How to Deauthorize Your Mac

The iTunes Store on iOS allows you to buy and download songs, TV shows, movies, and podcasts. You can give your Mac permission to access your content. You can only authorize up to 5 computers to sync or play your content with a specific Apple ID. Unless you authorize your computer; your apps, audiobooks, books, music, and movies cannot be used on your computer.

See also: macOS: iTunes Crashing? Fix

This article explains how you can deauthorize your Mac. There can be several reasons for deauthorization, for example:

• You may have hit this 5 computer limit
• You may be planning to sell or give away your Mac and thus you may want to remove its access

Once you reach this 5 computer limit, you will get an error message saying:

“You can only authorize 5 computers. You have already authorized 5 computers with this Apple ID. To authorize this computer, you must first reauthorize one of the other computers.”

Before we start, please note that:

• It is not possible to see which specific computers are authorized, there is no way to list authorized computers
• It is possible to see how many computers are authorized
• It is possible to deauthorize all computers tied to your Apple ID. And then you can reauthorize only the computers you want to be able to play
• Each Apple ID can authorize up to 5 computers

Once you deauthorize, items (movies, books, etc) purchased with your Apple ID will no longer play on the computer.

See also: Your Account Has Been Disabled in the App Store and iTunes, Fix

How to deauthorize each computer individually

1. Open the computer that you want to deauthorize.

2. On this computer, launch the Music app, Apple TV app, or Apple Books app.

3. From the menu bar, select Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.

4. You will have to enter your Apple ID password and then click the Deauthorize button.

See also: iTunes Not Recognizing Your iPhone or iPad? Fix

How to deauthorize all computers

You can also deauthorize all of your computers. You may want to choose this option, especially if you no longer have one of your computers (you sold etc). Here is how:

1. On your Mac, open the Music app, Apple TV app, or Apple Books app.

2. From the menu bar, click Account > View My Account

3. Sign in with your Apple ID and click the Sign in button.

4. This will open the Account Information page:

5. Click the Deauthorize All button. Here, you can also see how many computers are authorized.

6. You will see a confirmation popup saying “are you sure you want to deauthorize all your currently authorized computers”. If you are sure, click the blue Deauthorize All button.

Please note that Apple only allows Deauthorize All once a year.

See also: “APL*ITUNES/BILL”, What Is This?