The new TomTom iPhone apps look very cool. But at up to € 99 for the Western Europe version the price seems kinda steep. Especially if you share a car with your partner and you both need a copy, right?
Well no. All iPhone apps come with a FairPlay license allowing you to install the App (and every song and movie) on up to 5 computers, or iPhones.
So, if you want to have a copy of TomTom for 1/5th of the normal price all you have to do is find 4 trustworthy friends who want to have the same app.
You charge them € 20 (or 25 if you are greedy) and give them a copy. When they install the App you will have to enter your password into iTunes on their computer to authenticate and after that it will work like a charm.
Sharing the Apps is pretty straightforward too. Go to ‘Applications’ view in iTunes (after you bought an app), right-click the App and select the ‘Show in Finder’ option. A window will open in your Finder with the original App file selected. Simply drag that to Mail and send the file to your friend.
Smart… :)
No it doesn’t work like that. All you do is Authorize a computer. The friends doesn’t need to have your iTunes password at all.
not so smart…
you will need to authorize all your friends’ itunes to your itunes store account. If you don’t do this the app will be deleted from the iphone the next time your friend syncs with his itunes.
You can also logon with your iTunes account on the iPhone and download de TomTom App.
Have you ever installed a “foreign” app on your iphone (by DL’ing it from the app store using a different account for example) and then plugged your iphone into your own itunes?
You will be prompted to either continue syncing and LOSE the application or to authorize the itunes with the online store in order to keep the app on your phone.
Just give it a try with a cheap app if you are unsure.
That’s a different usercase. We tested this at the office and it works as I explained in the post. Stop guessing and try it yourself.
Thats pretty crazy!
Yes, and any movie or song/album. Of course, you need a few friends you can trust…
This means that you can get ANY iPhone app for 80% off!
In this video Brian Tong from CNET explains how you can share your apps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5mYWF0FMcs
I would love to share an app like TomTom Western Europe.. 99 euros is a bit too expensive but for 20 euros…
Sweet!
To make it more safe to share with others, just make a new iTunes account with password and use an iTunes gift card to buy the Tom Tom app.
That way you don’t have to use your credit card information and you keep you’re iTunes “sharing” account with password separated form your iTunes “personal / business” account with password.
Pretty good trick. I have a question though. My iPhone 3G had TomTom on there but it fell and broke. I now have a temporary iPhone 2G and I installed TomTom on there too. I expect to have a new 3GS somewhere in the coming weeks.
Does this mean that I have already used 3 “fairplay” licenses by switching iPhones? In that case sharing TomTom with your friends might not be such a good idea… any thoughts?
I’m curious about that too! Can one “unregister” iPhones from Fairplay?
Or are you just out of luck if your iPhone breaks or gets stolen the fifth time?
Embedding that video here: