How to Remove Credit Card from iTunes

A credit card or debit card is absolutely necessary when it comes to making payments on Apple’s iTunes and App Stores, for purchasing songs, movies, ringtones and apps. Without a card, you’re limited to just the free stuff available there. So, let’s assume that you’ve recently made a purchase on one of these stores using your credit card. All your credit card information will still remain attached to your Apple account, to make future purchases easier. Although this is useful, it also opens up the possibility of unauthorized purchases. What if someone steals your Apple ID and password, or what if one of your kids asks for your fingerprint and you accidentally authorize the purchase of an app? Well, in order to avoid such unwanted payments, it’s totally worth removing the credit card from your iTunes account after using it for a purchase. If you’re interested in getting this done, before we check out how to remove credit card from iTunes, let’s take a look at what’s the need to actually remove the credit card for your account:

Why Do You Need to Remove Credit Card?

There are multiple reasons why you might be considering to remove the credit card linked to your Apple account in the first place. So, let’s take a look at some of the valid reasons:

Unauthorized Payments

Most of the people panic especially when they have to pay for a transaction that they didn’t authorize, and an unauthorized App Store transaction is no exception in that regard. This might occur accidentally or on purpose due to one of your family members or friends. The best and easiest way to make sure that such kind of purchases don’t happen in the future, is by removing the credit card information linked to the Apple ID. Additionally, if you’re planning to give access of your Apple account to your children, you might want to remove the credit card linked to the account, just to make sure they don’t make any unnecessary transactions without your permission.

Lost or Replaced Credit Card

If your credit card has been stolen or you lost it somewhere, the first thing that you’d do is call the bank and ask them to block the card before someone tries to take advantage of the situation. Well, if that’s the case, you might want to remove this card from your Apple account, which is pretty much useless after it has been blocked. On the other hand, if you’re replacing your existing credit card with a new one, you might be interested in changing the credit card information that’s stored on your Apple account.

Subscription Services

If you’ve subscribed to a service like Apple Music with your credit card that requires you to pay on a monthly or yearly basis, but it was unfortunately blocked or disabled or replaced with a new one for any reason, then you have to remove the existing credit card information from your Apple account, before you’re able to link a new one. However, it’s worth noting that Apple wouldn’t let you remove the card until auto-renewal for these subscription-based services have been disabled.

Removing Credit Card on iTunes

The procedure is quite simple and you’ll be done with the process in under a couple of minutes. So, simply follow the steps below carefully to avoid any confusion:

• Open up iTunes on your Windows or Mac computer and head over to the Account section in the top menu. Now, click on “View My Account”.

• Now, you’ll be asked to enter your Apple ID and password. Once you’ve filled the credentials, click on “Sign In”.

• Your account information including your Apple ID summary will be displayed on the screen. In order to remove your credit card details, click on “Edit” option, which is located right next to the Payment information.

• In the next menu, you’ll be able to change your payment information. In order to remove the credit card from your Apple account, choose “None” as your payment information and click on “Done” to save your settings.

Removing Credit Card on iPhone

If you don’t have a computer within your reach, you won’t be able to make use of the above method to remove your credit card information on iTunes. Well, good news is that you can also do the same, right from the comfort of your iPhone itself. So, simply follow the steps below to get this done in a jiffy:

• Firstly, you need to open the App Store application on your iPhone and tap on the Profile icon located at the top-right of the screen. Now, simply tap on your profile name displayed in the next menu.

• You’ll be taken to the account section in the next menu. Here, tap on “Payment Information” to change your account settings. Now, you’ll be shown two options for your Payment method. Since you want to remove your credit card, just choose “None” and tap on “Done” to save your settings.

Changing Apple ID Payment Information on iPhone

Suppose you’ve replaced your existing credit card with a newer one, you’ll need to change the payment information of your Apple ID to start making use of the new card. So, simply follow the steps below to change your credit card information within minutes, right from the comfort of your iPhone:

• Go to Settings on your iPhone and tap on your profile name. Now, go to the “Payment & Shipping” section of your account.

• In the next menu, select your credit card to move on to the next menu, where you’ll be able to change the card number, expiry date, CVV code and even the billing address, according to your preference. Once you’ve completed everything, tap on “Save” to store your new credit card information.

