iPhone 3.0 update will allow re-download of apps
 

There were some concerns a week or two back when it appeared that the iPhone 3.0 update wouldn't allow users to re-download an application they'd already bought directly to the device – having to go through iTunes instead.

iPhone blog AppAdvice looked elsewhere for an answer than the 3.0 beta, however, and discovered that the recent 8.2 iTunes update will likely resolve the problem of app sharing, without forcing on-device users to buy software a second time.

The updated iTunes now checks device IDs against purchases, essentially authorising games to play on specific iPhones or iPod touches. This prevents users from signing into one iTunes account to 're-download' a game, and then signing out once it's on the handset. Presumably the app will still be there, but won't run.

The previous version of iTunes didn't have this function, which is why it flagged up the error saying users had to buy the application again.

Good news all round, really.