Transfer purchases to another ID

If I was the terror of the forum you say I am, then I would not be a level seven user. Level seven means that at 5 and 10 points at a time I have assisted thousands of users who come here seeking tech help. And they have appreciated the solutions and awarded me over 21,000 points.

You aren't here seeking tech help. You are here to pile on with others in this thread. I call it as I see it. The one who came to be a bully is you.

It's admirable that teachers buy things out of their own pockets for the benefit of their students. It's shameful that they are in districts that leave it to teachers to have to resort to that. Apple has put the mechanism in place through the store for education. Had you used that mechanism, even if you bought with your own funds, the apps could have stayed with your students. But you chose to ignore the proper way to buy for educational institutions and are here to grouse about your own misteps as if the fault were Apple's. It's not.

BTW, look closer, most folks get ZERO likes, the like system is fairly recent in the ASC and most folks here are not in the habit of using it.

David, do you remember me man? 21,000 points huh? I'm surprised Apple hasn't hired you yet.

Just wanted to thank you for convincing me to make the switch to the nexus 4. It's been everything the iphone can't deliver. I'd advise anyone who has complaints with their iphone and its limitations to switch to the nexus 4. Take my word for it.

Sent from my Nexus 4

jcolem2 wrote:

Take my word for it.

How could we do anything but take the word of someone so well spoken, erudite and obviously preternaturally perceptive?

I am happy that you are happy with your new purchase.

Posted from my Mac mini

Does anyone have a reasonable and polite answer to the OP's core question, yet? That question is the reason I viewed this thread in the first instance.

By "reasonable," I mean an answer that states:

1. Whether there is a mechanism or technique by which one may transfer the ownership of an app, song, movie, or other item, or the license (and, as necessary, the licensed app, song, movie, or other item) from one's own Apple ID to another Apple ID;
2. If there is such a mechanism or technique, whether it allows transfer to an Apple ID of another person, or only to another Apple ID that the transferor him/herself maintains;
3. If there is such a mechanism or technique, whether it is provided or endorsed by Apple; and
4. If such mechanism or techinque is not provided or endorsed by Apple, whether there is any passage in the TOU, an Apple Legal memorandum or other official Apple statement, or a controlling judicial opinion that explicitly and specifically states that transfer of purchases/licenses from one Apple ID to another is prohibited under all circumstances, or under [XYZ] circumstances.

By "reasonable," I mean to exclude all characterizations of what such transfer might or might not entail, philosophically, ethically, or legally—including anyone's interpretation of the TOU or other Apple material or legal precedent, unless that anyone is an Apple employee responding on behalf of Apple.

I should not have to explain what I mean by "polite." If, however, anyone with Abuse Reporting privileges cares to exercise those privileges, there are plenty of posts and users to report in this thread, and will likely be quite a few in response to this reiteration of the question.

No. It is simply not possible. See the FAQ here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4895

Questions one and two are complicated because as you know iTunes/Mac App Store content is not all the same; music, videos, apps, games, books, etc. Some of this content has different terms of use. But there is one blanket Apple response that applies to all in the FAQ regarding Apple IDs; Apple does not merge IDs and Apple does not transfer content from one ID to another. The FAQ is Apple's official knowledge base article;

http://support.apple.com/kb/HE37

Questions three and four are outside the realm of conversation in this forum and can get posts removed and users banned from participating here, as well as, accounts shut down down permanently.

Alfred—thanks very much. Although the FAQ do not seem to state explicitly that there's no way to transfer items from one AID to another, that does seem to be a fair-to-strong inference from the can't-merge-AIDs provision, and the TOU reference to only "storage" of items from multiple AIDs on the same i-device, rather than "use" of items from multiple AIDs on the same i-device.

I think that responds to and answers all 4 of my inquiries. It also, incidentally, clears up what struck me at first as internally inconsistent in the FAQ: the reference to how to transfer items from multiple AIDs to the same computer and linked i-device. This seems to address exactly the question that I had (and the OP had), and to answer it in the affirmative. Apparently, however, while one can transfer and "store" items from multiple AIDs to and on the same computer and i-device, one can "use" items from only one of those AIDs at a time.

Again, thanks. I'd give you some of those "points" that seem to be all the rage nowadays, if I had the ability to do so. :)

Cheers!

You're welcome. It's pretty clear for most, but people hold on to the hope they can somehow manage to get around it. Like it or not, it makes sense for Apple to do it this way. Logistically, it would be a nightmare otherwise.

BTW, you can use items from multiple Apple IDs on one device. The problem arises when you want to update those apps. You may switch an device to a different Account only once every 90 days before a red flag is raised. Apple may disable the IDs for those accounts.

