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What is Apple’s Universal Purchase?

In This Article

In This Article

The Apple App Store is home to over 8 million apps right now and is the best way for Apple users to download and buy applications.

It features across theiOS,iPadOS,watchOS,tvOSandmacOSsystems, with every app, app update and app bundle being reviewed by the company.

The Universal Purchase feature came to the App Store in 2020 and aims to help users enjoy the apps that they love across multiple devices, whether it’s an iPad, iPhone or Mac.

If you want to find out more about Apple’s Universal Purchase then make sure you keep reading, as we’re going to be running through everything you need to know.

What is Apple’s Universal Purchase

What is Apple’s Universal Purchase

Apple’s Universal Purchase allows Apple users to buy a single app as a universal purchase, so you can use the software across multiple Apple devices.

When buying an app or game that supports Apple’s Universal Purchase, it will become available across your iOS, iPadOS and macOS platforms, as well as any other supported Apple ecosystem.

For example, the Resident Evil 4 game will be available as a Universal Purchase, so you won’t need to purchase the game multiple times to play it across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Not every app and game in Apple’s App Store supports Universal Purchase, however. For example, Resident Evil Village is a standalone purchase on Mac, which means you won’t be able to play it on iPhone too without a separate purchase.

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In-app purchases and subscriptions can be enabled in Universal Purchase apps. This can be done in every version of the app or just applied to certain platforms.

If you’re a developer who’s interested in using Apple’s Universal Purchase, simply visit thisApple Supportpage to find out how you can list your app as a bundle over multiple platforms.

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Gemma joined Trusted Reviews as a staff writer after graduating from Leeds Beckett University with a Journalism degree. She’s worked with national outlets, covering breaking news stories to reviews fo…

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Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.