You have searched far and wide for the name of an app you would really like to download on your iPhone but, nothing, you have not found it. Then came the bitter surprise: by informing yourself a little on the Net, you discovered that the app in question is not available for download in your country due to restrictions imposed by its developer, or by Apple. However it can be easily downloaded from a foreign version of the same store.
Is there a solution to the problem? But of course yes: there are several ways to make the app you want so much your own. To be clear, in this guide I will explain how to change the App Store on your device and use the one of the country for which the app is available: by doing so, you will have the possibility to download the content of your interest to your iPhone directly from the foreign store, without having to change devices. On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with wanting to do this, since, for example, it could be useful if you are abroad and you need a specific application.
How do you say? Do you have an Android device and would like to understand if it is possible to proceed in the same way also on the latter or what are the alternative stores to the Play Store that we talk about so much? No problem: by following the instructions that I am going to give you, you will also be able to understand how things are in the world of the “green robot”. Now, however, ban the chatter and let’s start. Happy reading and happy downloading!
Index
- How to change iPhone App Store
- How to switch App Store accounts
- How to change the App Store location
- How to return to the Italian App Store
- How to change Android app store
- How to switch Android app store accounts
- How to use alternative app stores
How to change iPhone App Store
If you are wondering how to change the App Store on your iPhone , you should know that the procedure to follow is not that complex. In fact, Apple itself has understood that a user may actually need to change the geographical area relating to the store. This means that the same Cupertino company has implemented a feature that allows you to quickly carry out this operation. However, there are some clarifications to be made: below you will find all the details of the case.
Please note : in this chapter I will only talk about the official Apple App Store . In fact, there are third-party app stores, which however are not official and in many cases are also unreliable in terms of privacy. I invite you, therefore, to stay away from it.
How to switch App Store accounts
Coming this far, you may be wondering why I’m focusing on the procedure that requires you to change the account associated with the App Store . Well, you should know that Apple has actually implemented a quick feature that allows you to change the region associated with the Apple ID, but there are some requirements to be able to follow it.
In fact, you must have a valid payment method for the country / geographic area you want to switch to. To be clear, if you are wondering, for example, how to change the App Store from Italian to German , you must have a payment method valid in Germany .
Of course, if you are abroad for work or something else you may have it available, but if not, you understand well that not everyone could have it “on hand” (I am thinking of a tourist who is, for example, in Germany and needs to use an app available only on the German App Store). In any case, if you are among those who have a valid payment method for the App Store involved , proceeding is a breeze.
However, keep in mind that Apple strongly recommends spending any remaining credit on your Apple ID , as well as canceling active subscriptions and waiting for them to expire . This also applies to reservations, any refund requests, movie rentals, season passes, and so on. In short, I warned you: in other words, you should only proceed in this way if you have a “clean” Apple ID and you actually need to go to the other App Store for a long time .
Obviously, I do not take any responsibility for any irresponsible use of the information contained in this guide: proceed, therefore, at your own “risk”.
Having said that, if you do not intend to create a new Apple ID and want to change the geographical area of the account at your disposal (I repeat that you must have a valid payment method for the new country ), just take your iPhone , tap on the settings icon , press on the box of your name (present at the top), select the option Multimedia files and purchases and press on the item View account . You may need to log in to your Apple ID again .
At this point, click on the Country / Region option , tap on Change the country or region , select the new country or region and click on the Accept option (relating to the new Terms and Conditions ) to continue. By doing so, you will be prompted to set up the new payment method with a billing address (it must be valid for the country / region you have chosen, I have warned you several times about this requirement), then clicking on Next .
Perfect: now, once the wizard is finished , you will have successfully changed the App Store . In short, if you have a suitable payment method, the procedure is not that complex. Among other things, you can refer to the official guidelines of Apple for all the indications of the case, in order to minimize the risk of “errors” and better understand the situation.
In any case, I know: if you do not have a valid payment method, at this moment you may have a doubt: how to change country on the App Store without a credit card ? The same company from Cupertino comes to your aid, which in the guidelines I mentioned earlier writes: “If you do not want to enter a payment method, wait until you are physically in the new country or in the new geographical area, then create a new Apple ID “ .
