How to Authorize / Deauthorize Computer with Apple Music on Mac
Apple uses a system of authorization and deauthorization that allows yoour computers to have access to music, books, iTunes Store purchases, apps, and more. You can only have up to five computers authorized to access your content at a time, so if you have 5 devices and want to authorize a new Mac or PC, you’ll have to deauthorize another one to authorize a new one. Additionally, before you send a Mac in for repair, you’ll want to deauthorize the Mac, just in case some major component gets replaced. And since you can not remotely deauthorize another computer (you can only deauthorize all of them…), you’ll want to take care of this process on the actual device itself.
While the authorization and deauthorization system for Apple Music, iTunes content, Books, and other purchases is a little goofy and confusing, and feels like something from a paranoid PC manufacturer from the late 1990’s, it persists with us today in the Apple world.
Let’s review how you can authorize and deauthorize a Mac by using the Apple Music app, meaning for all modern Macs running macOS Mojave, Monterey, Big Sur, Ventura, and newer. This contrasts to older Macs that deauthorize with iTunes.