How To Change The Country Or Region For Your Apple ID

An Apple ID is region specific. It works only for the regional/country store it was created for. The App Store apps on both iOS devices and Macs detect which store an Apple ID was created for and switch you to it. The point is to control the geographical distribution of apps. For example, Pokèmon Go was initially only available in the US App Store. Users residing outside the US had to create a new Apple ID for the US store (if they didn’t already have one) to download it. This works fine if you don’t mind having multiple Apple IDs and if you don’t intent to make an purchases in the App Store. If instead you’d like to change the country or region for your Apple ID instead of creating a new one, there’s a pretty simple way to do just that. Be warned that this will require a credit card that works in the country/region you want to switch to.

Open the App Store and scroll to the bottom of the ‘Featured’ tab. If you aren’t signed in, sign in first. If you’re already signed in, tap your Apple ID and select ‘View Apple ID’. The next screen takes a few seconds to load. On the ‘Account’ screen, tap ‘Country/Region’. On the next screen, tap ‘Change Country or Region’ again.

 

A list of all available regions will load. Select the country or region you want to switch to and tap next at the bottom. Next, you will be asked to accept the terms and conditions of the App Store for the region you’re switching to. This is going to take a few taps. The last screen will ask you to update your billing information.

This is where your credit card is needed; enter the correct billing address and credit card number on the screen and tap next again at the bottom.

 

That’s all it takes. If you do not have a credit card that you can enter, then you can’t use this method, or any other for that matter to change the country or region for your Apple ID.

Of course if you don’t have a credit card that works in that particular region, you’re not going to be buying apps or making in-app purchases in said store. If all you want is to download free apps, it’s best to create a new Apple ID for the country store you want to use.

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