Put simply, Apple obviously suggests carrying out this operation only once the destination country has been physically reached. However, in some contexts, of course, you may also want to carry out this operation without necessarily going to the other country . I am thinking, for example, of the arrival of a German customer in Italy who wants to see how an app developed by an Italian company and designed specifically for the German market that is not available on our App Store will work.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, I have good news for you: trying to create an Apple ID from Italy linked, for example, to the United States of America, you are not required to be physically abroad to complete the procedure. However, obviously, if you don’t have a credit card (or PayPal account ) linked to the country in question , keep in mind that you will only be able to download free content . Also, in some specific cases, such as Mainland China, you may need to enter a number with a certain prefix. In short, the variables involved are many and you may encounter limitations, but if you “desperately” need it you can continue in the way I am about to indicate.
Well, to proceed with the creation of a specific Apple ID for the country where the content of your interest is available, just connect to the official Apple ID management site , scroll down the page slightly and press the Create your own link. Apple ID placed in the center. Once this is done, fill in all its parts the form proposed in the next screen, taking care to indicate the country to which you intend to associate the Apple ID in the COUNTRY / REGION drop-down menu (for example United States ) and to use an email address that is not associated with other existing Apple IDs .
After completing everything (specifying name , surname , country / region , date of birth , e-mail address , password , password confirmation , telephone number to be verified with text message or phone call and security questions ), indicate if you wish receive press releases , news about apps and other Apple News content or updates by checking the relevant boxes, enter the security code shown on the screen in the appropriate field and press the Continue button located at the bottom of the page.
If everything went well, you should receive a verification code at the e-mail box you have chosen for your new Apple ID: after having written it down, write it down in the appropriate section of the box that appears on the screen and, finally registration, click on the Continue button .
After that, you will receive an SMS or a phone call on the phone number you indicated: in this way, you will get another verification code . Enter it, therefore, in the appropriate field and press the Continue option again . Mission accomplished: the foreign Apple ID is ready to be used in the App Store!
How to change the App Store location
Now that you have finally created the Apple ID to use to download content available overseas, you can safely associate it with the iPhone in your possession. First, however, you must take care to delete from the device the Apple ID related to your country of origin , the one you have used so far to download the contents: before proceeding, be sure to remember exactly the password to access it again in the future; if not, proceed to reset it by following the steps I showed you in my guide on how to recover your Apple ID password .
To remove the “old” Apple ID (the Italian one) from the iPhone, go to the Settings screen of the device by touching the appropriate icon located on its Home screen, tap on your name , scroll down the page and tap on the Exit option . Keep in mind that this will disable Find My iPhone . You will be prompted to type your Apple ID password to confirm. Press, therefore, on the item Disable to proceed.
At this point, the system will remind you that your data is saved in iCloud , but you may be interested in keeping a copy of it entirely on the iPhone . This phase is “delicate”: there is always the risk of losing something . I therefore advise you to proceed only if you understand what you are doing . For the rest, I clearly accept no responsibility for any problems caused by carrying out this operation. Also, if you want some advice, it is probably good to check all the boxes related to the data , in order to avoid “surprises” as much as possible.
Therefore, if you are convinced to proceed, at your own risk, all you have to do is tap on the Exit item , located at the top right, then confirming your choice. The removal of iCloud iPhone data may take some time.
For the rest, now that you have successfully logged out of your Italian Apple ID, it’s time to log in with the “foreign” Apple ID you created earlier. Then open the Settings and tap on the Log in on iPhone box . Type, therefore, the e-mail address you used in that case and tap on the Next item . Then enter the appropriate password and click on the Next option .
You will be prompted to go through two-factor authentication (which was automatically activated when creating your Apple ID). You will therefore receive a verification code via SMS (or and possibly in the other methods indicated): you just have to type it in the appropriate field to continue.
At this point, you will have to press on the Accept item , present at the bottom right, to accept the Terms and Conditions (you may be asked to press the Accept option again and you may receive confirmation e-mails regarding the login, all in the norm). Next, you may be prompted to verify your identity by unlocking your iPhone (typically asking for the code you usually use).
Now, you will be asked if you want to merge iCloud data with those on the iPhone . Make your decision by pressing the Merge or Don’t Merge button accordingly . Perfect, you have now successfully signed in to your overseas Apple ID . After all, as I told you at the beginning, it is not a complex operation.
In any case, now what you have to do is go back to the iPhone Home screen and start the App Store (using the appropriate stylized “A” icon). In this way, if you have chosen, for example, a country where the main language is English , you should already see indications in that language appear on the screen. To give you a concrete example I have chosen the United States of America, so in my case to proceed you have to press the Continue button (from here on I will be based on English, you obviously follow the language of the country you have chosen).
