Apple sells exactly one gift card today — a single Apple Gift Card that pays for apps, music, subscriptions and even iPhones. The App Store & iTunes card and the Apple Store card are its two retired predecessors, and both of them still work. Yet the old names refuse to die: shops, resellers and WhatsApp chats in Nigeria trade every one of these as an "iTunes card", and plenty of sellers cannot name the plastic they are holding. This guide settles every name you will meet — which card it really is, what it can buy in 2026 (one retired card quietly gained hardware powers), and what any of them sells for in naira.
How one product ended up with three names
The short history is a merger. Up to mid-2020 Apple carried two cards side by side: the App Store & iTunes card covered apps and media, while the Apple Store gift card bought hardware. Then, on July 31, 2020, it folded both into one card — billed at launch as being for "everything Apple". Crucially, the older pair never left circulation: the same announcement confirmed the previous App Store & iTunes and Apple Store cards "will continue to be accepted and will fund the user's new and unified Apple Account Balance".
Apple's own pages still carry all three names openly. Its redemption guide is titled "How to redeem your Apple Gift Card, App Store Card, or App Store & iTunes Gift Card" — one page, three products. Its shop page then describes the current card as the way to "pay for everything Apple whether you're shopping at an Apple Store or in the App Store" . Three names, one wallet. The confusion comes free with the history.
Read the card in your hand in ten seconds
Forget the artwork — the designs changed over the years, but the printed name never lies. Work down this key and stop at the first match:
- If it says "Apple Gift Card" — on the card, the packaging or the delivery email — you hold the current unified card, sold since 2020. It pays for everything Apple sells.
- If it says "App Store & iTunes" — you hold the retired media card, printed before the 2020 merger. It still redeems, and the next section explains why it buys more today than it did when it was sold.
- If it says "Apple Store" — you hold the retired hardware card. It still spends, but only at Apple's own tills, never on apps or music.
- If there is no plastic at all — your card arrived as an e-code in an email or printed on a store receipt, and the same three names appear there. The code itself is the 16-digit string Apple's redemption guide points at: "Find the 16-digit code on the back of the card. For some gift cards, you might need to peel or gently scratch off the label to see the code."
One more check rides along with the name: the country. Every Apple card belongs to one country's store, and the terms line that ships with the card or email says which — for the US cards that dominate this market, that line limits the card to US transactions. What the lock means for spending the card from Nigeria is mapped in our Apple uses guide; what matters here is that the country never changes the card's name, only where the name can be spent.
What each name can buy in 2026 — including the twist
In 2026 the names matter less than the balance: redeem any of these cards and the value lands in one unified Apple Account balance that buys hardware as well as apps. The part the market gets wrong is the retired App Store & iTunes card — no longer media-only in practice. Apple's support page on the Apple Account balance says the balance "includes the balance from any Apple Gift Cards or App Store & iTunes Gift Cards" and can "buy products and accessories at apple.com, an Apple Store, or in the Apple Store app". The current gift-card terms say the same from the legal side: a holder of an App Store & iTunes card "can use the card and code balance and the Associated Balance to purchase Products as well as Content". Redeem the old media card today and its value lands in the unified balance — which buys iPhones.
The other retiree never gained that power. The Apple Store card's own terms still say it may not be redeemed for "purchases made from Apple Media Services, at Apple resellers, for additional Apple Gift Cards, for cash (except as required by law), or for shipments outside the U.S." — hardware counters only, forever. So the real split in 2026 is not "iTunes equals digital, Apple Store equals hardware"; it is "everything redeems into one balance, except the old hardware card, which stays at the hardware counter".
Timely, because Apple has called its next event for September 9, 2026 — "Surprise and Shine", per MacRumors — and new iPhones are expected to headline it. So yes: at a US Apple till, any of these names can end up paying for the new phone — the unified and hardware cards directly, the old media card through its redeemed balance. In Nigeria the answer turns theoretical — Apple runs no store here, and the full region-lock story sits in our guide to what an Apple card can do — which is why the local path runs through naira instead: sell the card, buy the phone.
Why Nigeria calls all of them "iTunes cards"
The nickname is an inheritance. Before 2020 the App Store & iTunes card was the Apple card that flooded this market — diaspora gifts, US resellers, the early trading counters all dealt in it — and the name kept circulating long after the product behind it was gone. No register tracks Nigerian trading slang, so take this as our counter's own observation rather than a documented record: sellers message us daily about "iTunes cards" whose photos show every generation Apple ever printed.
