Apple's Weirdest iTunes Walk-Back Turns 12 Today
12 years ago today, Apple published a web page with one job: to make a U2 album go away. On September 9, 2014, at Apple's iPhone 6 event, Tim Cook revealed that "Songs of Innocence" would be given to every iTunes customer for nothing. The album was directly linked to accounts, and devices set to "download automatically" got it without asking. Complaints quickly followed, and on September 15, Apple was forced to respond with a one-click page that stripped the album from accounts. Users were given a month to reinstall it at no cost. Apple said 26 million people ultimately downloaded the full album. Bono apologized a month later. The web tool is no longer active, but an archive of the support page is available here . This article, " Apple's Weirdest iTunes Walk-Back Turns 12 Today " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
What happened?
12 years ago today, Apple published a web page with one job: to make a U2 album go away. On September 9, 2014, at Apple's iPhone 6 event, Tim Cook revealed that "Songs of Innocence" would be given to every iTunes customer for nothing. The album was directly linked to accounts, and devices set to "download automatically" got it without asking. Complaints quickly followed, and on September 15, Apple was forced to respond with a one-click page that stripped the album from accounts. Users were given a month to reinstall it at no cost. Apple said 26 million people ultimately downloaded the full album. Bono apologized a month later. The web tool is no longer active, but an archive of the support page is available here . This article, " Apple's Weirdest iTunes Walk-Back Turns 12 Today " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
Story details
12 years ago today, Apple published a web page with one job: to make a U2 album go away.
On September 9, 2014, at Apple's iPhone 6 event, Tim Cook revealed that "Songs of Innocence" would be given to every iTunes customer for nothing.
The album was directly linked to accounts, and devices set to "download automatically" got it without asking.
Why it matters
This page keeps Apple rumors separate from official updates, so readers can follow early reports without confusing them with confirmed announcements.
Original source
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/15/apples-strangest-support-page-turned-12-today/