Apple Now Lets You Move Digital Purchases From One Apple Account to Another

[tothemoonsands]

I would think that the free U2 album would not prohibit the migrate, since that would make it impossible for anyone, right? I've never even opened the Music app on any device while signed into the primary account for media/purchases, so I don't know if I even have it in there. So hopefully it's the TestFlight for you.

Yeah from what I've read, I think the data points show it is not the U2 album per se, but rather having ever either A) subscribed to Apple Music or B) subscribed to iTunes Match. If you just PURCHASED music (or received the free U2 album), then you are still OK. In my case, TestFlight removal still didn't work because of the aforementioned issue.

 

[spacegoose]

In my case I checked all the boxes of the Apple support document but still I get an error message that one or both accounts are not legible for the merger. Weird. I submitted feedback to Apple. Under Steve Jobs this zombie of a process would never have seen the light of day. This is considerably less than half baked. Are there any debugging hints you guys can give?

 

[BeauGiles]

Yeah from what I've read, I think the data points show it is not the U2 album per se, but rather having ever either A) subscribed to Apple Music or B) subscribed to iTunes Match. If you just PURCHASED music (or received the free U2 album), then you are still OK. In my case, TestFlight removal still didn't work because of the aforementioned issue.

Same here, I just jumped on Apple Support chat after removing myself from all my TestFlight programs, and apparently it is this stupid music library data existing that is making my accounts ineligible.

 

[doccho]

Thanks for your confirmation. By any chance, have you checked your misic library on your primary ID? likely that you also have the U2 album?
I've just found out that there is one subscription alive that expires 2/19 on my purchase ID, which I think must be the reason to prevent me from making this migration. I'll give it a try once this subscription is expired.

"Subscriptions you’re currently subscribed to on your secondary Apple Account migrate to your primary Apple Account. Learn how to cancel subscriptions that you don’t want."

I just confirmed the above from an Apple supporting document, so that is not the reason preventing my migration. The only assumed reason left is the music library on the primary account. However, I don't understand why Apple is not clearly stating what needs to be done to resolve this issue.

 

[DELLsFan]

Hard to explain why a company with 100k engineers isn't able to provide a reason for a failed migration.
Even better, do a check before the migration to see if the accounts qualify...

This.

I mean, we got a checklist, and have some ideas as to why, but the software should be ready to tell you why we're getting errors - especially the ones that say nothing except to 'try again later'.

 

[WebHead]

damn you can't do it with different countries (account created from a different country)

I assume this only works between accounts in the same region (country)?

Can anyone confirm whether purchases can be transferred between countries? Apple says to ensure both accounts are set to the same country before migrating, which implies you can move at least some of your purchases across.

 

[gdjsnyder]

Small update on my end. I have not been able to get escalated to an engineering team. Executive relations stated they would try but nothing yet. I requested my primary accounts data privacy and data and received it this morning. I found a report for iTunes Match content on my primary (iCloud) account. However, I never subscribed to iTunes Match on that account, I went through my entire purchase history. Checking through multiple file in my iCloud Drive, I found 3 albums that were matched on my secondary account that were in a folder from years ago. It seems these got uploaded to my iCloud Drive in August of last year when I upgraded my Mac as it was in a random folder. I reached out to executive relations to discuss this, as I have iTunes Match data associated with my primary account but this is not accurate. So I will see if they can do anything. I am going to see if I delete from my iCloud Drive and resubscribe to match from my secondary account if this allows migration.

 

[MikeCP]

For what it's worth, and to add my experience to the pile, I really don't think there's any reason I'm ineligible. I've never had iTunes Match or Apple Music on my primary account. I've confirmed it by downloading my data from privacy.apple.com. There's something else causing an issue, but I have NO idea what it is. The rest of the boxes are checked.

 

[turbineseaplane]

There's something else causing an issue, but I have NO idea what it is. The rest of the boxes are checked.