Knowing the slang matters twice over. First, it costs nothing at sale: whatever the printed name, the card prices off the single Apple/iTunes line on our board, so a seller who says "iTunes" and means the unified card loses nothing. Second, it can cost real money in expectations: a holder who believes every Apple card is media-only may never learn what the card in hand can actually do — and anyone buying or selling without naming the exact card invites a wrong price. Our scam checklist covers the patterns that start with confusion just like that.
What any of the names pays in naira
One line prices them all. On the board dated Aug 13, 2026, a $100 card under any of the three names pays ₦122,500 as a physical card and ₦104,000 as an e-code — the printed name moves the price by exactly nothing. The rate calculator turns any amount into its figure off the same lines.
What does move an Apple quote is everything except the name. The form comes first: an e-code earns about 15% less than sealed plastic at the $100 size — anyone holding a photo of a code holds the money itself, so a buyer prices that risk in. Size follows — the per-dollar rate rises across the board's tiers, so bigger cards earn more per dollar than small ones. Region decides which market's demand absorbs the card — the published board prices US issue, and other regions quote individually in chat. And the whole table is denominated in naira, so the currency market under it keeps moving. In the first two days of September the official window read between ₦1,329 and ₦1,333 to the dollar, while parallel-market quotes ran ₦1,400–₦1,410 (per NgnRates and NairaToday). NgnRates' parallel board has the dollar down from ₦1,425 at the start of August — the naira is strengthening, and every figure above moves with it. For every amount from $25 to $1,000 answered figure by figure, our Apple amount guide carries the ladder, and the full tier table sits on the Apple selling page.
Say any name — the quote comes off the same line
"iTunes card, $100", "Apple Store card, $50", "Apple gift card, $200" — the greeting changes nothing, because all three names sit on one row of our board. Tell us the name you see, the amount and the form; we answer with the firm payout in writing first, and only after you accept it does any code travel. The money is at any Nigerian bank within 15 minutes of the card checking out — and a $25 card makes a perfectly good first trade.
So the next time a name on a card, a receipt or a delivery email starts an argument — iTunes, App Store, Apple Store, Apple Gift Card — you hold the key: three names, one balance, one rate. What decides your money was never the name at all; it is the region, the form and the month, and all three are yours to read now.
Questions, answered
Is an old App Store & iTunes card still valid?
Yes. Apple’s own redemption guide still walks you through redeeming the App Store & iTunes card by name, the value lands in the unified Apple Account balance, and Apple sets no expiry date on that balance. The card also sells here at the same rate as the current Apple Gift Card — the age of the name costs nothing.
Does the name on an Apple card change what it sells for?
Not one kobo. Every generation sells at the same rate here — on the current board a $100 card pays ₦122,500 as a physical card and ₦104,000 as an e-code, whatever the printed name. What actually moves a quote is the form, the size tier, the card’s region and the month you sell in.
What does “the gift card for everything Apple” mean?
It is Apple’s own launch tagline for the unified card introduced in 2020: one card whose balance pays for hardware — iPhones, Macs, accessories — as well as apps, music, subscriptions and iCloud storage. Before it, Apple sold two narrower cards: App Store & iTunes for digital content and Apple Store for hardware.
How do I tell which Apple card I have?
Read the name printed on the card’s front, its packaging or the delivery email: “Apple Gift Card” is the current unified card, “App Store & iTunes” is the retired media card, and “Apple Store” is the retired hardware card. The value sits behind a 16-digit code — on plastic, Apple notes you may need to peel or gently scratch a label to see it.
Where do I check an Apple card’s balance before selling it?
On Apple’s own balance page, which sits behind your Apple Account sign-in — the check reads the card without redeeming it, so a pre-sale look costs nothing. Our balance-check guide links that official route for Apple and every other brand we buy, and flags the lookalike “checker” pages that exist to steal codes.
Can I sell a UK or other-region Apple card in Nigeria?
Yes — but expect a quote set in chat rather than off the published board. The board prices US Apple cards, the issue this market trades most; other regions resell through thinner channels, so their rate is set case by case. Message the region and the amount, and the firm figure comes back before anything else moves.
Sell your card the safe way
No app, no sign-up — we confirm today's rate in writing before you send anything, and payout lands in your bank within 15 minutes of verification. Start with a small card if you want to test us first.
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