I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Apple Account purchase migration over the last couple of days, and I suspect Apple’s support folks have too. To help clarify things, Apple has updated its documentation, as spotted by Zac Hall. Apple has expanded things to look at if you’re unable to migrate:
- Neither Apple Account can be a child account created through Family Sharing.
- Neither Apple Account can already be used for migrated purchases. Learn how to undo a migration of purchases. If you undo a migration of purchases from a secondary account, you won’t be able to migrate purchases again for 1 year.
- 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.
- You can’t migrate purchases if you’ve set your Apple One subscription to provide iCloud storage to a third, different account. Learn about Apple One and iCloud storage.
- If your primary account has never been used for purchases or free downloads, you can’t migrate purchases.
- You can’t migrate purchases from an Apple Account that’s been deleted or deactivated.
- You can’t migrate purchases if your Apple Account is locked or disabled. Learn what to do if your Apple Account is locked or disabled.
- Neither Apple Account can be receiving any special access to apps or content. For example, an Apple Account enrolled in the VPP program through an employer to receive special access to apps.
- You can’t migrate purchases if your secondary Apple Account is used with TestFlight for testing beta versions of apps from a developer. Open TestFlight and select Stop Testing for each app to remove it from your account.
The list of things to do before a migration has also been updated:
- Make sure that you’re signed in with two different accounts on your iPhone or iPad. In Settings, tap your name. You’ll see a different Apple Account displayed under Media & Purchases if you have a different account signed in for purchases. If you don’t see a different Apple Account here, tap Media & Purchases, then tap Sign Out. After you’re signed out, tap Media & Purchases, then choose “Not (your name)?” to sign in to a different Apple Account.
- Make sure the secondary Apple Account isn’t a member of a Family Sharing group. Learn how to leave Family Sharing. You can still migrate purchases if you previously designated your secondary account as a different Apple Account to share purchases for your primary account in Family Sharing.
- Turn on Two-Factor Authentication for both accounts.
- Make sure both accounts are set to the same country and region for purchases.
- Spend any balance remaining on your secondary Apple Account. If you’re not sure whether you have a balance, check your Apple Account balance.
- Wait for any rentals or pre-orders to complete on your secondary Apple Account. You can cancel a pre-order.
- In South Korea and China mainland, you might have to wait up to 15 days for all of your purchases made using Apple Account balance to completely process.
- Have your payment method on file nearby. You’ll have to verify the payment method from the secondary Apple Account in order to migrate purchases. Additionally, the secondary account can’t have any issues with the payment method on file. Learn how to view or change your payment methods for Apple Account purchases.
- Update your iPhone or iPad to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.
It’s great Apple has built this tool, but my word, this whole thing is complicated.