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

[Deadeyeshark]

I decided to write this email to Tim Cook, feel free to reuse the template.

Dear Mr. Cook,

I’m writing as a long-time Apple supporter who, like many others, was greatly encouraged when Apple introduced the iTunes Purchase Migration tool in February 2025. It was a long-awaited remedy for those of us who were required to maintain separate iTunes and iCloud accounts due to early platform limitations.

Unfortunately, many users remain unable to complete the migration. The “Migrate Purchases” button has quietly disappeared for affected accounts, leaving us without guidance or recourse. The current restriction, “You can’t migrate purchases if both the primary Apple Account and the secondary Apple Account have music library data associated with each of them”, appears to be the root of the issue.

This opaque requirement effectively excludes many of Apple’s most loyal early adopters - users who have invested in Apple’s ecosystem for decades - and leaves them with increasingly complex and insecure dual-account setups.

I urge Apple to revisit this policy and provide a clear path forward, even if it requires trade-offs such as starting with a fresh Music library. Restoring the migration option, or offering a supported workaround, would honor Apple’s long history of valuing its earliest customers and ensure our continued trust in the ecosystem.

Respectfully,

Consider it done, thanks for the template appreciated!

I’m hoping when or if this ever happens I’ll be able to stack my iCloud storage to 4tb which is not possible with a separate purchasing account.

 

[Deadeyeshark]

ah thought maybe this might’ve been fixed with the latest raft of updates but no such luck. Drop a message here if you find a workaround.

 

[jameswilby]

Joining this thread very late but just to add to the group of people who are stuck in limbo. A quick run of my story goes:

- deliberately waiting for an extended period of time since the feature was announced before trying it. In the hope issues would be resolved
- started the process yesterday and initially could not see the option to migrate purchases under my media account page
- removed some test flight apps and stopped sharing my secondary account to any family sharing
- option appeared in my account (I'll come back to this point)
- tried to migrate and received the "Unable to migrate purchases. One or both accounts is not eligible for purchase migration." notification
- contacted apple support who convinced me I had to delete all music library data on both accounts. (did my best to preserve 10 years of playlists)
- when it eventually didn't work after a couple of tries, them removing the U2 album, and being on the phone an hour I was told words to the effect of "ok so it seems like your accounts just aren't eligible and thats all we can do for you, have a great day"

Amazing experience, 0/10 would recommend. The irony of this is it impacts such a small percentage of users but those users are possibly some of the most loyal users Apple has...

I mentioned the option appearing in the account. Fundamentally, I don't understand if they have logic somewhere that determines when that should appear and when it shouldn't, why does that logic clearly not cover all bases? I get it is likely a huge database that they'll be working with, but give more information and options for us to resolve this.

For years, this was a pain we all dealt with after iCloud and iTunes accounts were unified but we were stuck in the before times (to simplify it). Then they introduced the ability to work with 2 accounts effectively, one for primary and one for purchases. I know from experience I'm in the minority of my family and friends who are stuck in this split account situation. Now they have a way to migrate. The big concern though: what is to stop them deciding in a few years that now everyone either only has 1 account or has migrated, they start to remove the functionality of 2 accounts? I'm sure it might make their lives easier and wouldn't be too unrealistic of a direction to go.

Sorry longer than intended post, just meant to add my voice! I'll update if I have a followup since I asked specifically on my call to be escalated.