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I haven't been installing anything on my iPad Mini for the past few weeks. But previously, I just had to tap on "Install", enter my Apple ID password and go.

Now, for every new application, even those free ones, I have to confirm each time, that I'm 17 or over. And then App Store asks to enter my credit card information. If I disagree and hit "Cancel", installation process is interrupted and I can't install any application, even free one.

I don't trust Apple at all and I'm not willing to share my credit card information, especially that I'm installing only free applications.

I'm pretty sure that I haven't changed anything in the configuration of my iPad Mini for ages.

Am I missing some significant change to the App Store or this is some kind of bug or virus? Is there anything I can do in this situation? How can I install a free application from the App Store, without having to share my credit card information with Apple?

1 Answer 1

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You need to select that you don't have/want a payment option.

  1. Navigate to this magic link on iOS or macOS: https://apps.apple.com/account/billing
  2. Remove all payment types from the list and choose None as the payment type.

If you're not able to select None or the None option is not present for you to select, there are some possible reasons as to why this is the case:

  • Unpaid balance
  • Changed country/region
  • Family Sharing management

For more information, see the Apple KB article:

If you want to create a new Apple ID with None as the payment method, purchase a free app from the App Store and choose Create Apple ID. For more information, see:

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  • Settings → iTunes & App Stores does not exist. Feb 6, 2021 at 14:15
  • Let we see if I have this right. Before I can install anything (without revealing my secrets), I need to install itunes (this looks like a boot strap problem). Feb 6, 2021 at 14:18
  • @ctrl iTunes in ‘iTunes and App Stores’ refers to iTunes Store, as in ‘iTunes [and App] Stores’, not iTunes the deprecated app. In iOS 14 the option has moved, but there’s a link you can use on both iOS 13 and 14 to take you to the right place; I’ve edited my answer to replace the instructions with that link.
    – grg
    Feb 6, 2021 at 14:35

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