Apple Services is a nutshell

 

[MikeCP]

Anyone think these might qualify as:

"Neither Apple Account can be receiving any special access to apps or content. For example, an Apple Account enrolled in the VPP program through an employer to receive special access to apps."

To me these are device settings that shouldn't be associated with accounts, but I don't know.

 

[rjjacobson]

Ok for me I got the migration ok (not without problems that ended up being because so many people were doing it that things lagged/gave errors but I got it moved. But I had to change password on primary ID account for some reasons and that was fine but I was on my MacBook today and wanted to log into my iCloud.com on the web. I have been having issues with the fingerprint not working and not finding the password for stuff in particular my main ID account. So finally I decided to change the ID password again on the MacBook and viola now my fingerprint started working perfectly and it got the new password form somewhere. I have noticed lately that my password changed to my Apple ID are not showing in the password app on any devices. It used to be I could update the ID password and it would show as a change immediately on the password app and soon migrate to that app on all devices. It seems to no longer do that and my only difference is I now merged my purchases ID into the main ID iCloud.com account and am suspicious of something changing. Anyone else see this?

NOTE: I just found this from year ago on apple.com communities I am sure my Apple ID used to appear in my keychain and then the subsequent passwords app but now it appears i am wrong. Some of my other apple stuff does like the Appleseed account for example and my old ID that had all my purchases like the apple seed but my main one never did hmmm

————————————

SravanKrA
Community+ 2025
User level:Level 10

424,762 points
Mar 30, 2024 5:52 AM in response to carrybagman
Apple ID and Its Passwords are not stored in iCloud Keychain.

Apple ID and Activation Lock

iCloud uses Apple ID credentials.

If you do not remember the Apple ID Password then follow the steps given in this Apple Article -> If you forgot your Apple ID password - Apple Support

If you do not remember the Apple ID then follow the steps given in this Apple Article -> If you forgot your Apple ID - Apple Support

If you are the owner or the owner has shared all information with you then to open Activation Lock:- If it is Activation locked, read here --> Turn off Activation Lock - Apple Support Activation Lock for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Learn how to remove a device from a previous owner's account.

If you are not the owner and do not have the Apple ID and Password then there is no way that you can get into this iPhone unless the original owner shares the Apple ID and password with you. If you are lucky you can get into this iPhone if they (owner) accidentally remove the device from their Apple ID.

 

[bluespark]

Yeah I wish I didn’t do this. I messed so much up. Somehow my secondary Apple ID was trying to migrate purchases from got switched to my main Apple ID for my family purchasing Apple ID.

Called Apple because you can’t change it again for 90 days and the as*holes tell me there’s nothing they can do about it.

Also was trying to troubleshoot why exactly the option disappeared completely from the account I wanted to migrate from with Apple support. And they don’t even know.

All in all,0/10 experience and just letting anyone know to beware of doing this so you don’t end up like me.

Same boat. It was Apple who told me years ago to create a secondary account, and it has caused nothing but problems. Now, I've screwed things up much worse by *going through the specific steps Apple told me to take to make the migration work*. Nothing, and it's because I have used Apple Music on my primary account in the past. So frustrating.

 

[DotCom2]

Maybe they are using all of us as BETA testers.

 

[tothemoonsands]

Small update on my end. I have not been able to get escalated to an engineering team. Executive relations stated they would try but nothing yet.

Thank you so much!! It seems you may be one of the very few on a positive track with Executive Relations team. I've found it impossible to break out of just L1 support.

Just a simply "Our engineering team is aware of this issue and are working on an upcoming fix" would be such a huge deal for all of us struggling to migrate. Just tell us what we need to do! Love the ideas others here are proposing - maybe we have to backup iCloud Drive and turn off, maybe we have to give up migrating music entirely, etc etc.

I think most of us are willing to do whatever we have to do, we just need the information.

