iTunes Store – Paying Without Credit Card

Pay without credit cards in iTunes StoreFor a long time Apple insisted that customers have to pay with credit card in the iTunes Store or App Store. This has been problematic especially for younger people, because mostly they don’t own a credit card. Although the Californian Company still prefers payments by credit card, it is not compulsory anymore. In the meanwhile they offer alternative payment methods.

The preparations

To use iTunes without a credit card, you have to install the latest version of iTunes on your computer first. If you have not done yet, you should update the program now. The Apple ID, which can be created in iTunes immediately, is also indispensable. While registration the program will already ask you for the payment method. There you can still click the “None” button.

Choose the right payment method

To choose your payment method, you have to open iTunes and connect to the iTunes Store by clicking the “Store“ button in the middle menu bar.

Click the "Store" in iTunes

Then you choose “Account“ in the menu on the right-hand side. Afterwards you have to sign in with your Apple ID.

Signing in with the Apple ID in order to change the payment method

In the section “Apple-ID Summary“ you click the “Edit“ button next to Payment Type.

Edit the payment method to pay without a credit card

In the next window you will see your current payment method that you can change by choosing one of the icons on top. There are three different credit card providers to choose from. On the right side of these Apple also offers the payment via PayPal. This way you can pay the purchased items on iTunes without adding your credit card information. If you click “None”, you would obviously decide to choose none of the offered payment methods.

Choose one of the offered payment methods for paying without a credit card

The alternative: Apple‘s iTunes gift card

Apple sells gift cards at numerous gas stations, supermarkets, and even with the CoinStar machines you can get a voucher for iTunes. The gift cards from the stores can have a value of $15 or $50, which you can redeem. You follow the steps as described above, but you do not choose a credit card or PayPal. There will also be the option “To redeem a code, click here” below the payment options.

Click the link to enter the gift code for paying without a credit card

After entering the code, the value of the gift card will be added to your Apple ID account. Then you can use this money to purchase items.

Enter code from gift card and pay without a credit card in iTunes Store

Pay with a gift

If you neither want to pay via PayPal nor other payment methods, you can be lucky, because there is another option. Requirement: You need to know somebody that has an Apple account as well. This person can send you an iTunes gift.

Receive a gift from somebody else to pay without a credit card in iTunes Store

The sender can choose the amount, write a personal message and enter the email address of the receiver. In addition the sender can decide when to send the gift. You could give the money back in cash, so that you can pay without a credit card and also without adding your private information in the iTunes Store. In the end “sending iTunes gifts” is working like the gift card. It has a code that credits the relevant amount of money to your Apple ID.

If you are looking for an app to purchase, we explain in another article, how you can send a specific app as a gift.