Apple launches its all-in-one universal gift card in Canada, Australia

AppleInsider · July 9, 2021 3:47PM

Previously exclusive to the U.S., Apple has rolled out its universal gift card to Canada and Australia. The new card replaces the separate iTunes and App Store gift options.

The universal Apple gift card is now available in the US, Australia, and Canada

Close to a year after it first launched the universal gift card in the US, Apple has quietly introduced it to two more territories.

In the US, and now both Canada andAustralia, the card can be redeemed against any Apple purchase. There used to be some potentially confusing overlap as Apple sold separate iTunes and App Store cards, which were actually interchangeable.

Now, however, the one card can equally well be spent on buying Apple hardware.

For America and Canada, users have the option to pick a gift card design and have it either emailed to their recipient, or sent by post. In Australia, at least at time of writing, only the email option is available.

In all cases, Apple provides one-click recommended amount for the gift cards, each in their country's respective currencies. In the US and Canada, the pre-configured amounts are $25, $50, and $100, while Australia offers $30, $50, and $100.

Across all three territories, users can instead opt to specify their own value. In the US and Canada, that amount must be between $10 and $2,000. For Australia, it's between $10 and $3,000.

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anilu_777 · July 9, 2021 3:58PM

Where is Apple Cash for Canada?????

crowley · July 9, 2021 4:11PM

I’ve got credit on my UK account that I seem to be able to use for both iTunes and the App Store. Seems weird that there is the mechanism for doing that, but gift cards don’t use it.

virgilboy99 · July 9, 2021 4:48PM

Anilu_777 said:

Where is Apple Cash for Canada?????

They require a banking partner in Canada, similar to them partnering with Goldman Sachs in the US. I’m betting they are having a hard time finding a Canadian partner.

22july2013 · July 9, 2021 5:08PM

VirgilBoy99 said:

Anilu_777 said:

Where is Apple Cash for Canada?????

They require a banking partner in Canada, similar to them partnering with Goldman Sachs in the US. I’m betting they are having a hard time finding a Canadian partner.

Yes, and this is one of the reasons why I will switch banks in Canada the moment one of them (or a new bank) provides Apple compatibility and features.

phaseangle · July 10, 2021 3:32AM

"There used to be some potentially confusing overlap as Apple sold separate iTunes and App Store cards, which were actually interchangeable."
They were not Interchangeable in Australia at least 6 months ago when I was gifted a heap of iTunes cards and needed Apple store cards

allpurposeguru · July 10, 2021 7:38AM

I received one of these. One thing not mentioned here is that the Apple logo on the front of the card is a sticker, like the ones that come with Apple products.

edited July 2021

sellerington · July 10, 2021 9:46AM

I wonder when these will be available in the UK? The iTunes gift cards are often discounted but I can’t see discounts being available on cards that can be spent on Apple hardware.

anome · July 12, 2021 1:57AM

crowley said:

I’ve got credit on my UK account that I seem to be able to use for both iTunes and the App Store. Seems weird that there is the mechanism for doing that, but gift cards don’t use it.

Actually, they do, it's just the branding of the cards. When you redeem them, they go into the same pool of money.

I think ours have mostly been non-denominational (for want of a better word) for some time now, saying "iTunes and App Store". I mostly buy them when they're discounted at other retailers - used to be typically 20% off, now 15%, and a lot less frequent. I'm guessing, if these cards also apply to hardware purchases, they're not going to be available at discounted rates. Especially not as they seem to be online only, and only through Apple. (We don't even get a physical card for these, only the e-mail one. Kind of feel ripped off, and yet don't really need more waste paper to deal with.)

crowley · July 12, 2021 9:47AM

anome said:

crowley said:

I’ve got credit on my UK account that I seem to be able to use for both iTunes and the App Store. Seems weird that there is the mechanism for doing that, but gift cards don’t use it.

Actually, they do, it's just the branding of the cards. When you redeem them, they go into the same pool of money.

I think ours have mostly been non-denominational (for want of a better word) for some time now, saying "iTunes and App Store". I mostly buy them when they're discounted at other retailers - used to be typically 20% off, now 15%, and a lot less frequent. I'm guessing, if these cards also apply to hardware purchases, they're not going to be available at discounted rates. Especially not as they seem to be online only, and only through Apple. (We don't even get a physical card for these, only the e-mail one. Kind of feel ripped off, and yet don't really need more waste paper to deal with.)

Weird that it's "non-denominational" (it works) in the UK, but previously not in Canada and Australia. Unless I've understood you wrong.

EDIT: I just read the main story again, and I think I got it wrong. So the "issue" was that the cards had different branding (iTunes Store vs App Store), but they always did the same thing, gave a single credit pool usable across both stores? And this news is simply that they've ditched the dual branding for a single "Apple gift card"?

Wow, slow news day.

edited July 2021

anome · July 15, 2021 8:51PM

crowley said:

anome said:

crowley said:

I’ve got credit on my UK account that I seem to be able to use for both iTunes and the App Store. Seems weird that there is the mechanism for doing that, but gift cards don’t use it.

Actually, they do, it's just the branding of the cards. When you redeem them, they go into the same pool of money.

I think ours have mostly been non-denominational (for want of a better word) for some time now, saying "iTunes and App Store". I mostly buy them when they're discounted at other retailers - used to be typically 20% off, now 15%, and a lot less frequent. I'm guessing, if these cards also apply to hardware purchases, they're not going to be available at discounted rates. Especially not as they seem to be online only, and only through Apple. (We don't even get a physical card for these, only the e-mail one. Kind of feel ripped off, and yet don't really need more waste paper to deal with.)

Weird that it's "non-denominational" (it works) in the UK, but previously not in Canada and Australia. Unless I've understood you wrong.

EDIT: I just read the main story again, and I think I got it wrong. So the "issue" was that the cards had different branding (iTunes Store vs App Store), but they always did the same thing, gave a single credit pool usable across both stores? And this news is simply that they've ditched the dual branding for a single "Apple gift card"?

Wow, slow news day.

Almost, these new gift cards can also be used towards hardware purchases, which were previously entirely separate to the App Store and iTunes credit. What the article doesn't mention is whether that now forms a single pool of money that purchases are redeemed from, or whether you pick where the money goes when you redeem it. The latter would seem to make more sense, but I'll need to look into it further.

Apple launches its all-in-one universal gift card in Canada, Australia

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