MobileMe users: Your iOS 5 (iCloud) upgrade could be tricky


I’ve never been a MobileMe user. So when I upgraded to iOS 5 the other day, I happily went along with the instructions on how to create a free account and never gave the experience another thought.

But that was decidedly not the case for one of our mobile developers here at Sympatico.ca. Chris Tsang has been a MobileMe guy for, well, a *really* long time. But this loyalty to Apple’s much-criticized product nearly had him tearing his hair out when he upgraded to iOS 5.

Let his experience be a cautionary tale (and a darn good explanation of what *not* to do) for all you MobileMe folks out there, especially if you want to use iCloud…

 

After downloading the ios 5 update, my iphone 4 was ready for me to setup.  You’ll get to a screen that asks you for your Apple ID. If you previously had a mobileme account you need to make sure that you enter in your mobileme email instead of your AppleID used for iTunes purchases. If you enter in your AppleID you’ll find that you won’t be able to use icloud services with your precious mobileme email. If you go to iCloud settings and attempt to slide email to on, it will ask you if you want to create a free .me account which won’t make sense because you already have one.

To fix this, I had to erase all content and settings and start over.  Once I got to the Apple ID screen again, enter your mobileme email address and then continue with the setup.  Once you are finished with the setup you will see notice another unpleasant surprise in that you will notice that all of your apps are now missing.  Don’t freak out just yet. You aren’t done yet.

The next step is to go to Settings>Store and then tap on your Apple ID at the bottom. Sign out and then sign back in with the account that you use for store purchases (your Apple ID that you have been using).  Once you have done that you need to sync with iTunes once more and all your apps will come back.

This is actually an important step to transition from mobileme to icloud. In fact, if you don’t follow this process, you won’t be able to complete the iCloud setup on your Mac.

After doing all this you will be able to get access to all your previously purchased apps again and use the new iCloud services.

 

Got all that?

Thanks Chris!

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4 comments

  1. Phil

    Apple iOS sounds excessively complicated. I am going to stick to Android and then move to the bug free Windows Phone where all is simplistically wonderful, lol.

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    • Paul Marceau

      I’m planning to upgrade to ios5 on my iPhone 4, and I use MobileMe.

      What is the impact if the AppleID and MobileMe email login are the same?

      Thanks

      Like

      • Simon Cohen

        It *should* be okay if that’s the case Paul, but you may want to search Apple’s Support forums to see if anyone has had any problems.

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      • Amy

        Your AppleID and your MobileME email login may SEEM the same, but there is one very small difference… Your MobileME account ends in @me.com

        I find this is what people forget sometimes and accidentally enter the more common used AppleID which we use in our everyday interactions with the App Store and Itunes.

        ~Amy

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