. You should back up your iPad to your Mac first anyway; it is quick and easy to restore from backup if there is a problem. People swapping iCloud accounts is probably an edge case anyway. iTunes Store accounts is more likely. – Paulw11 May 20 '16 at 20:18

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