My family all uses the same Apple ID for all our apple products.

I have decided to use iCloud to back up all of our devices ( I know behind the times, we are not very tech savvy). With this type of set up, do I have to do anything different to have individual back ups of each device? If I turn on iCloud and back up my phone, and the wife turns on hers, are they backed up as individual backups or will my backup over write her back up?

I see I can do family members is that where you get iCloud IDs? What is the advantage of this or is this required?

I recognize this is probably a basic question, but it is my question.

Thanks.

Each device is its own backup.

Sounds like y'all may want to consider setting it up as a family; my wife and I have different iCloud accounts, but under a family place, I can download her music and whatever, and we share a 200gb storage for backups.

Perfect Thanks!

I use Apple Family Sharing.
There's one main account (Apple ID) that holds the credit card.
You can have up to seven members in family sharing.
Each member has their own Apple ID and you can add them to the list in iCloud settings.
Everyone shares the credit card, btw and there should be settings to prevent kids from buying stuff.
Each member has their own iCloud storage for back ups but if you need more storage which everyone usually does with photos, you can purchase a iCloud family Plan of a shared 2TB at $10/month.
All purchases are shared such as apps, music, movies, tv shows, books, etc. In-App-Purchases are not shared.

Family Plan Services
-2TB iCloud $10/month
-Apple Music $15/month
-Apple TV+ $5/month (if you bought a new device it's free)
-Apple Arcade $5/month

Location sharing, you can GPS track everyone's device in Find My app.

The only issue I have is the one credit card. Each member can't purchase things with their own card but they can use their own iTunes Gift Cards.

I have this too, but thank you for better explaining it to the OP.

One note about Family Sharing, if you subscribe to an app (non-Apple product), it applies only that that specific account. It will not be shared to other family members.

I had a similar set up to the OP (one account, everyone's device logged into that account) and I finally got frustrated with it and set up a AppleID account for everyone. I wish I could remember why it was such a hassle but it was years ago. For some reason it was just easier to do each person on their own ID and use family sharing as Pman17 noted above. Just put restrictions on the devices you don't want to allow purchases or install apps (also block adult sites for you kids).

agracer said:

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I had a similar set up to the OP (one account, everyone's device logged into that account) and I finally got frustrated with it and set up a AppleID account for everyone. I wish I could remember why it was such a hassle but it was years ago. For some reason it was just easier to do each person on their own ID and use family sharing as Pman17 noted above. Just put restrictions on the devices you don't want to allow purchases or install apps (also block adult sites for you kids).

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My wife use to use my apple id but it kept causing issues with iMessage. We now have each person with their own and family sharing and it works better.

Yes the issue is that on phone and iOS updates it often/always reverts to all phone numbers active for iMessage so you will get each other's messages. You have to then go into Messages Settings | Send/Receive and deselect the numbers that don't match each phone. (Obviously I've done this before)

aggie-beta said:

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agracer said:

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I had a similar set up to the OP (one account, everyone's device logged into that account) and I finally got frustrated with it and set up a AppleID account for everyone. I wish I could remember why it was such a hassle but it was years ago. For some reason it was just easier to do each person on their own ID and use family sharing as Pman17 noted above. Just put restrictions on the devices you don't want to allow purchases or install apps (also block adult sites for you kids).

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My wife use to use my apple id but it kept causing issues with iMessage. We now have each person with their own and family sharing and it works better.

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Yes, both of these. It becomes a hassle down the line too when your kid becomes an adult and you want to separate their account.