What to Buy With the iTunes Gift Card You Unwrapped Today

santa itunes gift cardIf you show an interest in Apple or technology in general, chances are good that you received at least one iTunes gift card today from a friend or family member today.

Given the card can be used to purchase apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, books, and more, it can be difficult to decide what to buy with your newly acquired funds.

We're here to help with a roundup of ongoing iTunes and App Store sales as well as some other hand-picked recommendations.

Holiday Movies on Sale

In addition to an iTunes sale on select 4K HDR movie bundles, Apple has also discounted a handful of popular holiday movies.

apple tv movies copy
- Bad Santa 2 - $2.99, down from $12.99
- Die Hard (4K) - $7.99, down from $14.99
- Elf - $9.99, down from $14.99
- Home Alone (4K) - $9.99, down from $14.99
- Love Actually - $9.99, down from $14.99
- The Holiday (4K) - $9.99, down from $12.99
- How The Grinch Stole Christmas (4K) - $9.99, down from $14.99

Games on Sale

app store games holiday sales
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Classic - Free, down from $2.99
- Streets of Rage Classic - Free, down from $0.99
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice - Free, down from $0.99
- Layton's Mystery Journey - $7.99, down from $15.99
- The Room Three - $1.99, down from $3.99
- Mini Metro - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Jade Empire: Special Edition - $0.99, down from $9.99
- Euclidean Lands - $0.99, down from $3.99
- After the End: Forsaken Destiny - $0.99, down from $3.99
- Old Man's Journey - $1.99, down from $4.99
- Cat Quest - $1.99, down from $4.99
- Abi: A Robot's Tale - $0.99, down from $2.99
- Jaipur: the board game - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Flower - $2.99, down from $4.99
- Vignettes - $0.99, down from $2.99
- Smash Up - The Card Game - $2.99, down from $4.99
- Oceanhorn - $3.99, down from $7.99
- Transistor - $1.99, down from $4.99
- Full Throttle Remastered - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Day of the Tentacle Remastered - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Grim Fandango Remastered - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Don't Starve: Shipwrecked - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Invisible, Inc. - $0.99, down from $4.99
- Minecraft Story Mode - S2 Episode 1 - Free, down from $4.99

Apps on Sale

holiday app sales
- Tweetbot 4 for Twitter - $4.99, down from $9.99
- Picfx - Free, down from $1.99
- TapMeasure – AR utility - Free, down from $1.99
- Focus - Productivity Timer - Free, down from $7.99
- Vectorscope - Free, down from $1.99
- Fuelly - MPG, Mileage, Service - Free, down from $5.99
- BeatMaker - Free, down from $4.99
- Timepage - Free, down from $4.99
- My Wonderful Days - Free, down from $2.99
- Halide - RAW Manual Camera - $2.99, down from $4.99
- Duet Display - $9.99, down from $19.99
- Deliveries: a package tracker - $2.99, down from $4.99
- Castro 2 - $1.99, down from $4.99
- Superimpose - Free, down from $1.99
- Meditation Studio - Free, down from $3.99

Apple Music Subscription

iTunes gift cards can be used to pay for an Apple Music subscription, which costs $9.99 per month for individuals, $14.99 per month for families with up to six people, and $4.99 per month for students in the United States and Canada. Prices and student plan availability vary by country.


Those looking for a slightly better deal on an annual Apple Music subscription should consider a 12-month Apple Music gift card, which Apple sells for $99. A 12-month subscription to Apple Music normally costs $120 when paying for the service directly with iTunes credit or another form of payment, so you can save $20.

Apple Music provides on-demand access to over 40 million songs from the iTunes catalog across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, PC, and Android.

Other Subscriptions

netlfix spotify hulu tidal
iTunes gift cards can be used to pay for many subscriptions available as in-app purchases, although prices can be higher in the App Store as some companies charge extra to make up for Apple's 30 percent cut of sales.

- Netflix
- Hulu
- Spotify
- Tidal

iBooks and Magazines

ibooks texture
iTunes gift cards are also valid for purchases on the iBooks Store across iOS and Mac, providing an opportunity to do some reading over the holidays.

- Ready Player One
- A Wrinkle in Time
- Annihilation
- Station Eleven
- It

For magazines, iPhone and iPad users can download the Texture app and subscribe to unlimited access to over 200 of the world's most popular magazines for $6.99 per month as part of an ongoing sale. Magazines can be read on up to five devices per subscription, with the ability to download issues for offline reading.

Some of the magazines available include People, Vogue, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Maxim, Men's Health, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN The Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. New issues are available alongside a searchable archive of thousands of past issues.

Numbered Coloring Books

numbered coloring book
The latest App Store craze is numbered coloring books in which children colorize pixel art by following a numeric guide. Many of the apps have in-app purchases available to unlock additional pixel art, remove watermarks, and/or remove ads.

- Color by Number
- UNICORN
- Pixel Art - Color by Number
- Sandbox Coloring

Mitchel Broussard contributed to this report.

