This week, Apple brought smiles to many long-time App Store users. After numerous requests for a method to consolidate Apple accounts, Apple has introduced a utility that permits users to transfer purchases between different Apple accounts. The sole stipulation? There are several criteria that both accounts must fulfill.
Apple specifies the conditions under which purchase migration is not feasible:
- Both Apple Accounts cannot be child accounts established through Family Sharing.
- Neither Apple Account can already be associated with migrated purchases. To learn how to reverse a migration, note that if you withdraw a migration from a secondary account, you will be unable to perform another migration for a period of 1 year.
- Migration of purchases is not allowed if both the primary and secondary Apple Accounts have music library data linked to them.
- Purchases cannot be migrated if your Apple One subscription is configured to provide iCloud storage to a different third account. For more on Apple One and iCloud storage, see here.
- If the primary account has never been utilized for purchases or free downloads, migration is not an option.
- You cannot migrate purchases from an Apple Account that has been removed or deactivated.
- If your Apple Account is locked or disabled, migrations cannot take place. Find out what to do if your account is locked or disabled.
- Neither account should be benefitting from any special access to applications or content, such as an account enrolled in a VPP program for special app access through an employer.
Nevertheless, initial users of this purchase migration feature discovered an additional complication related to TestFlight. If you have beta-tested software linked with the Apple account utilized for purchases, your access to those applications will not transfer to the Apple account that received the migrated purchases.
Consequently, Apple has introduced a new criterion that must be satisfied before purchase migration can occur between your Apple accounts.
Migration of purchases is not possible if your secondary Apple Account has been used with TestFlight to test beta versions of developer apps. To remove it from your account, open TestFlight and select Stop Testing for each application.
Apple has also revised its support documentation regarding purchase migration between Apple accounts to clarify that the 15-day purchase rule is applicable only in two regions:
In South Korea and mainland China, you may have to wait up to 15 days for all purchases made using your Apple Account balance to be fully processed.
Previously, this document failed to mention South Korea and mainland China.
Finally, Apple has added an update in the Family Sharing section of the documentation:
If you designated your secondary account as a different Apple Account to share purchases with your primary account through Family Sharing, you are still permitted to migrate purchases.
Have you attempted to migrate purchases between Apple accounts? My migration was unsuccessful due to not fulfilling one or more of the requirements, although the system does not specify which issue needs resolving. As of this morning, I can no longer access the migration option for my account—even after exiting each TestFlight.
