How to spend a remaining App Store balance
Leftover App Store credit is only good in one place — Apple digital purchases in the storefront that issued it. Here is the complete list of what it buys, what it never buys, and how to spend it down without leaving a remainder behind.
Where the balance is actually spent
Apple applies store credit automatically, before any card, to purchases made with the same Apple Account in the same storefront:
- Apps and games in the App Store, paid up front.
- In-app purchases — coin packs, unlocks, premium tiers. These are the most useful for hitting an exact figure, because their price points are far more varied than app prices.
- Subscriptions billed through Apple: Apple Music, TV+, Arcade, iCloud+, Apple One, and third-party subscriptions bought inside apps.
- Books and audiobooks in Apple Books.
- Films and TV — rentals and purchases in the TV app.
- iCloud+ storage upgrades, which are billed the same way as any other subscription.
What it will never buy
- Hardware. App Store credit and Apple Store (retail) credit are different things; the balance does not buy an iPhone case.
- Gift cards. Deliberately blocked, so credit cannot be moved to another account.
- Anything in another storefront. Credit is locked to the country that issued it.
- Cash. No withdrawal, no refund to a card as a rule.
Spending it down without a remainder
If you just want to use up a healthy balance, buy what you would have bought anyway and stop reading. If you need the balance to reach exactly 0.00 — which is what Apple requires before changing your App Store country — the approach has to change:
Last Cent does step 1 to 3 for you: enter the remaining amount and get a purchase list that totals exactly that, tax included.
Get Last Cent — freeGood ways to use up a balance you are not in a hurry with
- Pay for iCloud+ for a few months — the credit covers renewals automatically until it runs out.
- Buy the paid version of an app you already use in its free form.
- Rent a film; rentals are cheap and land on unusual price points.
- Buy an audiobook — Apple Books prices are varied enough to be useful when you are targeting a total.
Only the last two are much help when you need an exact figure. If your leftover is under a dollar, none of these will fit — see what to do with a balance that small.