Apple Creates Tool for Users to Delete Unwanted U2 Album

During Apple's keynote announcement, the company announced plans to provide U2's new album, "Songs of Innocence," to all iTunes customers for free. Rather than letting customers choose to download the album on their own, however, Apple pushed it to iTunes accounts, causing some devices to automatically download the album without explicit user permission.

The move upset users who did not want to have U2's album listed on their devices, which has now prompted Apple to create a process for removing the album from user's devices. According to Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr, who gave a statement to Re/code, customers were asking Apple how to delete the album after it was distributed, which has led Apple to create both a tool and a support document that outlines the process for removing the album from iCloud.

u2albumremoval

Here's Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr's explanation: "Some customers asked for the ability to delete 'Songs of Innocence' from their library, so we set up http://www.itunes.com/soi-remove to let them easily do so. Any customer that needs additional help should contact AppleCare."

To remove the U2 album, users are directed to Apple's new removal tool that will automatically remove the U2 album from an account after signing in with an Apple ID and password.

Apple warns that once the album has been removed from an iTunes account that it will no longer be available as a previously purchased album. Users have until October 13, 2014 to manually reinstall the album for free.

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
Apple Logo Black

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio. Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014. Q.ai has...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...

Top Rated Comments

5t3f4n Avatar
149 months ago
Wow. People are really this ungrateful.
Score: 106 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SilianRail Avatar
149 months ago
The album is so terrible it should be considered malware.
Score: 97 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NachoGrande Avatar
149 months ago
Wow. People are really this ungrateful.
Ungrateful? No one asked for the album. What if it was some country music or rap or something you don't like. :rolleyes:
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
149 months ago
This is such a ridiculous thing to complain about.
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
acearchie Avatar
149 months ago
I don't understand how Apple could have thought this was going to work?

A lot of people didn't understand that it hadn't been downloaded to their device but equally how did Apple think that U2 was a universally liked sound?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacsRgr8 Avatar
149 months ago
Good thing, I suppose.

Shouldn't haven pushed it in the first place.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)