Popular Stories

ios 19 messages app

Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks

Thursday July 17, 2025 8:40 pm PDT by
Earlier this year, YouTuber Jon Prosser shared multiple videos showing off what he claimed to be re-created renderings of what was then presumed to be called iOS 19 and which was eventually unveiled by Apple as iOS 26 at WWDC in June. In his first video back in January, Prosser showed off a Camera app redesign with a simpler set of buttons for moving between photo and video modes, and he...
iPhone 17 Pro on Desk Centered 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 16 New Features

Thursday July 17, 2025 8:33 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models.Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro ...
iPhone 17 Pro Dark Blue and Orange

Ranked: The Best Features Rumored for the iPhone 17 Lineup

Wednesday July 16, 2025 4:17 pm PDT by
We have just under two months to go until the debut of Apple's iPhone 17 models, and rumors have been ramping up in recent weeks. We went through everything we know so far, pulling out the most exciting rumors and highlighting some other changes that aren't going to be so great. Top Tier Ultra Thin iPhone 17 Air - The iPhone 17 Air is 2025's most exciting iPhone rumor, because it's the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Foldable iPhone's Thickness and Price Range Detailed in New Reports

Wednesday July 16, 2025 11:31 am PDT by
Apple's long-rumored foldable iPhone will likely have a starting price between $1,800 and $2,000 in the U.S., analysts at investment banking firm UBS said this week. If so, the foldable iPhone would cost more than a MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,599. With a starting price of at least $1,800, the foldable iPhone would be the most expensive iPhone model ever released, topping the Pro Max at...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Here's When to Expect the iOS 26 Public Beta

Tuesday July 15, 2025 11:07 am PDT by
Apple previously announced that a public beta of iOS 26 would be available in July, and now a more specific timeframe has surfaced. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said that Apple's public betas should be released on or around Wednesday, July 23. In other words, expect the public betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and more to be available at some point next week. Apple will be releasing...
iPhone 17 Air Thumb 2 Blue Electric Boogaloo

iPhone 17 Air's Limited Battery Capacity Leaked

Friday July 18, 2025 12:03 pm PDT by
The battery capacity of Apple's rumored iPhone 17 Air will be below the 3,000 mAh mark, according to a recent post from Instant Digital, an account with more than 1.4 million followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo. Thanks to iOS 26's new Adaptive Power Mode, though, the account said that the iPhone 17 Air should achieve full-day battery life. A previous rumor pegged the iPhone...
iPhone 17 Colors

All 15 New iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Colors Revealed in Latest Leak

Wednesday July 16, 2025 6:50 am PDT by
We may finally have a definitive list of all color options for the iPhone 17 series, ahead of the devices launching in September. MacRumors concept In a report for Macworld today, Filipe Espósito said he obtained an "internal document" that allegedly reveals all of the color options for the upcoming iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models. The report includes ...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Friday July 18, 2025 4:23 am PDT by
Apple is expected to hold its annual iPhone announcement event during the week of September 8, 2025, with September 9 or 10 emerging as the most likely dates. Like the iPhone 16 series, this year's lineup is expected to include four models – but with a twist. The ‌Plus device is being replaced with an all-new ultra-thin model, while the iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max are set to...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...

Top Rated Comments

JeffyTheQuik Avatar
99 months ago
Happy Christmas everyone!
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chupa Chupa Avatar
99 months ago



iBooks and Magazines


For magazines, iPhone and iPad users can download the Texture app ('https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/texture-unlimited-magazines/id533561885?mt=8') and subscribe to unlimited access to over 200 of the world's most popular magazines for $6.99 per month as part of an ongoing sale. Magazines can be read on up to five devices per subscription, with the ability to download issues for offline reading.

Some of the magazines available include People, Vogue, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Maxim, Men's Health, GQ, Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN The Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly. New issues are available alongside a searchable archive of thousands of past issues.
Handy tip before anyone goes off spending $ on magazines -- Most U.S. libraries offer free magazine downloads for a bunch of titles via Rbdigital/Zinio. All you need is a library card and you can register via your libraries web site. If you want to read them on your iPhone or iPad you will also need to download the RBdigital app -- though I use the original Zinio app, but think it's because my account is so old.

Also since most local libraries have reciprocity deals with other library systems in the area if you get a card from those libraries you can download the available magazines offered by those systems. In my experience most systems offer the same assortment give or take one or two titles. But, for example, I have a card for the library in the county's next door because they offer Road and Track and my county does not.

The magazines do not need to be "returned" and can be stored on your device as long as you wish.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TMRJIJ Avatar
99 months ago
I’m still waiting on my AirPods though... :confused:

Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rictus007 Avatar
99 months ago
I didn’t get any gift card :(
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
99 months ago
Merry Christmas and happy holiday to all in MacRumors land.

Thanks for the informative article, Joe.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
99 months ago
I didn’t get any gift card :(
Buy yourself a card. That is what I did. :D
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)