About migrating Apple Account purchases between accounts
Find out about what purchases and associated content can be migrated between two accounts.
This feature isn’t available to users in India.
Why you may migrate purchases
You can choose to migrate apps, music and other content you’ve purchased from Apple on a secondary Apple Account to a primary Apple Account. The secondary Apple Account may be an account that’s used only for purchases. You’ll need access to the primary email address or phone number and password for both accounts, and neither account should be shared with anyone else. Find out more about how to migrate purchases.
At the time of migration, the Apple Account signed in for use with iCloud and most features on your iPhone or iPad will be referred to as the primary Apple Account.
At the time of migration, the Apple Account signed in just for use with Media & Purchases will be referred to as the secondary Apple Account.
What happens when you migrate purchases
All payment methods associated with your secondary Apple Account will migrate to your primary Apple Account. These will replace any payment methods you had on file with the primary Apple Account. Find out how to add payment methods or remove payment methods.
Previous purchases of apps, music, films, TV programmes and books will migrate to your primary Apple Account. Find out how to re-download apps, music, films or TV programmes, and books.
Subscriptions you’re currently subscribed to on your secondary Apple Account will migrate to your primary Apple Account. Find out how to cancel subscriptions that you don’t want.
The secondary Apple Account’s music library data, personalisation profile, social profile and Apple Music Replay in the Apple Music app will migrate to the primary Apple Account. If you don’t have a music library on your secondary Apple Account, nothing will change.
The secondary Apple Account’s Up Next queue in the Apple TV app will migrate and replace the Up Next queue of the primary Apple Account.
The secondary Apple Account’s podcast library data in the Apple Podcasts app will migrate and replace the podcast library data of the primary Apple Account.
What won’t migrate with your purchases
iCloud data won’t migrate out of the secondary Apple Account.
Personalised recommendations in the App Store, Apple TV app, Apple Books and Apple Podcasts won’t migrate from your secondary Apple Account. Automatic personalisation will start again on your primary Apple Account.
You won’t be able to edit any App Store reviews created with your secondary Apple Account.
If you try to sign in to your secondary Apple Account after migrating purchases
The secondary Apple Account that you used to migrate purchases can no longer be used for Media & Purchases on your Apple devices and apps. To access your purchases, sign out of your secondary account and sign in with your primary Apple Account instead.
If there’s anything else associated with your secondary Apple Account that you still need access to, you may need to undo migration. iCloud data from your secondary account can still be accessed easily by signing in to iCloud.com on a computer.
If you want to undo a migration of purchases
Find out how to undo a migration of purchases between accounts.
What happens when you undo a migration of purchases
All payment methods will be removed from both accounts. Find out how to add payment methods.
Only purchases made before the migration will return to the secondary Apple Account. Purchases made since the migration will continue to be associated with the primary Apple Account.
All subscriptions, except iCloud+, will be cancelled and will expire at their next renewal date after migration has been undone. You can resubscribe to any subscriptions with the Apple Account you want to be billed through in the future.
The primary Apple Account’s music library data, personalisation profile, social profile and Apple Music Replay in the Apple Music app will migrate back to the secondary Apple Account. If the secondary Apple Account had no music library data, personalisation profile, social profile and Apple Music Replay prior to migration, this will remain associated with the primary Apple Account instead.
The primary Apple Account’s Up Next queue in the Apple TV app will migrate back to the secondary Apple Account. The primary Apple Account’s Up Next queue will revert to what Up Next queue existed prior to migration.
The primary Apple Account’s podcast library data in the Apple Podcasts app will migrate back to the secondary Apple Account. The primary Apple Account’s podcast library data will revert to what podcast library data existed prior to migration. If the secondary Apple Account had no podcast library data prior to migration, this will remain associated with the primary Apple Account instead.