Trouble buying iPhoto App in App Store

Hi,
I bought a slightly used 2011 13 inch MBA off of eBay. The seller wiped the machine prior to shipping and so far my experience has been excellent. Since its arrival, I've bought and downloaded several Apps through the App Store with no problems.

However when I got to purchase iPhoto, instead of having the button "buy" I get the button "Apply." I click Apply and am prompted to provide my Apple ID. When I provide my Apple ID I get a screen that says something along the lines of "This App is already assigned to another Apple ID..."

I assume that this has something to do with the fact that the machine was owned by someone with another Apple ID. However, when it arrived it was wiped. Any suggestions on what I need to do in order to purchase iPhoto?

Which operating system did the seller leave on the machine? I'm wondering why iPhoto along with iLife was not already installed?

chscag said:

Which operating system did the seller leave on the machine? I'm wondering why iPhoto along with iLife was not already installed?

Click to expand...

The machine came with Lion. Are you saying that iPhoto and iLife are default applications that ship with Macs? I'm new to Apple after a 10 year hiatus. I went looking for better photo viewing/editing software than "preview" and found iPhoto. I found iPhoto and tried to buy it and instead of getting "buy" I get "apply" which I assume is because their back end is referencing some prior purchase or ownership.

KellyC said:

The machine came with Lion. Are you saying that iPhoto and iLife are default applications that ship with Macs? I'm new to Apple after a 10 year hiatus. I went looking for better photo viewing/editing software than "preview" and found iPhoto. I found iPhoto and tried to buy it and instead of getting "buy" I get "apply" which I assume is because their back end is referencing some prior purchase or ownership.

Click to expand...

Yes, iLife comes bundled with the OS these days. Your copy of Lion is supposed to come with iLife '11 installed. Did you check to make sure it is not there (check the Applications folder)? Otherwise, you could use the Optional Installations option from your installation package to install iPhoto rather than buy it all over again. (I use Snow Leopard, so this might not be perfectly applicable, actually)

For future reference, software that comes with your OS:
1. Mail
2. iChat
3. Safari
4. iCal
5. Address Book
6. facetime
7. time machine
8. photobooth
9. iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband)

I searched the hard drive for evidence of iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband) and can find nothing.

I went back to the Ap store and tried to purchase iMovie and got the same prompt when I tried to get iPhoto:

"These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID, and they will be available in that Apple ID's Purchases list. If you don't have access to that Apple ID and want to receive future updates, you will need to purchase the applications."

The only option I get when I try to buy the apps is the word "apply." I can't even toggle to "buy" as an option.

Any help would be very appreciated.

It sounds like you have an incomplete installation of Lion. I can't imagine why someone would have sold you the machine and wiped the apps off, unless the seller was trying to remove his\her personal data and accidentally wiped the apps along with their user folder.

What you can try is re-installing Lion. Download Lion from the Mac App store - you might have to create your own Apple ID if you have not already. And you may have to pay for it. ($30.00) Create your own ID first and then log on to the Mac App store otherwise you'll continue to get that error.

batbogeyhex said:

Yes, iLife comes bundled with the OS these days. Your copy of Lion is supposed to come with iLife '11 installed.

Click to expand...

Not quite. Lion itself does not include that software but new machines do.

KellyC, the owner of the previous machine appears to have installed the iLife suite that came with their machine and then removed it before selling it to you. When they uninstalled it, they didn't remove everything and the MAS knows this because it detects the presence of some part of the suite. As such, you won't be able to install it until that part is gone (good luck finding it).

It would seem therefore that the previous owner didn't actually wipe the machine.

What VanSmith said. You are actually using someone else's account, at least partially.

The fix for this is to start over. Back up your own stuff, nuke and pave the drive with a fresh copy of Lion, restore your own stuff, buy the additional apps you want.

Ok. Thanks VanSmith and Chas_M. That sounds like the solution.

Ok. Can someone please tell me where I get started with reinstalling Lion?
I've got my data backed up and I assume I can just reinstall the apps. I've purchased from the app. store once I do the reinstall.

Is there a version that can be booted from the hard drive?

chas_m said:

What VanSmith said. You are actually using someone else's account, at least partially.

The fix for this is to start over. Back up your own stuff, nuke and pave the drive with a fresh copy of Lion, restore your own stuff, buy the additional apps you want.

Click to expand...

Can you please provide advice on how I go about uninstalling and reinstalling Lion? Any links to walk throughs would be appreciated.

How does the MacBook Air reinstall Lion without an optical drive?

Hi Kelly,
welcome onboard
NO need to reinstall Lion:

If You are the original owner (I mean if You own the Apple ID that was used for the 1st MacBook Air activation), You can do the following:
1) In Finder, click on the Go menu.
2) Click Go to Folder.
3) Enter ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore/
4) Drag adoption.plist to the Trash.
5) Restart and see if they appear in purchased items (in MacApp Store).

If You are not the owner of that Apple ID (e.g. second hand MBA owner) You are in my same situation and probably the only way to solve this is to get Redeem codes from Apple iTunes support (currently no luck yet for me)

You can anyway implement steps above to see the issue related to Apple ID
Cheers
Ale

Solution

SOLUTION:

[for iLife apps e.g. iPhoto, iMovie & Garageband installed under/associated with Apple ID you do not have access to]

Unable to update through Mac Apps Store or Accept iLife App after putting previous version in the trash.

1. Finder: go to applications

2. Right click on application [iPhoto, iMovie or Garageband]

3. select Show Package Contents

4. open or expand _MASReceipt folder

5. delete the receipt file [requires administrative priveleges for the Mac you are working on]

6. run Software Update from Apple Menu; the applications update should now appear here and not in the Mac App Store [at least as of this writing]

7. Optional: empty trash