iOS 7 How-to: Redeem iTunes gift cards with your device’s camera

iTunes gift cards are a great gift for iOS Device users. They can be used to purchase content from the iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore. However, entering in the string of characters to redeem the gift card balance has typically been a pain with the touch keyboards on iPads, iPhone, and iPod touches. Like iTunes 11 on the Mac, iOS 7 moves to solve this problem. You can now use your device’s camera to scan in the code.

Go to the main/featured page in whichever store you choose and to get to the redemption screen, scroll all the way down, and press on redeem:

When you press on Redeem it will ask you for your Apple ID password. Go ahead and enter it in. Then it shows you a picture of the back of the iTunes gift cards with a black rectangular box around the code. You are able to use the device’s camera, as long as the gift card has a box around the code.

Press the Use Camera button in blue. All you have to do is hold the device above the card and the software is able to pick up the code.

You can use the front facing camera to redeem the gift cards by pressing the blue camera button in the upper right hand corner and it will still work.

For this to work, it does depend on the type of style the gift card is. The gift card does have to have a box around the code. Shown here are iTunes gift cards that were recently purchased from different locations. Starting from the the top the iTunes gift cards are from Best Buy (purchased September 2013), Bed Bath & Beyond (purchased July 2013), and from the Apple Store (purchased September 2013). Notice how the middle one from Bed Bath and Beyond does not have the black box around it. The one from Bed Bath and Beyond did not work using the camera. However, the ones from Best Buy and the Apple Store did work.