Mobile Phones > iPhone & iOS How to Authorize Computers in Apple Music or iTunes Transfer or play your music purchases on a new computer By Sam Costello Sam Costello Facebook Twitter Writer Ithaca College Sam Costello has been writing about tech since 2000. His writing has appeared in publications such as CNN.com, PC World, InfoWord, and many others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on March 1, 2021 Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email iPhone & iOS Switching from Android What to Know Select Account > Authorizations > Authorize This Computer> enter your Apple ID and password. You can authorize up to five computers. Deauthorize remotely: Select Account > Deauthorize All. This article explains how to authorize a computer for Apple Music or iTunes so that you can listen to your music on multiple devices. How to Authorize a Computer to Play Apple Music or iTunes Media To authorize another computer to play your Apple Music or iTunes purchases, follow these steps: Open Apple Music or iTunes on a computer you want to authorize. Go to the menu bar and select Account. Select Authorizations in the drop-down menu. Choose Authorize This Computer. Input your Apple ID and password when prompted to do so. Now, Apple Music or iTunes on that computer can access and play all the content you purchased with your Apple ID—and only that content. What Does Apple Music and iTunes Authorization Do? Authorizing a PC or Mac in iTunes or Apple Music grants the computer access to and permission to play any media you purchased using your Apple ID. Apple allows you to authorize up to five computers to use content purchased with a single Apple ID. The computer you initially buy the media is the first computer of the five authorized to play it. How to Deauthorize a Computer Because you can only authorize five computers at a time, you may occasionally need to free up one of your activations or prevent the playback of your files on another computer. For example, if you sell or give away a computer, deauthorize it first by going to Account on the Apple Music or iTunes menu bar and then to Authorizations. Choose Deauthorize This Computer from the slide-out menu. How to Deauthorize Computers You No Longer Have If you no longer have access to a computer that you previously authorized with your Apple ID (because it doesn't work or you sold it, for example), and it takes up one of the five authorization slots that you now need, deauthorize all computers under that Apple ID. This will free up all five of those slots so you can reauthorize your computers. Open Apple Music or iTunes. Select Account on the right side of the screen. In the Apple ID Summary section, select Deauthorize All next to Computer Authorizations. At this point, that computer is no longer authorized to play your Apple Music or iTunes purchases—nor are any others. Go to each computer that you want to be authorized and reauthorize it. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit