Gift cards and content codes are a quick way to send joy the way of others. With features such as instant email delivery making it all too easy to redeem content, a manual redemption can be a confusing affair.

Redeeming an App Store & iTunes Gift Card adds credit to your Apple ID balance and can be used to purchase apps, music, movies, shows and books via the app store.

This credit can also purchase increased iCloud storage or pay for Apple’s subscription services — Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, Apple TV channels, or Apple News+.

If you have been gifted an App Store content code or gift card, or have purchased one for yourself, this guide explains how you can redeem codes on the App Store.

Update: Apple updated its Gift Card policy, on July 30, 2020, to merge the App Store, iTunes Gift Card and Apple Store Gift Card into a single entity named Apple Gift Card. If you currently own an App Store & iTunes Gift Card, this can now be used to purchase Apple products by adding its funds to your Apple account balance. The Apple Store Gift Card functions remain unchanged. As of now, this change is exclusive to the United States.

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Redeeming codes on your iPhone’s App Store

Open App Store and follow the steps mentioned below to redeem a code.

• In the top-right corner, tap on the profile photo to access account info.
• Tap on Redeem Gift Card or Code.
• Enter the code manually or use your camera to scan the code.
• Tap on Redeem in the top-right.

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How to redeem codes on iTunes Store?

Alternatively, these codes can also be redeemed in the iTunes Store. The steps to do so have been listed below.

• Open the iTunes Store app and scroll to the bottom of the screen.
• Tap on Redeem.
• Now enter the code manually or use your camera to scan the code.
• Tap on Redeem in the top-right.

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Things you cannot do with redeemed credit

Redeemed credit cannot be used to buy gifts for a third-party. Also, if part of a family, your credit cannot be shared with other members.

Things to keep in mind while redeeming a code on your Apple device

• Make sure the code redeemed is an App Store & iTunes Gift Card or Apple Music Gift Card. Apple Store Gift Cards cannot be redeemed in the App Store.
• App Store & iTunes Gift Card or Apple Music Gift Card are region-locked. This means they cannot be redeemed in a country different from where it was purchased. For example, a code purchased or gifted in the United States cannot be redeemed or received by someone using the Indian App Store.
• Upon redemption if your code says it is ‘inactive’, contact the retailer you purchased it from to resolve the issue.

Also read: How to redeem a code in Google Play Store?