By Dan Moren
October 1, 2015 2:30 PM PT
Wish List: Multiple credit cards in iTunes
Note: This story has not been updated for several years.
Okay, this one’s a bit niche, but hey, it’s my wish list, right?
As I’ve documented in the last year, I’ve been slowly adjusting to my life as a self-employed writer, and a large part of that is finances. I’ve already documented how I track my income, but the far trickier part is keeping track of expenses. Most recently, I finally got around to getting a second credit card to be used purely for business expenses, and so I’m in the process of switching many services to new cards.
So you could have knocked me over with a feather when I realized that Apple doesn’t support multiple credit cards in the iTunes Store–which is also what Apple uses to charge for iCloud storage and other digital goods. Now, I could certainly switch to my business card, but the problem is that I make both personal and business purchases from iTunes. So obviously, it would be useful to be able to switch back and forth as, say, Amazon and most other retailers allow you to. But perhaps Apple doesn’t see it that way.
Thus far, the best workaround I’ve come up with is to, say, leave my business card on file, then buy iTunes Gift cards with my personal card and use those when I want to buy things for myself. Another alternative is to use a totally different iTunes account for one set of purchases, but that leads down a terrifying path of managing multiple accounts.
My gut tells me that this is Apple’s “simplicity” ethos at work here: you never have to think about which credit card you’re using, which streamlines the checkout process of buying apps. But for those of us who do need to bounce back and forth between multiple cards, it would certainly be a boon.
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]
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