The good news is that just recently,Applefinally made it possible to migrate movies, music, books, apps, and other downloads (purchased through Apple) from one account to another. The bad news is that the restrictions are pretty tight – you’re out of luck if one of those accounts is outside your home country, for example. I’ll guide you through the general process, as well as all the limitations you need to be aware of.
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Who is eligible to migrate Apple purchases?
Threading the needle
The first thing to know is that migration isn’t an option in many regions. It’sofficially unavailablein India, the UK, or anywhere in the European Union. In fact, Apple hasn’t confirmed support anywhere outside the US, but if your country isn’t explicitly excluded, it can’t hurt to try.
The next set of limitations is on the accounts themselves. You can only move purchases from asecondary Apple Accountto aprimaryone. Apple defines your primary as the one you use for iCloud, as well as “most features on your iPhone or iPad.” Be sure to sign your secondary account out of iCloud before migrating its purchases, in other words.
On top of everything else, both accounts must havetwo-factor authentication(2FA) enabled, and be set to the same region, since foreign accounts could be used as a trick to save money. The secondary account can’t belong to a Family Sharing or Purchase Sharing setup, and before you migrate, you’ll have to get rid of any outstanding balances, rentals, or pre-orders. That may mean buying something or waiting before you can continue.
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How to migrate your purchases from one Apple Account to another
If you’ve checked all the boxes in the last section, you’re ready to get going. For safety’s sake, though, I’ll revisit restrictions as they become relevant.
Once you’ve completed everything, your purchases should automatically appear within your primary account’s library. Be warned that the secondary account won’t be usable for purchases anymore, unless you reverse migration entirely by going toSettings > Media & Purchases > View Account > Undo Migration. Ifyou do that, you won’t be able to redo migration for a whole year.
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