 

[gdjsnyder]

maybe we have to give up migrating music entirely,

I will gladly do this! Apple just doesn’t give us this option. As long as I can carry over all my movies, TV shows, and books I’m good. I’ll rebuy apps and I only use Apple Music. I don’t understand why they don’t give us this option.

 

[WebHead]

Can anyone confirm whether purchases can be transferred between countries? Apple says to ensure both accounts are set to the same country before migrating, which implies you can move at least some of your purchases across.

As expected, Apple Support weren't much help:

I am not quite sure if I understand the question but not all purchases is available or supported for migrating purchases. This is because some contents are not available on another country or the developer restricts transfer.

So migrating between countries would likely involve losing at least some purchases. This, together with how trivially easy the Apple TV app makes it to switch between different accounts/countries, means I probably won't bother.

 

[Morac]

I’ve found a side effect of migrating to your iCloud account is that you are now eligible for free Apple services trials again (including some of those 3 to 5 month trials available from stores), assuming you’ve never had them on your primary account before.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've now seen way too many bad stories on this to even consider attempting it

I'll just soldier on with how it's always been

Man, this company is so bad at online account and cloud related services

 

[Cinimod1000]

Just a thought. Has anyone thought to try this with 18.4 b1, just out today? Probably too soon for any fixes, but you never know.....
Personally, I am no longer trying to get this to work. Have spent hours and hours, to no avail. Now I am working to put everything back as it was - before this option came out. Family Sharing, etc, etc.....
I will keep monitoring this thread in the hope that Apple gets their act together and provides a solution for us.....but I am probably just dreaming....

 

[nylon]

I was successfully able to transfer all my purchases to my 'primary account' from my 'secondary account'. Does any one know if you can safely delete the 'secondary account' after this procedure is successful?

 

[gdjsnyder]

Just a thought. Has anyone thought to try this with 18.4 b1, just out today? Probably too soon for any fixes, but you never know.....
Personally, I am no longer trying to get this to work. Have spent hours and hours, to no avail. Now I am working to put everything back as it was - before this option came out. Family Sharing, etc, etc.....
I will keep monitoring this thread in the hope that Apple gets their act together and provides a solution for us.....but I am probably just dreaming....

Not typically a beta tester, but I’ll put the beta on my iPad mini in the next couple of days and try. Although I feel the migration situation is a server side fix and not necessarily software since they released it outside of a software update. But worth a shot.

 

[BeauGiles]

OK so I was able to log in to my other phone with my 'secondary' account logged in with my work Apple Account, and it would let me migrate purchases - so I've worked out the issue is with my primary account - but no closer to working out 'why' apart from this so called music library data issue.

Grr.

Thank you so much!! It seems you may be one of the very few on a positive track with Executive Relations team. I've found it impossible to break out of just L1 support.

Just a simply "Our engineering team is aware of this issue and are working on an upcoming fix" would be such a huge deal for all of us struggling to migrate. Just tell us what we need to do! Love the ideas others here are proposing - maybe we have to backup iCloud Drive and turn off, maybe we have to give up migrating music entirely, etc etc.

I think most of us are willing to do whatever we have to do, we just need the information.

I've also sent feedback via Apple's Feedback Assistant, just in case that reaches the right team that way...

 

[BeauGiles]

OK, update - if you look at the device console while your iPhone is connected (using an app like iMazing and presumably Xcode, etc) you get a bit more detail

