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Christmas is coming up, and I'm currently living in a country (UK) that's a completely different iTunes store from my family (US). So I'm wondering if I can gift things in the iTunes store if I'm in a different country than the recipient. If I gift something from the UK store, can someone in the US download the items? I'm not even sure if there's a way for me to go to the US version, let alone try to gift an item from there.

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You can change the store in iTunes by clicking on the country flag icon at the bottom of the screen. So if you do have a US iTunes account, you can gift them that way (if that is a verb). – Thilo Nov 22 '11 at 5:16
That is a verb, and the answer, I will post a work around as well. +1 – Graeme Hutchison Nov 22 '11 at 7:51
Apps that you purchase in the UK store are only downloadable to other UK users. I tried switching the country of my iTunes store to the target country, but it won't work unless I have a credit card with a billing address in that country. And you can't gift apps (not sure about music or other content) from a gift card balance. Help, you guys! – Abby T. Miller Dec 1 '11 at 14:42
Are you asking about apps or music or both? – TJ Luoma Dec 8 '11 at 8:30
I left this open to pretty much anything that I could gift through the iTunes store. App, music, movies, etc. – rsgoheen Dec 8 '11 at 13:19

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

According to Apple support, from the U.S., you can gift apps to:

Mexico, 15 countries in Europe, and four countries in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand).

Anywhere else and it seems you need a credit card with a billing address in the target country to send gifts.

[This answer doesn't address gifting to the U.S. from other countries, and I think there must be a workaround for gifting to countries that aren't on that list.]

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a work around is to visit an online store such as amazon.com and buy them on that site for delivery to the USA address. This way you are buying the product in the USA for someone in the USA.

There is no confusion over who it is for or where it can be redeemed.

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A down vote without a plausible explanation? Thanks. – Graeme Hutchison Dec 2 '11 at 10:02
Well, even if your answer does give a workaround, it's not really answering the question (which is about the iTunes store, not Amazon). Downvote's not mine though :) – Zsub Dec 3 '11 at 17:13
hence why I started with 'a work around' which I said I would post after confirming the answer was the comment made on the question. seems strange to down vote without edit or comment. – Graeme Hutchison Dec 3 '11 at 21:23

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