Perfect, now you have successfully entered the foreign App Store . Great, now you can safely proceed to download the app you need. Just remember that if you have not set up a valid payment method, you will only be able to download free apps and you will not be able to make in-app purchases .
Since this is the first time you use your account in the foreign store , you may be asked to fill in some fields following the first download made. Press, therefore, on the Review button , check the Agree to Terms and Conditions box , press the Next item (present at the top right), leave None / None as a payment method (otherwise, you should have a credit card or a PayPal account belonging to the country of your choice), fill in the proposed fields with information on address and telephone numberbilling (even if it would not be very correct, you can also enter fantasy information, there are also online generators suitable for this purpose) and complete the verification by tapping the Next and Continue buttons .
How to return to the Italian App Store
Have you downloaded the app of your interest from the foreign store and now would you like to go back to the Italian one (or your country of origin)? Are you wondering, for example, how to change the App Store from Chinese to Italian ? Nothing could be simpler: all you have to do is repeat the steps seen above “backwards” and re-associate the Italian Apple ID to the iPhone. The “foreign” apps will remain functional, fear not.
To proceed, tap the Settings icon located on the Home screen of your device, press on your name box , scroll down the page and tap the Exit button . At this point you just have to carry out all the steps you have already done previously, confirming your Apple ID password , choosing whether to keep the data on the iPhone and tapping on the option Log in on iPhone .
By logging in with your Italian Apple ID , you will correctly return to associate it with the iPhone (obviously you will have to choose whether or not to merge the data on the iPhone with those of iCloud ). Perfect, you are now back to using the previous account on your device.
You just have to go to the Settings , press on the box of your name , select the item Multimedia files and purchases , press the Continue button , type the password of the Italian Apple ID and tap on the Login item . By doing so, you can also go back to using the Italian App Store . If everything has been done correctly, opening the latter you will notice the presence of indications in Italian.
For the rest, I recommend that you try to download any app . In fact, you may be prompted to configure some options again, for example the one relating to how long to ask for the password . For the rest, the download and installation of the chosen app will then start automatically : congratulations, you have successfully returned to the Italian App Store.
In any case, for any doubts about it, you can refer to my tutorial on how to return to the Italian App Store , in which I have explained to you in great detail the steps required to reset the appropriate language in the device store.
How to change Android app store
How do you say? By the terms “app store” did you mean to refer to solutions for Android ? No problem, I’ll explain immediately what you can do.
How to switch Android app store accounts
Have you noticed that an application is only available in the Play Store of another country , are you abroad and want to access the store of another region in a similar way to what was done in the chapter on the iPhone ? Don’t worry: I’ll immediately refer you to the guides they can do for you (this tutorial is clearly focused on the iPhone, but since you may have come here also looking for information on Android, I thought I’d give you some “quick tips”).
Well, in this case I can only advise you to consult my guide on how to change country on the Play Store . However, you need to know that there may be bad news if you are planning to proceed from Italy. In fact, the country is recognized through an IP address and it is essential to have a payment method suitable for the country involved . There are also other issues that you can explore in the aforementioned tutorial. You may also be interested in taking a look at the official Google guidelines , which explain everything.
In any case, if you want dispassionate advice, unless of urgency the “game” may not be worth the candle. In fact, I remind you that on Android, if you need a certain app, you could think of installing it via APK file , perhaps going through an alternative store : what am I referring to? Read on and you will find out.
How to use alternative app stores
If changing country at the Play Store seems like a complicated procedure, using alternative third-party digital stores is essentially a breeze.
In fact, on Android there are reliable alternatives to the official Google store, such as Amazon Appstore and HUAWEI AppGallery . Don’t be fooled by the names of the stores: both are easily installed on almost any Android device . Just connect to the respective official sites and download the related APK packages.
In any case, instead, for security reasons, I invite you to stay away from other third-party stores that are not associated with large companies in the tech sector. In fact, the world of the Web is teeming with solutions of this type, but behind an APK file there could be much more than what was promised.
Obviously, I cannot go further into detail, given that the existing stores are various and that the variables involved are not few. However, if you are looking for concrete examples , you can refer to my guides on how to download the Amazon Appstore , how to install apps on HUAWEI, and how the HUAWEI AppGallery works .
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