After years of being confined as to which Apple Accounts could access which purchases (even among Family Sharing), Apple may have opened things up a bit.
On Tuesday, Apple revealed via a support document that the company had made it possible for users to move their purchased content, such as apps and music, from one Apple Account to a different one of their choosing. Although Apple currently allows users to share purchases through Family Sharing, per the company’s support document, the purchase transfer feature is intended for users who use two Apple Accounts for different features on their device — a primary account for iCloud and its associated functionality, and a secondary one for the App Store and media purchases.
Such a feature has been requested for several years, and still has to make it through a strict list of requirements and eligibility criteria. For example, the transfer of purchases from one account to another is not available for users in the European Union, United Kingdom, or India. Both accounts need to be set to the same country and region, with two-factor authentication and valid payment methods, while Family Sharing needs to be disabled.
Not surprisingly, the support document also notes that purchases from locked, disabled, deleted, or deactivated accounts can’t be transferred. Purchase migration is also not possible unless the user’s primary account was used for purchases or downloads at least once.
The process of migrating purchases from one Apple Account to another is as follows:
- Open the Settings app and tap on your Apple Account name
- Tap “Media and Purchases”
- Scroll down until you see the “Migrate Purchases” option and tap it
- After this, you’ll need to review the account information for both your primary and secondary accounts and follow the steps detailed within the Settings app.
Once this process is complete, you should receive confirmation emails for both accounts informing you that the purchases have been migrated. The secondary account will no longer be usable for purchases. Sign out of this account to complete the process. Apple has also provided a way of undoing the process, though, as can be seen on the company’s support website.
If you’ve had a chance to try this migration process, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via AppleInsider and support.apple.com