Changing Apple ID Payment Information Using Any Browser

If you don’t have an iPhone within your reach, you’ll still be able to change your credit card information, as long as you’re able to access any web browser. That’s right, you’ll be making use of the official Apple ID website to get this done. So, simply follow the steps below to get this done within minutes.

• Head over to appleid.apple.com, type in your username & password, and then click on the arrow icon to log in.

• Now, scroll a bit down and go to the Payment & Shipping section. Here, simply click on “Edit Payment Information”.

• Now, you can type your new credit card number, expiry date, CVV code and change your billing address, if necessary. Once you’ve filled up the required information, click on “Save” to store the new information.

How to Create Apple ID Without Credit Card

If you’re creating a new Apple ID for your family members, say your children, you might not want to face unauthorized purchases due to the credit card linked to your Apple ID. So, you might be looking for options to create an Apple ID without the requirement of a credit card. By default, Apple asks you to choose a valid payment option for purchases, when you try to create a new Apple account. However, there’s a trick that you can take advantage of, that lets you create an Apple ID without the requiring any valid payment option. So, simply follow the steps below to get your account set up within minutes:

• Before you proceed to the actual step, you need to make sure you’re logged out of your Apple account. In order to do this, go to the App Store and tap on the profile icon located at the top-right corner of the screen. Now, tap on “Sign out” to make sure that you’re logged out of your Apple account.

• Here, the trick is to download any free app from the Apple App Store. Visit the store page of any free app and tap on “GET”. Now, the store will ask you to either sign in with an existing Apple ID or create a new one. Since you’re trying to create a new one, choose “Create New Apple ID”.

• Provide a valid e-mail address and fill in your preferred password, choose your country and agree to the terms and conditions. Once done, tap on “Next” to proceed to the next menu, where you’ll be asked to fill in your personal information and preferred security questions that can be used to recover your Apple account, just in case you forgot the password. Once you’ve filled up everything, tap “Next” again.
  

• Once you’re in the next menu, you’ll have the option to set your Payment Method to “None” which essentially means that you don’t need to type any credit card information to create the account. Fill in your preferred billing address (could be anything literally) and tap on “Next”. Now, a verification code will be sent to the e-mail address which you provided for creating the account. Type in the code and tap on “Verify” to successfully create an Apple account without credit card.

Unable to Remove Credit Card?

Sometimes, you will have a hard time trying to remove the credit cards linked to your Apple accounts, In fact, you won’t be able to remove it even after trying the above steps due to a number of valid reasons. So, let’s take a look at why exactly you were unsuccessful in your attempts:

Uncharged Transactions

If you’ve made a transaction for a paid app, music or movies from the Apple Store or iTunes Store, and your card hasn’t been charged yet, Apple will not allow you to remove this card from your account. This is because you owe money to Apple and as long as it’s not paid off, you’ll be blocked from changing or removing the credit card information.

Auto-Renewal Subscriptions

Have you subscribed to a subscription-based service like Apple Music that renews automatically? Well, this might pretty much be one of the reasons why you’re not able to remove the credit card linked to your account. If this is the case, you can simply disable auto-renewal for these subscriptions and then change your Apple account’s payment information to “None”.

Family Sharing

If you’ve enabled Family Sharing on your Apple account, you will not be able to remove or change the credit card information linked to the account, as the iTunes, iBooks and App Store purchases are shared with up to 6 family members, and everyone of them will be making use of the same credit card at the discretion of the Family Sharing account organizer. Once you disable Family Sharing, you’ll be able to remove or change the credit card information stored on your Apple account.

SEE ALSO: How to Get Refunds for Paid Apps from App Store

Avoid Unauthorized Purchases By Removing Credit Card From Your Apple Account

Well, that’s pretty much the whole process. Your credit card has been successfully removed from your Apple account, so you don’t have to worry about unauthorized purchases anymore. If your iOS device is often accessed by any one of your family members or friends, this is a much needed step in safeguarding your account. Make sure you add your credit card information only when you’re about to make a purchase on the iTunes or App Store. So, have you guys successfully managed to remove your credit card information on iTunes? Do let us know how the procedure went, by simply dropping a few words in the comments section down below.