I've appreciated your posts on this thread Briachiator and your call (much needed) for politness. Alfred DeRose, too, thanks. I've followed this thread from the beginning. There were many a great post (and a few not so great) that got deleted, apparently. More's the pity because they were, in the main, informative and suggestive. I don't think I've ever seen so many "established" users on this forum act so poorly. It's really embarassing. That said, I esp. appreciated the guy who "interrogated" the language of the Apple TOU -- can't remember his name, but appreciated his input as well - esp. his pointing out that what we might consider to be mundane, everyday, clear language can in fact often be read ambiguously. One of the most interesting threads I've read on here in a long, long time. So thanks, again, to all. This place has been a great resource over the years because of the many users who've contributed.

Thanks, Alfred. I think the hope is not so much that one can get around the limitation, but the hope or even expectation that such transfers are authorized and technically easy to accomplish. Ironically, transfer of one's license in the iOS software itself is expressly authorized (albeit when accompanied by transfer of title to the i-device, as well), which may explain people's expectation/hope (especially those, who are familiar with other software licenses whose transfer is explicitly authorized or not prohibited).

What you write about using items from multiple IDs on one device is intriguing. Do you mean that one can use items from multiple IDs simultaneously? Such capability would remove the need to transfer license rights among IDs in such cases as mine (and my reason for initially checking this thread): where my daughter's first iPad ran under my ID, but her replacement iPad will likely run under her mom's ID (so that some of her educational and not-so-educational games are available on her mom's iPhone, too).

It also appears from what you wrote, however, that such use is actually intended to be prohibited—otherwise there'd be no concern of 90-day periods, red flags, and disabled IDs/accounts. Is that correct? The 90-day period and more-frequent-changes-as-red-flags would seem to be technical implementation, the architecture of prohibition?

Thank you, Jaco_Crash. I agree that the ASC has, over the years, been a great resource. I've rarely contributed because I was already active in other forums and WWW-ified BBSes, and because by the time I arrived at ASC in any search for information, questions were usually already answered well and thoroughly. I, too, was surprised at the tone and attitude taken against questioners, especially those who might well be true newbies. (It may well have been 5 years since I've been here or needed "tech" assistance outside of my own research skills and my cloister of pals.)

The "interrogation" you mention may well have been mine. It's a professional hazard, I'm afraid. 🙂 The urge to stand up for those being bullied (especially newbies), may also be a professional hazard, and may well have been the cause of my demise. Whether the "interrogation" was mine, or not, posts of mine in that vein were deleted or Bowdlerized—as, apparently, impolite comments; discussion of policies, procedures, etc.; and non-technical posts are ASC TOU/TOS violations. I had somewhat mistakenly concluded that there were no such prohibitions on the first two categories, based on the language of many posts in this thread. It remains unclear to me how any good-faith question about what is permitted in a heavily license-regulated firmware/software ecosystem cannot help but violate the third prohibition (in both original question and all on-point responses). Nevertheless, since being so informed, I've tried my best to hew to these terms (not that I would have been impolite in response to courtesy and civility, in any event).

Exactly. Seems they acknowledge there might be a legitimate need, but restrict it to prevent abuse.

What you write about using items from multiple IDs on one device is intriguing. Do you mean that one can use items from multiple IDs simultaneously? Such capability would remove the need to transfer license rights among IDs in such cases as mine (and my reason for initially checking this thread): where my daughter's first iPad ran under my ID, but her replacement iPad will likely run under her mom's ID (so that some of her educational and not-so-educational games are available on her mom's iPhone, too).

Multiple Apple IDs and iOS devices in a Family

brachiator wrote:

What you write about using items from multiple IDs on one device is intriguing. Do you mean that one can use items from multiple IDs simultaneously? ...

It also appears from what you wrote, however, that such use is actually intended to be prohibited—otherwise there'd be no concern of 90-day periods, red flags, and disabled IDs/accounts. Is that correct? The 90-day period and more-frequent-changes-as-red-flags would seem to be technical implementation, the architecture of prohibition?

Alfred DeRose wrote:

Exactly. Seems they acknowledge there might be a legitimate need, but restrict it to prevent abuse.

Oy vey. 🙂 It's like the Tootsie-Fruitsie ice cream scene in the Marx Brothers' film A Day at the Races. You gotta buy the codebook and the breeder's guide just figure out the name of the horse—only worse: you might be vaporized by the Shibboleth Sentries before cottoning to the correct nomenclature.

So one's spouse could legitimately run, say, the six-year-old's arithmetic and game apps on his iPhone, when the munchkin is with him, even though one bought them for the little darling on one's separate Apple ID and also has them on her own iPhone. The spouse just couldn't update those munchkin apps—unless he could live with updating his own apps only once every 90 180 days.

Thanks again. At least now I have a potentially feasible path that roughly approximates my original intent. Under certain circumstances I hadn't contemplated before, it may even provide a better solution.

Message was edited by: brachiator