Share Apps Between iPhones - No Hacks

[MacRumors]

Multi-iPhone households have likely already been thrust into the dilemma of whether or not to purchase their favorite iPhone applications multiple times for multiple iPhones in their possession (but synced to multiple iTunes libraries, as in a family situation). Now, one user has discovered a way around the predicament.

The solution uses the abilities currently present in iTunes to authorize and download the application to other iTunes libraries. Essentially the method is as follows:

1. Log-in to second iTunes library using the AppleID you used to purchase the Application.
2. Go to the desired application and click "Buy Application". The App Store should give the following prompt:

3. Download the app, then log out of your account, and you should be able to sync the application with the iPhone that is connected to that iTunes library!

Credit to Melvin Rivera for posting the method.

Alternative Method: As noted in our forums and elsewhere, another way to share applications is to drag and drop the application .ipa file from the "Mobile Applications" folder on the computer where the app was purchased onto the iTunes library that doesn't contain the application. If the iTunes library has been authorized to play your music content from iTunes, the application will transfer and will sync on the the other iPhone as above.

Article Link

 

[MarkW19]

This doesn't work for me on different Fast User Switching accounts, it just doesn't recognise that I've downloaded the app before (logged in using my own iTunes account).

 

[Dmac77]

Isn't this illegal?

Don

 

[StophMac24]

Isn't this illegal?

Don

To me it isn't illegal, especially if you and your spouse both use the same iTunes account because it is under the same credit card. Essentially, you and all your friends could use the same iTunes account, just keep in mind that if you do that, any application downloaded is under the same credit card, so you would have to decide who take the bite every time an app is downloaded.....(lets hope you have friends that pay you back)

Of course, you as an iTunes user are allowed up too five authorizations, this would essentially mean that if you knew 4 other people who owned iPhones, you could in essence authorize there computers to play your content, and this would include your apps.

On a side not,

Another way of doing is exactly what i described above. If you go into your friends iTunes and click store>Authorize then enter your user name and password, you have authorized your bud to play all music you have downloaded and sync all apps to his/her iPhone. Your apps are located in your iTunes folder in the Mobile Applications folder. Essentially, you drag and drop your apps onto CD or disk, and drag and drop them onto your friends iTunes, and now your friend can sync his iPhone with your apps. No need to share accounts. This stays this way unless you de-authorize his computer.

 

[Dmac77]

To me it isn't illegal, especially if you and your spouse both use the same iTunes account because it is under the same credit card. Essentially, you and all your friends could use the same iTunes account, just keep in mind that if you do that, any application downloaded is under the same credit card, so you would have to decide who take the bite every time an app is downloaded.....(lets hope you have friends that pay you back)

Of course, you as an iTunes user are allowed up too five authorizations, this would essentially mean that if you knew 4 other people who owned iPhones, you could in essence authorize there computers to play your content, and this would include your apps.

On a side not,

Another way of doing is exactly what i described above. If you go into your friends iTunes and click store>Authorize then enter your user name and password, you have authorized your bud to play all music you have downloaded and sync all apps to his/her iPhone. Your apps are located in your iTunes folder in the Mobile Applications folder. Essentially, you drag and drop your apps onto CD or disk, and drag and drop them onto your friends iTunes, and now your friend can sync his iPhone with your apps. No need to share accounts. This stays this way unless you de-authorize his computer.

I can understand this being ok to do with your spouse/family, but I see a potential for abuse of this, (I.E. people selling authorization to there iTunes account, and then selling apps grey market style). We'll see if Apple allows this to happen, or will force people to contact them for a credit to re-download the app. Personally I believe that the latter will happen due to pressures from developers.

Don

 

[MarkW19]

Another way of doing is exactly what i described above. If you go into your friends iTunes and click store>Authorize then enter your user name and password, you have authorized your bud to play all music you have downloaded and sync all apps to his/her iPhone. Your apps are located in your iTunes folder in the Mobile Applications folder. Essentially, you drag and drop your apps onto CD or disk, and drag and drop them onto your friends iTunes, and now your friend can sync his iPhone with your apps. No need to share accounts. This stays this way unless you de-authorize his computer.

Thanks a lot for that, did the trick under fast user switching (didn't work using the "normal" method).

I tried to drag my app into the other person's Mobile Apps folder, but as you said, the only way is to drag and drop INTO iTunes.

 

[kajkaj1]

hm, If I want a program that only exist in USA (me live in Sweden) - can I borrow a USA-acount from a friend and do like this method?

 

[Dmac77]

hm, If I want a program that only exist in USA (me live in Sweden) - can I borrow a USA-acount from a friend and do like this method?

I'm pretty sure it would work, it's worth a shot.

Don

 

[MillieWales]

'One clever user has discovered'? Nope, people have known about this for ages, its not rocket science! There were mumblings weeks ago that this was a reason many developers were not current interested in developing for the iPhone - they couldn't stop apps being shared. Before the app store was opened I thought it would not be that easy and was telling people it would never work, but tried it when I purchased an app on launch and it worked just fine.

Legal/illegal - fine line, but is it really very different to sharing music with others by authorising your account on their machines?

hm, If I want a program that only exist in USA (me live in Sweden) - can I borrow a USA-acount from a friend and do like this method?

Set up a US iTunes account, buy it with vouchers purchased from eBay, it works fine. You COULD borrow the account from your friend, that would work but thats pushing the boundaries of legality to be honest, but yes it would work, the iTunes software doesn't change between countries, you just log in using the account and ensure you are going to the correct countries store.

 

[yoman]

Not really a concern for peer-to-peer sharing.

