Unable to access US Apple Store purchases

Question

Level 1

4 points

Unable to access US Apple Store purchases

Just wondering if it is ethically moral for Apple to disallow or unnecessarily prevent access to my purchases in the US App Store?

If you've moved to another country and thus most likely don't have a valid US payment method after a certain amount of time, then when you easily change to for example the Canadian or New Zealand App Store to view a locale specific app, you essentially loose all your purchases (possessions/belongings) in the US App Store as you cannot Change back to the the US App Store.

Sure you can still receive updates to installed apps, but what if you've uninstalled the app as not everyone has an infinite amount of storage space on their devices?

So, essentially my issue is, how can I change back to the US App Store now (April 2016) without pestering my US friends for their credit card or PayPal details or spending money on an American iTunes gift card?

EDIT: As obviously I can't transfer my purchases, then I guess I might have to stick with my US App Store ID for now until I find a time to just cut all losses.

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 9.3.1, null

Posted on Apr 14, 2016 3:50 AM

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Answer 1

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,698 points

Apr 14, 2016 4:14 AM in response to sk9c00

Just wondering if it is ethically moral for Apple to disallow or unnecessarily prevent access to my purchases in the US App Store

Are you currently in the US ? Content is licensed to Apple to sell on a country-by-country basis, each country therefore has to have its own store and you have to be in the country to use its store (including redownloading past purchases). The US store's terms, that you agreed to, include http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html#SERVICE :

The iTunes Service is available to you only in the United States, its territories, and possessions. You agree not to use or attempt to use the iTunes Service from outside these locations. Apple may use technologies to verify your compliance.

Apple can, and do, permanently disable accounts for violating those terms.

If the app is in your new country's store you might be able to redownload it for free from that store - if you try to 'buy' it you should (based on what other people have posted, I haven't moved countries so can't confirm) get a message along the lines of 'you've already purchased this item, would you like to redownload it'. Media (music, films etc) you can't redownload in a different country, you will have to copy them back from your computer / backup of your downloads/library that you've been keeping and maintaining

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Answer 2

sk9c00 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 14, 2016 5:38 AM in response to King_Penguin

Thank you for your quick reply bro! ^_^

Then what about US international students in another country like China? Or business(wo)men who fly out of the US constantly? In an increasingly globalised era, software and content is increasingly hard to clearly determine what belongs in what, if you go on a holiday outside the US, does that mean you cannot backup or sync anything in iTunes? If hardware can be used internationally, then why can't content and software? Then a student is essentially screwed for if there was a bug that was hot-fixed a day after s/he flies out of the US, does that mean the student has to deal with a buggy software, until s/he flies back?

Also use of technologies sure, but the data from the technology still belongs to you if you caused or generated that said data? So wouldn't it be a privacy violation then?

I don't mind spending the money if need be and Apple can check the amount of hardware I've bought from them over the years as proof of my loyalty, but recently a lot of their 'it just works' mantra haven't been living up to expectation.

EDIT: I just tried to re-download a purchased item and it was prepared to charge me for it... .-. (By confirming for a valid payment option).

EDIT2: I get use of country specific licenses as a way to fairly moderate prices, to ensure a holistically compliant protection of human possession rights and probably to abide by local laws for example censorship, but I still believe somethings you just can't be too pedantic about. Freedom, liberty, open, easy and fair access of information right? xD

EDIT3: Also, if Apple really wanted to narrowly control iTunes Services to be country specific, they could probably strike a deal with DNS, APN and CDNs to redirect or control the GeoIP traffic... oh wait... this is the globalised internet we're talking about...

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Answer 3

Apr 14, 2016 6:15 AM in response to sk9c00

if you go on a holiday outside the US, does that mean you cannot backup or sync anything in iTunes?

No. Once you have the content on your computer you can use it anywhere unless you get it taken away from you by somebody's customs control at a border checkpoint because of censorship. I have a movie DVD I bought in France several years ago. It was only sold at one historical site and they do not do any kind of international sales. Since I have the DVD here in the USA I can play it, but if I wanted to order it I could not. The Internet may have made technical aspects of digital media distribution easy but the same basic restrictions apply as those for physical goods. Permitting you to re-download is still transferal of a copy of media across borders. The laws of the first country apply as to export and the laws of the second country also apply. Let's say the place from which I bought the DVD in France had a "get endless copies upon request" policy. If I requested a second copy they would have to send me a second DVD and that would be subject to US importation laws.

Then a student is essentially screwed for if there was a bug that was hot-fixed a day after s/he flies out of the US, does that mean the student has to deal with a buggy software, until s/he flies back?

Yes, s/he does have to live with it if you're talking about an app from the iTunes Store. That is part of the international experience. Other countries have different things but you have to leave some old ones behind or make sure you take what you need with you. That student had better make sure a hard drive with backups of everything is part of the luggage.

Also use of technologies sure, but the data from the technology still belongs to you if you caused or generated that said data? So wouldn't it be a privacy violation then?

Sure, you own the data files. You do not own the applications, you have licensed them. I have Word files on my drives but no copy of Word. The files are mine but the software is not.

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Answer 4

May 7, 2016 6:05 AM in response to Limnos

I have lived in part time in China and part time in the US for 13 years and have always been able to download TV and movies through iTunes using my US account, until a month ago. At that point I stopped being able to download while in China unless I used my vpn...until today. Suddenly I cannot download anything I have purchased. What's up all of a sudden? Has iTunes or China suddenly cracked down on what was previously an easy and common practice?

Any ideas? Anyone else with the same issues?

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Answer 5

May 7, 2016 6:22 AM in response to EarthMonkeyAbroad

EarthMonkeyAbroad wrote:

Any ideas? Anyone else with the same issues?

Ideas about what? King Penguin and Limnos have already explained the situation to you. You may not like it but it's the way things are. Whether or not you were able to violate the Terms of Use before and can't now is not really the point.

Submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

However, the copyright holders are the ones who determine what can be sold where.

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Answer 6

roaminggnome

Level 10

106,417 points

May 7, 2016 7:05 AM in response to EarthMonkeyAbroad

It has always been a violation of the terms of use of the iTunes store to use a country's iTunes store without being located inside the border of that country.

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Answer 7

May 7, 2016 4:28 PM in response to roaminggnome

Thank you both for your quick replies. So many expat Americans use their iTunes accounts to access tv and movies I never questioned it until it stopped being possible. Until I read this thread yesterday, I had no idea that it was a violation of the terms of use. There have been a lot of questions in expat circles here in Beijing about why iTunes has "stopped working," so it is good to know and to be clear about. Thanks, again.

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