Q: I was reading your iTunes article and the layout and information is very thorough, however I recently came back from the Apple store with a ‘that’s a very good question’ stumper. I understand that you have to have an iTunes Store account to download an app, song or movie gifted to you, however the very helpful technical service adviser at my local Apple Store was unable to tell me if the individual needs to download that gift on a computer or if the gift can be downloaded on the mobile device the content will be used on, as one can do with a gift card? I could probably pay someone at the store to gift me a song on the spot but I thought since I can’t find this information anywhere you might be curious as well. Thanks for your time.
– Ken
A: The simple answer is yes. Gifted items work in much the same manner as gift cards, with a redemption code that gives you a specific item rather than simply applying credit to your account. This will work both with gifts sent to you by another iTunes Store user as well as free song promotional codes found at places like Starbucks.
In fact, if the person gifting you an item chooses to send you the gift by e-mail, you can simply click on the Redeem link right within the message on your iOS device to download the gift; the iTunes Store or App Store will open as appropriate and the item will be downloaded once you’ve confirmed your iTunes Store password.
On the other hand, if you’ve simply been sent a gift code by some other means, you can enter this in the “Redeem” option at the bottom of the main iTunes Store page on the device in the same way you would enter a gift card code.
You can receive and download either App Store or iTunes Store content as gifts on your device.