Feb 22 11:19:18 Beaus-iPhone-16-Pro Preferences(AppleMediaServices)[XXXX] <Notice>: AMSURLSession: [XXXXX:XXXX] Task finished loading for URL request <AMSURLRequest: XXXXX> { URL: https://p20-buy.itunes.apple.com/account/v1/medialink/link/taskStatus?REDACTED }
Feb 22 11:19:18 Beaus-iPhone-16-Pro Preferences(AppleMediaServicesUI)[XXXXX] <Error>: AMSUIWebView: [XXXXX:XXXXX] Action failed. [XXXXX] Error Domain=AMSErrorDomain Code=301 "Invalid Status Code The response has an invalid status code" UserInfo={AMSURL=https://p20-buy.itunes.apple.com/account/v1/medialink/link/taskStatus?REDACTED, AMSDescription=Invalid Status Code, AMSServerPayload={
    code = "MEDIA_LINK_MAC_MUSIC_LIBRARY";
    localizedMessage = "Unable to Migrate Purchases. One or both accounts is not eligible for purchase migration.";
    message = "Account has a music library on iTunes and ever had a music library on iCloud and iCloud has mac push device";
    status = 403;
}, NSDebugDescription=Invalid Status Code The response has an invalid status code, AMSFailureReason=The response has an invalid status code, AMSStatusCode=403}

I guess that confirms it - the stupid music library that it's not possible to get rid of - and I still don't remember ever using Apple Music or iTunes Match on that account - only that stupid free U2 album :-(

 

[WebHead]

Just when U2 & Tim thought the rage had blown over...

Guess that tears it for me too. I bought some special-edition albums (incl. U2) on my secondary account back in the day (which I then "laundered" on to my primary account). But like everyone I also got the U2 giveaway.

 

[musicman0725]

OK, update - if you look at the device console while your iPhone is connected (using an app like iMazing and presumably Xcode, etc) you get a bit more detail

Feb 22 11:19:18 Beaus-iPhone-16-Pro Preferences(AppleMediaServices)[XXXX] <Notice>: AMSURLSession: [XXXXX:XXXX] Task finished loading for URL request <AMSURLRequest: XXXXX> { URL: https://p20-buy.itunes.apple.com/account/v1/medialink/link/taskStatus?REDACTED }
Feb 22 11:19:18 Beaus-iPhone-16-Pro Preferences(AppleMediaServicesUI)[XXXXX] <Error>: AMSUIWebView: [XXXXX:XXXXX] Action failed. [XXXXX] Error Domain=AMSErrorDomain Code=301 "Invalid Status Code The response has an invalid status code" UserInfo={AMSURL=https://p20-buy.itunes.apple.com/account/v1/medialink/link/taskStatus?REDACTED, AMSDescription=Invalid Status Code, AMSServerPayload={
    code = "MEDIA_LINK_MAC_MUSIC_LIBRARY";
    localizedMessage = "Unable to Migrate Purchases. One or both accounts is not eligible for purchase migration.";
    message = "Account has a music library on iTunes and ever had a music library on iCloud and iCloud has mac push device";
    status = 403;
}, NSDebugDescription=Invalid Status Code The response has an invalid status code, AMSFailureReason=The response has an invalid status code, AMSStatusCode=403}

I guess that confirms it - the stupid music library that it's not possible to get rid of - and I still don't remember ever using Apple Music or iTunes Match on that account - only that stupid free U2 album :-(

That message is detailed and a good find. Can you check your iCloud drive settings? Do you see Apps syncing to iCloud drive and then is Music enabled? The "and iCloud has mac push device" makes me wonder if you turn off iCloud syncing for the Music app in iCloud drive, maybe it will delete the data you want from your primary account and then let you complete the merge. Also, i'm curious if you even see the Music app listed here in your iCloud drive settings on your Mac with your primary account. My account has already been merged and I see the Music app listed on my Mac (and enabled) but do not see it on my wife's Mac (her account has not yet been merged). I also don't see it on my iPhone, but the error message specifically states "mac push" so I'm wondering if you need to disable that from iCloud sync on your Mac.

You can get to this setting by clicking into your apple account (on your Mac), clicking iCloud, clicking Drive, then clicking Apps that sync to iCloud Drive.

I also found this article about resetting your iCloud music library. Not sure if these steps will help you but maybe you can wipe it out from your primary account.

Apple Music Messed Up? Reset Your iCloud Music Library

If your songs didn't match well in Apple Music, you may want to reset your iCloud Music Library. Here's step-by-step instructions for how.

www.tomsguide.com