An Apple ID is a user name used to shop the iTunes Store, log in to iCloud, buy from the Apple Online Store, and more. An Apple ID is also essential to managing apps on an iOS device. Managing your own Apple ID across a few devices is not very complicated, but how does an organization with several — maybe several thousand — iOS devices handle Apple IDs? Specifically, what is the best way to create and manage these Apple IDs?
In an organization (or family) with several devices, it's tempting to create a single Apple ID and share it across many devices. Although this seems like the easiest and most controlled way to deploy, it will not work to try to associate more than 10 devices with a single Apple ID (unless you are using Apple Configurator). The absolute best way is to assign each device a unique Apple ID (ipad01@yourdomain.com, ipad02@yourdomain.com, or name1@yourdomain.com, name2@yourdomain.com). However, if you try to create several Apple IDs from the desktop you will eventually reach a limit (imposed by Apple) and will be unable to create additional accounts. So how does an organization create and manage multiple Apple IDs? There are three solutions.
If you avoid the desktop and create unique Apple IDs directly from each iOS device, then the number of accounts you can create is limited only by the number of iOS devices. Obviously, if you have a large quantity of devices this can be tedious.
TIPS
Talk to your local Apple Solutions Engineer (SE) to temporarily lift the Apple ID restriction ("Safe-list your IP") so you can generate several Apple IDs from the desktop. To save time creating these accounts there is the Batch Apple ID Creator AppleScript.
Remember, you'll need to manually verify each new account through an email link from Apple so it may be helpful to use email aliases as described in solution number one (Avoid The Desktop).
UPDATE: If you have an Apple Global Service Exchange (GSX) account then you can use the "Mass Creation of Users Template" to create several Apple IDs — and this does not appear to require the safe-listing of your IP! However, although these IDs can be used to make App purchases they can NOT be used with iCloud.
If the iOS device will be assigned to a particular user then we strongly encourage organizations to consider offloading the task of Apple ID account creation to the user of the device. Ask them to use an existing Apple ID or provide instructions on how to create one.
NOTE: Because every iOS app must be attached to an Apple ID during installation, offloading this task means that the enduser (an employee or student) will own the app once they install the app using their Apple ID. If you wish to retain ownership of the app, then you must signup for Apple's Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) for Business or Education. This also requires a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, like Robot Cloud!
One way we have temporarily gotten around the Apple ID constraint is to backup the "Master" iOS device using iTunes then Restore the backup to multiple devices. A newer and better method is to use Apple Configurator. Both methods (Backup/Restore or Configurator) will allow a single Apple ID to live on any number of devices. This may be a fine solution for limited-use cases like a training program, a business conference or school lab — anything that involves syncing all iOS devices to a central Mac. However, if an app is present, and this app later needs to be updated through the App Store then beware of these issues:
Until Apple delivers a better solution (Apple IDs for companies, or a way for a company to centrally manage several Apple IDs, please!) the solutions outlined above will work best. If you have any additional tips or experiences surrounding best practices for creating Apple IDs, please share them!