iTunes Gift Card code by email - where's the code?

Hello dmncwlkr,

Thanks for the question, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.

When you click the "Redeem Now" button, you will be taken to the iTunes Store and asked to sign in. Technically, you are able to sign in with any account at this time, so I do not see an issue with you passing the gift off to someone else. The new recipient will click the "Redeem Now" button, and sign in with their iTunes account.

For more information on iTunes Gifts, see the following article:

iTunes: Sending iTunes Gifts

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2736

Thanks,

Matt M.

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem 😟 I have a $50 itunes gift card by email that I cannot redeem. Did you manage to find out what to do?

Desperate 😟

I'm having the same problem. I gifted an itunes card via email. when my son clicks on redeem, it takes him to a window asking him to install Itunes(which is already installed.) really looking for an answer for this.

I am also having this issue - the "Redeem Now" button just links to an "install itunes" page, but I already have the latest version of itunes installed! I know it's a holiday weekend, but it seems like many people are having this problem!

Hey guys,
Just dealt with this problem was a huge pain. The biggest thing is to use a different browser. I was using Waterfox and getting sent to download iTunes with the redeem now button. When using Chrome the correct link worked. Apparently one of the biggest computer companies in the world isn't aware of how to make a browser independent website. The other problem I had was it would not let me redeem anything if I was logged in. I had to log out of my iTunes but keep it open. It is definitely poorly set up but these steps should work.

If you need the code from the email, you can just right-click the redeem button, copy the URL, paste it so you can see the whole thing, and the code is there. The code is in the URL.

For example:

https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/com.apple.jingle.app.fi nance.DirectAction/freeProductCodeWizard?code= ➡️12345678ABCDEFGH⬅️ &mt=1

iTunes,

I am having the same/a similar problem right now.

Someone purchased a song for me gifted it through iTunes. We both have active and valid iTunes accounts.

I got the e-mail saying the person sent me the song with a button to "Redeem Now". There is no code of any kind and nothing else to click on in the e-mail (except the sender's e-mail address).

I click the button which takes me to the iTunes download page to download iTunes.

I already have iTunes.

After several frustrating attempts of going back to the original e-mail and clicking in every area of the message, I follow the directions and downloaded iTunes anyway. After I download and sign-in..........nothing.

Because there is no code in the original e-mail and I am directly and only allowed to download iTunes, I have not seen/received a code for the song that was purchased.

The person sent the song again (I hope they weren't double-charged) but the same things happened.

I deauthorized and reauthorized my computer. I verified that my account is valid. I read every part of both e-mails. The person has a receipt of the purchase, but I do not have the song.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

Please help resolve this issue TODAY.

Thank you.

Hi,

I had a somewhat related problem. I needed the actual code from an iTunes gift card to open a new apple ID for my dad, because he didn't want to add a credit card. I sent myself a $10 gift card by email, but couldn't find the code to open the new account.

To solve this (and other problems listed above), simply open the email from Apple and right click the "Redeem Now" button. There should be an option to copy the link, which when you paste it into the search bar will look something like this:

https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/com.apple.jingle.app.fi nance.DirectAction/freeProductCodeWizard?code=################&mt=1

Copy the ################, which is the 16 digit code for your gift card.

Hope this helps

The answer is what jrettenmaier and Jakalope Joe said, but in my case the code # doesn't even show up in the browser link -- the apple site insists on forwarding to a generit iTunes URL. And I couldn't right-click on the Redeem Now button in the email message. Because I majored in Computer Science, I knew I could do "Vew Source" in the HTML message and find the link text that begins with "https://buy.itunes.apple.com/", and find the text after "code=" as described by those other guys. Wow, Apple, really, you had no idea this was happening to people? How about adding a simple message at the bottom of the email saying, "If the button doesn't work, go to your iTunes application, click "Redeem Now" at the bottom, and past in this code: xxxxxxxxxxx".

Have no idea what you mean by right clicking the redeem button and copying URL....does not do that on my computer....

However, switching browsers DID work for me, from the usual MSN email interface - I used an IE browser and it linked correctly.

What an annoying code bug.....seems simple enough to fix.

I had exactly same problem. To resolve itI opened the e-mail from an Ipad, when I hit redeem, the code appeared and I then typed this in to the computer and redeemed the voucher. What a pain!! Come on Apple, get it sorted.

Adding my experience with this problem...

My sister gave me a gift by email, no physical card. Clicked redeem button and got error that iTunes wasn't found. Clicked "I have iTunes installed" button with no response. iTunes was open and it couldn't find it. Clicked redeem in my iTunes account. It said to enter code, which of course you don't get with an email gift. Found this thread and used iPad to redeem. Clicked redeem in email from iPad. It went to iTunes but just opened home page with no option to redeem, no code appeared. Found right click idea and tried that but it just went to same home page with no code. Then noticed if I hovered mouse over redeem button in original email a little yellow window appeared with some source code looking info, at the end of which was the code with some other characters around it. You have to pick out the correct 16 digits. After several tries on the redeem code page in iTunes it finally worked. Apple has a lot of work to do on this. Shouldn't be this hard.

I just had the same thing happen to me. Gifted my son a gift card so he can download stuff, he got an email, doesn't go anywhere on his phone, doesn't go anywhere on the computer. Just says click here to redeem and doesn't take you to a screen to login or anything. I finally did the copy link on the computer and did it that way, thankfully that worked. But seems like they'd have a better answer then that!

Yes, Apple, you really screwed this up !

On an iPod Touch the answer is even more confusing. Since you cannot "right click" you must hold down on the useless "button" and click "open". Yes, you will see the program code and be able to copy that code into Notes. Then, from Notes you can select the purchase code and finally Paste that into iTunes.

WOW, what a disaster. Steve must be rolling in his grave.

This is such BS! There is a 22 page thread here and Apple has not acknowledged this is a problem??? I purchased an Apple Online Gift specifically so I wouldn't need to use a credit card. There is NO CODE on the online gift. Only an e-mail with a REDEEM button. Clicking this takes you to the Account review page where there is NO option to activate without a credit card or gift code. Forget about any hacks, tips, or tricks you may read online. You simply can't activate your Apple ID without a credit card. It won't work! I guess its OK for Apple to use 3rd world labor to make their products, just not to USE them!