The fact that my wife and I both have iPhones is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because well… we both have iPhones. But it’s also a curse. It has become another gadget to upgrade, to pimp up and gulp- to depreciate quickly . We were both going to get the 2nd generation iPhones but after weighting in the fact that the original ones are upgradable via software, it became hard to justify the cost of a whole new phone. Sorry, 2 new phones. So we opted for the software update, which gave us in a lot of ways a new phone. The upgrade was free, but the mostly inexpensive apps add up. This got me thinking about Fairplay, Apple’s DRM technology used throughout the iTunes store for music and now applications as well. Fairplay allows you to register up to 5 computers and unlimited iPods/iPhones synced to those computers. So… it should be easy for my wife and I to share iPhone apps with each other as long as both our iTunes are authorized to use them. All we need to do is authorize both accounts in both computers and re-download the apps. This could work in Windows, but why would I right?
Here’s a step by step tutorial on how to do it.
Scenario
I have 2 Macs, 2 iPhones, 2 iTunes accounts.
I used one account to buy a game, and another account to buy another one. The goal is to have both games playable on both phones legally with no hacks.
Solution
Have each computer be authorized for both accounts. Re-download apps on 2nd computer with 1st computer iTunes account.
Step 1: Authorize Computers
I step into my wife’s mac, launch iTunes, log out of her iTunes Store account and log in with mine.
Step 1: Log Out and In
Still inside iTunes, I go to the app store and click the Buy App button on the application I had bought in my computer.
- Step 2: re-download
iTunes knows I already paid for this and just let’s be re-download it without charging me again.
Step 2: Confirm
The app then begins to download.
- Step 2: downloading
Once the download is complete, it now shows in the Applications section of iTunes.
- Step 2: downloaded
I can now log out of my iTunes Store account and log her’s back in.
Step 1: Log out and in
Step 3: Sync & Play
I can plug her phone in now and sync.
Step 3: sync
The app should transfer without any fuss.
Step 3: syncing
Once synced, it shows on her phone ready for playing.
Step 3: play
And now both our kids can take over our phones and drain those batteries out.
Step 3: playing
Enjoy.
Hello, I am Melvin Rivera; creator of 
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Ive just spent days trying to figure this out myself and resolved it yesterday. And lo and behold I find your excellent walk thru today. Still unsure about upgrades to apps though. For example DOcs to Go that I bought and upgraded, has been copied by my wife to her phone but without the upgrades – and that goes for quite a lot of apps that have in-app purchases. Any ideas?
For updates just physically log into the account that has purchased the app on your iphone and download all updates. Then log back out and in with your own login :) The app store will only show updates for apps purchased with the account that is currently logged in.
Very true, Mike, which makes this method a bit of a nuisance for me.
Itunes is saying that is going to charge my credit card if I press ok. I don’t see that on your page here. Is that ok or has something gone wrong?
Hey – fantastic – can you confirm about upgrades to apps?
You should add the step missed out as pointed by nick. I also blinked for a moment. I put my trust in you and it worked.
Thanks!!!!
I started following your plan and then discovered that the person who bought the apps logs in on the person’s computer that is wanting the apps. Redownloads them and then the other person sync’s and authorizes the person who bought the app first on that computer without logging off. Then the apps are available for the 2nd person to use and sync.
SuperDial is the most useful app on my iPhone. I want to be able to share the SuperDial app with other family members. SuperDial is no longer available in the app store. Any way to share it besides bringing their iPhones to my mac?
Thanks,
John
WOW Great tutorial …Awesome I love it : )