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If you have two Apple Accounts with multiple digital purchases between them, Apple now has a way for you to consolidate the accounts by migrating content from one account to another.

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As noted by Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels, Apple today published a support document that provides instructions for moving purchases from a secondary Apple Account to a primary Apple Account.

Apps, music, books, TV shows, and movies that have been purchased on a secondary account can be migrated to a main account, which is useful for people who have separate accounts for iCloud and for making media purchases.

Apple says that to migrate purchases, the primary email address, phone number, password for both accounts is required, neither account should be shared, and two-factor authentication must be turned on. When the migration takes place, the Apple Account that's signed in for use with iCloud will be the primary Apple Account, and the Apple Account signed in for Media and Purchases will be the secondary Apple Account.

To go through the process, you'll need to sign in with two different accounts on an iPhone or iPad, one for iCloud and one for purchases. There are several steps to go through, such as making sure that both accounts are set to the same country, and ensuring the secondary account does not have a remaining balance.

If you're interested in merging accounts, you should go through the checklist that Apple has outlined, and read through Apple's info on what happens during an account migration and how to undo it.

The actual merging process can be done by opening up the Settings app, going to Media and Purchases, tapping View Account, and then choosing the Migrate Purchases option. After migration, the secondary account can no longer be used for purchases, and you will need to sign in with the primary account on all Apple devices.

When combining accounts, all payment methods associated with the secondary account will migrate to the primary Apple Account, and subscriptions will also transfer over. The secondary account's Up Next queue in Apple TV will also migrate over and replace content from the primary account, as will any podcast library data.

Migrating Apple Account purchases is not available in the European Union, United Kingdom, or India at the current time.

Article Link: Apple Now Lets You Move Digital Purchases From One Apple Account to Another
 
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This is ****ing HUGE. We have been waiting over 25 years for this. I grew up using my mom's Comcast email for our iTunes account, then later changing that to my Gmail when I started paying for the family's purchases. When family sharing came about I had my own iCloud/Apple ID and this Gmail AppleID and had to juggle both. Finally, I can just have one Apple ID. Hallelujah!
 
I tried but received a message that I wasn’t eligible. I think it’s because I have a Season Pass that’s open on Apple TV. I wonder if watchlists from Apple TV transfer and I wonder if old iTunes Match stuff transfers. I would hate to lose old music that I’ve had uploaded from a really old computer disappear. I imagine that’s attached to Apple Music library stuff. Let me know if you have migrated and see this stuff transfers successfully.
 
Tired of Apple trying to force 2 factor authentication on everyone.
Apple is now more obnoxious than Microsoft
It’s probably so that theives don’t just take your phone and log out and log in on any random devices. It’s all security procedure and sometimes software requirements, like to be on a different family sharing etc.
 
I've been waiting YEARS for this. Looks like I may finally be able to subscribe to Apple One!
I actually was in the same boat as you, until I heard that you can assign iCloud storage from an One subscription to a different Account. I was never aware of that and avoided it as a result. Finally though, us legacy iTunes and iPod people (pre-iCloud/MobileMe) have some light shone on us. Good news all around.
 
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