3 ways to top up your American Apple ID balance

Let us remind you why you need an American account at all. First of all, these are exclusive App Store applications and games that do not appear in regional stores or come out much later (for example, Pokémon GO), as well as various promotions and access to Spotify, Pandora and other services that do not work in Russia. It is easy to register an American Apple ID, but topping up is not very easy. And yet it is possible.

Method 1: gift certificates

Complexity: simply.
Who suits: everyone.
disadvantages: sellers' markup.

One of the top-ups is an iTunes Gift Card. You can buy them at almost every step, both online and offline. But the catch is that these certificates are only suitable for payment in regional stores. Ruble vouchers for Russian accounts are sold in Russia. Dollar dollars, which are suitable for American Apple IDs, can only be found in the United States.

The easiest way to buy American gift certificates in Russia is through online services. In order not to advertise specific ones, we will only show you how to find them. On the request "buy a gift card itunes usa" Google will give you a lot of offers. Choose sellers with a lot of sales and preferably those who sell scanned photo cards where 16-digit codes are visible, and not just individual codes in the form of text.

Keep in mind that you will have to overpay a little due to the extra charge, especially when buying cards of small denominations. Therefore, in order to save money, it is better to take certificates for 25, 50 or 100 dollars. There are a lot of payment methods, including terminals, WebMoney, Yandex. Money and Qiwi. Depending on the method, the price sometimes changes, so choose a more profitable one.

After you have the coveted code, you just have to redeem it using the "Enter code" button in the App Store on your iOS device or in iTunes on your computer. More details about the procedure -.

Method 2: transfer from another account

Complexity: hard.
Who suits: for those who have friends in the States.
disadvantages: the need to have friends in the United States.

You can not only buy content in Apple's digital stores, but also give it as a gift. In addition to applications and games, you can simply present money by replenishing the balance of another person by a certain amount. This is exactly what you need to take advantage of.

Like gift codes for downloading applications, account replenishment is valid within one store, that is, it will not work to send funds from a ruble card linked to your Russian account to an American Apple ID. That's why you need a friend in the States who can fund your account. You can compensate him for expenses in any convenient way.

The donation procedure in this case is extremely simple. You need to open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad and click the Send Gift button on the Featured tab. Then indicate the recipient's address and the amount (if you wish, you can add the sender's name, message and select the delivery day) and, after checking if everything is correct, confirm the debiting of funds.

A letter from Apple with a code will be sent to the recipient's email address, which, after redemption, will increase the account balance by the specified amount.

Method 3: exchange FreeMyApps credits for gift codes

Complexity: hard.
Who suits: for those who buy little.
disadvantages: need time.

The last method is quite specific and is suitable for freebie lovers and those who rarely make purchases in the App Store. It consists in using the FreeMyApps service, which charges credits for installing various applications and games, which can be exchanged for iTunes gift certificates. We wrote in detail about the work of the service here.

Exchange of FreeMyApps credits fort codes

The principle is as follows. Sponsors pay FreeMyApps money for promotion, and the service credits you for installing and launching sponsored apps. Everything about everything takes a few minutes a day, and it will take about a month to accumulate the minimum denomination on the card ($ 10). The redemption of the gift certificate code takes place according to the standard procedure - from an iOS device or via iTunes.

If you only buy apps and not very often, then this method is fine. I myself use it and I can say that there is enough for applications not only for iOS, but also for Mac.