Testing App Store Promo Codes

I’m launching Tweet Speaker on Thursday and have begun sending promo codes out to friends and acquaintances in the press. With the avalanche of pitches, press releases, and SPAM flooding their inboxes, I sometimes don’t hear back and wonder if they even saw my email or had time to redeem the promo code I sent. Apple doesn’t provide a direct method of checking the validity of promo codes, so I searched google looking for some sort of hack to see which promo codes I’ve sent out have been redeemed.

One of the first posts I came across was written back in June by my friend, Dave Caolo, who writes for TUAW and 52Tiger: How to check if an Apple promo code has been used or not

Unfortunately, the steps outlined in that post didn’t work, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that Dave’s tipster left out one very important step. Most heavy App Store users, especially developers, end up checking the “Don’t warn me about purchases” box at some point. For Dave’s tip to work, you have to go into the iTunes Account account and reset all warnings.

So, here’s how to check if an App Store (or other iTunes) promo code has been used or not:

1. Launch iTunes and log out

2. Log back in and go the the Account view

3. Look for “Reset all warnings for buying and downloading” and click the “Reset” button

4. Quit and relaunch iTunes [I’m not 100% sure this is necessary, but I didn’t want to risk a promo code to find out]

5. Follow this link to the promo code redemption page: https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/redeemLandingPage

6. Enter a code and click “Redeem”

If the promo code has been used you’ll see a warning stating: “This code has already been used. Each promo code may only be used once.”

If the promo code is still valid, you’ll be prompted to enter your password. Click cancel and the promo code will remain unused.

UPDATE: This method no longer works. Try Tokens instead: http://usetokens.com