Unlikely to be abused. You would only share your itunes login info with someone you trusted. Because they could easily just purchase a boatload of crap and have it be charged to YOUR account which would not be fun.

 

[longofest]

Another way of doing is exactly what i described above. If you go into your friends iTunes and click store>Authorize then enter your user name and password, you have authorized your bud to play all music you have downloaded and sync all apps to his/her iPhone. Your apps are located in your iTunes folder in the Mobile Applications folder. Essentially, you drag and drop your apps onto CD or disk, and drag and drop them onto your friends iTunes, and now your friend can sync his iPhone with your apps. No need to share accounts. This stays this way unless you de-authorize his computer.

Good point. I see it's also mentioned in the comments of the blog post. I'll update the article once I get to a compy. iPhone w/o copy paste for links, etc is horrible for story writing

 

[pugnut]

Seems to work if you purchased originally form the app store via computer. If you purchased with the iPhone it does not seem to work, for me anyway.

 

[MillieWales]

Seems to work if you purchased originally form the app store via computer. If you purchased with the iPhone it does not seem to work, for me anyway.

I have purchased all my apps on my iPhone and it works, one didn't until my Mac had downloaded the app into iTunes but once that was done worked on a 2nd Mac just fine, that might be the key.

 

[iNfowarrior]

Credit to who? I've been doing this since the early firmware / app store launch on July 10.

I though it was common sense.

 

[kornyboy]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5A347 Safari/525.20)

I hope that Apple doesn't disable this. If you have multiple iPhone users that purchase Apps and Music on the same credit card, then you should be able to place your Apps on all of the iPhones that you own. I guess we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

 

[cheekybobcat]

It must be different for the iPod Touch because I bought a bunch of apps and got a ton of free ones and synced them to my own touch and my little brothers with no problem. I didn't have to re-download the apps or anything; just connect and sync for the touch.

 

[IgnatiusTheKing]

I don't see how it could be considered illegal. What's the difference between me sharing apps on two devices i own (like an iPhone and an iPod touch, for instance) and sharing apps betweem my iPhone and my wife's? In the end, the money comes from the same place, so I don't know what the big deal is.

 

[longofest]

Credit to who? I've been doing this since the early firmware / app store launch on July 10.

I though it was common sense.

Well, it wasn't. No need to get cocky. Credit goes to the guy who publishes the info.

 

[iSaul]

take this story down. We don't want apple to close this loophole up anytime soon.

 

[scirica]

Credit to who? I've been doing this since the early firmware / app store launch on July 10.

I though it was common sense.

I agree...I'm no power user...just started downloading apps on my iPod Touch and when I bought the iPhone on July 16 I got the same messages and a free second copy of each app.

 

[roland.g]

I have my iTunes library in a shared folder with shared/full permissions so that all playlists and songs appear for both users and any new songs - ripped or bought show for both. But the only reason my wife and I have two user accounts is to keep mail and web browsing/bookmarks separate. Otherwise it doesn't matter which side you are logged into when you connect an iPod or iPhone, however I'm the only one with an iPhone anyway. But even if she got one, all she'd do is select which apps to sync. No sense in having duplicate copies of apps or other media taking up HDD space on a machine for multiple users.

 

[timswim78]

I guess that the ethics of this really boil down to the license that you agree to when you purchase the software. Most softwares' licenses allow the software to be installed on a set number of devices (often 1 device). Without having seen the licenses for iPhone software, I don't know what the licenses state.

If the license states that the software is only to be used on one device, then this practice does not seem ethical to me. If the license says that the software is good for one iTunes account, then go ahead and put it on all of your phones and touches.

I think that I will avoid the ethical dilemma by only using free software for the iPod touch and making donations to the developers that I like the most.

 

[Orng]

I can understand this being ok to do with your spouse/family, but I see a potential for abuse of this, (I.E. people selling authorization to there iTunes account, and then selling apps grey market style). We'll see if Apple allows this to happen, or will force people to contact them for a credit to re-download the app. Personally I believe that the latter will happen due to pressures from developers.

Don

since you can only authorize 5 computers including your own, this would be a pretty small grey market

 

[jasonbuzz]

My wife and I have been syncing to the same iTunes library from different mac user accounts for a long time now. She has the 3G and I have the "old" iPhone. We both have purchased apps using each iPhone...once each iPhone syncs those apps are available to both iPhones thus eliminating the need to pay for apps twice similar to the method described above.

Question: Except for being able to track separate songs ratings and such, why would two iPod/iPhone users within the same family want to have two separate iTunes accounts?

 

[magicgumdrop]

People throw around the word illegal an awful lot...

In fact most of what's being proposed is neither a loophole nor an illegal act, but a condition of sale that Apple granted you when you agreed to the iTunes End User License. You did read it, didn't you?

This licence granted to you for the Licensed Application by Application Provider is limited to a non-transferable licence to use the Licensed Application on any iPhone or iPod touch that you own or control and as permitted by the Usage Rules set forth in Section 9.b. of the App Store Terms and Conditions (the "Usage Rules")

Now the section in italics does forbid people going mad and selling authorisations on eBay, but otherwise, Section 9.b. says that

(ii) You shall be able to store Products from up to five different Accounts on certain devices, including an iPod touch or iPhone, at a time.

and

(iii) You shall be able to store Products on five devices (such as a computer) with the iTunes application installed at any time.

So the key is ownership/ control of the devices, which easily (in my opinion) covers family, and could at a stretch cover close (and particularly computer illiterate!) friends. So if you own a million iPhones, that's fine. You can only have 5 accounts feeding DRM'd files to one iPhone though, and only 5 computers authorised per account. For the most part no change at all from the way iTunes music worked - even the "Transfer Purchases from iPod" button works just like it used to.