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 
Follow me @
This was very helpful.
Ruben – A dialog to buy and download will be displayed before the “You have already purchased this item” dialog.
Is there any way to share apps that you already purchased on one iPhone with another? I synched the apps to my iTunes account, but am prompted to pay when I log in to the 2nd iTunes account and go to buy.
The question is, how do you do that with over 300 applications?! In one easy step.
Inside your Mac’s iTunes Folder is a folder called something like “Mobile Applications” (may be slightly different name on pre Snow Leopard). Or search for “.ipa” with Spotlight. Use any method you prefer to copy the folder containing your apps (or specific apps you choose to share) to the second user’s iTunes folder. You can drag the entire folder or individual apps to iTunes to import.
For me this was only half way. iTunes just ignored the apps copied. After copying all files to the second iTunes folder I needed to open all apps (just select all and choose open from the menu). When opening an iPhone app on the Mac the app was added to iTunes and I could sync with my second device
i’ve found that if i just log out of one account on the iPhone (or iTouch) and then log into the apps store using the account that “owns” the app, you can just select the app from the apps store, you’re informed you already own it, and it gets installed on the second phone. i’ve done this a number of times on my iTouch and then my iPhone and both have all the apps…
It keeps telling me to Authorize my Computer for Purchased songs and I do that but the message keeps coming up. Any help?