So after walking out of the Apple Store with my brand new iPad yesterday, the first thing I tried to do after joining the free Wi-Fi network at the Apple Store was to sign into the App Store and start downloading things to my new iPad!
Early adopter problem # 1 - as I have a Canadian iTunes Store Account, and the App Store for the iPad is not yet enabled in Canada, I could not open the app to download anything new on the device such as the iBooks app from the device.
No problem I thought, I will just fire up my laptop, download the iBooks app on it, and sync it over to my iPad.
Early adopter problem # 2 - the iBooks app is not yet available in the Canadian iTunes App Store. No problem, I will just create an iTunes store account with a US address, and download the app that way.
Early adopter problem # 3 - you need a credit card to create an iTunes Store account in the US, and it verifies that it is indeed a US issued credit card...
So I was out of luck, I could not access the app store on the iPad, and I could not download the iBooks app...
Fast forward to last night... A quick google search led me to a support article on the Apple website, which shows you how to create a US iTunes App Store account without a credit card. Although it has to be done from your iTunes software on your computer, it is quick, simple and actually makes sense. The long and the short of it is, you just have to change iTunes to the US Store, after making sure you are logged out of your existing account. Purchase a free app, and sign up for a new account. There is an option then to pay with the payment type of none... as it is a free app. Then sign in to the app store on the iPad with the new account, and you have access to the app store from the iPad!
When it asked for my US address... I just used the address of the Apple Store I bought my Ipad at! ;-)
A great temporary solution until the App stores are enabled for the iPad in the rest of the world!
Create an iTunes App Store account without a credit card
1. If you already have an account, choose Store > Sign Out.
2. Pick your country from the pop-up menu at the bottom of the iTunes Store homepage.
3. If your country also has an iTunes Store, you'll need to navigate to the App Store by clicking on the App Store link from the menu on the left. If not, proceed to step 4.
4. Important: Before proceeding to the next step, you must purchase a free application by clicking 'Free App'.
5. Click create new account.
6. Click Continue.
7. You'll need to read and agree to the iTunes terms and conditions, make sure you check the box next to where it says "I have read and agree to the iTunes Terms and Conditions." Click Continue.
8. Enter your email address, create your password, continue to create and answer your security question, then enter your birthday. Click Continue.
9. Select None as the payment option.
10. Continue to fill out the required name and address fields.
11. You'll then see a screen that says 'Verify your Account'. Click Done and then check your email for a verification email from iTunes Store.
12. Open the email and click on the link enclosed in the email to activate your account.
13. Once you click on the link, iTunes should then prompt you to sign in with your account name and password.
14.You'll then see the below "Congratulations" screen. Click Done to be taken to the App Store home page.
If you are physically located
Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 10:02If you are physically located in Canada, can you download iPad apps through your US account and US store?
And if you want to buy a paid app, can you just use pre-paid gift cards?
thanks for your help!
Answers to your questions
Darren Mak on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 15:57Yes, Apple isn't doing any sort of location verification by IP address or anything like that, so you can download apps through your US iTunes store account from any location.
And yes, apps can be paid for with an iTunes gift card from the US!
Not Working?
Matt (not verified) on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 19:17Hey. Thanks for the great article.
I went to try your method and it seems there is no option to choose "none" as your payment option anymore.
I know it used to exist because I've seen it before. Do you think they may have shut it down to stop people from doing that?
That's an incredibly quick response if you ask me - am I just not doing something right? Would love to hear from you.
Nevermind. I wasn't clicking
Matt (not verified) on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 19:34Nevermind. I wasn't clicking on a free app first. This is important as you cant do it the other way.
Yea, I was originally trying
Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 06/22/2010 - 20:20Yea, I was originally trying to do it with a free song. I looked online and found this article and got my free account (I want the free songs of the week!). Thanks for the tip!
What about my existing apps & music?
Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/10/2010 - 13:06I have already purchased apps with my Canadian iTunes account. Will I loose access these if I log in with a USA iTunes account?
Nope you won't lose your
Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 01/15/2011 - 19:33Nope you won't lose your canadian stuff! It's just if you have apps from both accounts it'll fail to update from the account you're logged into and you'll have to run update again. It'll prompt you to sign into the other account, fail again after asking if you want to change to the us store. You then run update again and it updates (note: you may or may not want to sign back into the Canadian account).
It's really annoying and it never used to do that before 3.0 on iPod and iPhone. At least it works though. I mean the annoyingness is just one teensy little thing.
Wow! I cannot believe it
Happy User (not verified) on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 18:17Wow! I cannot believe it actually worked!
Canadian Purchases
Graham (not verified) on Wed, 01/19/2011 - 16:15Darren, thanks a ton for the writeup, i know it's an old post but i was wondering how it works when you sync apps bought in both the two stores - can you have two accounts on the phone?
Two Apple Accounts
Darren Mak on Fri, 03/25/2011 - 21:00Hey Graham, it is no problem to have two Apple Accounts on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and purchase apps under each, however when you sync up, under one account only the apps purchased for that account will sync. You then have to log into the other account in iTunes to sync the apps from the other account.
It is kind of a pain, but for the few apps that aren't available in every country it is a work-around! In the case of the skype app, when it became available in Canada, I deleted the US version and installed the one from the Canadian app store to eliminate the need to switch accounts when a new version became available.
iTunes US access in Canada
T-Dawg from Vancouver (not verified) on Sun, 03/27/2011 - 15:22Just wanted to say the procedure was well explained. I had tried something similar before but was unable to complete the process as the "free app" selection had been omitted from another instruction.
As for multiple iTunes accounts, we now have three of them and yes, it is a bit of a juggle when it comes to a particular app update but at least we can load the apps we want vs. being censored by the CRTC and others for what is otherwise free...
Thanks for the write up.
Thanks T-Dawg
Darren Mak on Sun, 03/27/2011 - 17:44Its positive comments like yours that keep me sharing tips like these. Thanks for your comments!
I wanted to know if when I
Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 16:21I wanted to know if when I create the new account does it have to be a new e-mail address? Also just to make sure, whether i log in to my Canadian account or my US account I will not loose any apps I have downloaded. i just need to log in to both to sync my apps. Correct?
And you say that it doesn't matter that it will be for the same phone?
Sorry i'm just making sure! :-)
Separate Email Address
Darren Mak on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:06As you log into the app store with your email address, you will need a separate one for your foreign and US itunes accounts, so that you can differentiate them when logging in.
And again, sync your phone logged into the first store, and then the second after logging out and then logging in to the new store.
Verification email
Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 01:20I did not receive a verification email. I'm not sure what i'm missing.
Thanks
Myturn (not verified) on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 17:06Thank you for the input. People like you make the internet so helpful.
And Positive comments makes
Darren Mak on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:07And Positive comments makes us want to share and help even more. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
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