Join our iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV community today! Register Here | Login

iPhone 3.0: On-Device App Download from Multiple iTunes Accounts?

By , Tuesday, Apr 28, 2009 at 11:17 pm
9

We mentioned the new Store Setting tab just a short time ago. daveizzle on Twitter made the observation that this functionality makes it seem like you could theoretically sign into one account, download apps, sign out, sign into another account, and download apps from that account as well, all onto the same iPhone or iPod touch. Boom. Support for multiple iTunes accounts right on the device.

Why would that be interesting? Say your spouse had already bought a $9.99 app. App Store lets the same account re-download that app to the iPhone without a second charge, so it becomes a way to "share" applications (as long as you trust the person enough to put your iTunes password into their device). Another scenario would be a UK users wanting to download a US-only app. They could log into a US account, download the region-restricted app, then log out and log back into their own, local account.

Note: This has been possible all along via syncing from iTunes. Any apps downloaded from any account would transfer over to the iPhone. This merely extends the purchase and/or download process to the iPhone, further releasing iTunes tethered hold.

(Of course, since you can't re-download music for free, and you can't download movie or TV show videos directly to the iPhone, this pertains only to App Store content -- likely to prevent Big Media heads from 'sploding).

Rene Ritchie

Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.

More Posts - Website

 TwitterFacebookGoogle Plus

← Previously

iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 Notes Sync... Requires Mac OS X 10.5.7...?

Next up →

Review: Krusell Classic Case for iPhone 3G
  1. antonioj says:

    Nice, i will be able to use my US account on the phone :)

  2. Tushar says:

    I've been long awaiting this feature because I had an old account that I used to share with my dad and have a few paid apps and now don't have now i've got my own account and have some paid apps.

  3. Ben Gillam says:

    are there no piracy issues here?

    sign in with your account on someone elses phone, redownload the apps, sign out and change your password. end result both you and your "friend" have the app?!?

    granted this is great that people will be able to use a us account when needed winks at rene but without good protection it could be quite a problem

  4. clher says:

    Maybe iTunes will bind the downloaded app to the specific iPhone at first sync, alas no piracy?

  5. IcemanYVR says:

    Good News, I don't like to have to sync my phone every time I want to download an app from my US Account. Too bad they can't do it for iTunes store as well but I can understand for reasons mentioned by others.

  6. Jim says:

    my friend is a developer and he sent me the itunes 8.2 file but when I open the file up and ready to install it says itunes 8.1.1. ?

    is this is what it supposed to say?

  7. david says:

    more important is the ability to activate and use an iPhone with out ever needing to own/have a computer. This is really important for growth to the masses

  8. Compassionate for the vast canvass, but I'm truly warm the new Zune, and comedian this, as easily as the fantabulous reviews many tally graphical, leave cater you settle if it's the reactionary deciding for you.

  9. Sarah says:

    I can't change my iTunes account

Leave a Reply

Note: Comments must be civil, respectful, and on-topic. If a comment does not add to the conversation, if it contains spam advertising, or inappropriate language or content, it will be removed. Insulting the topic, author, staff, site, network, or other commenters will result in the comment being marked as spam and potential prevent future comments from appearing on the site. Do not post as a business or your comment will likely be confused with spam. Comments containing links may be held for moderation. Relax, enjoy, and share in the discussion.