How to change your Apple App Store country

If you are moving to another country and you own an iPhone, you need to remember to change your Apple App Store country. Once you change your billing address and payment method, there are things that you need to keep on top of. Your existing apps may not be available in your new country. Your subscriptions and credit balance will be affected, and you may also pay more due to the new currency. Here’s how to switch over and the checklist of things you need to remember.

What you should know before changing your Apple App Store country

Before changing your App Store country, there are some things you need to consider first.

• If you are in a Family Sharing plan, and you live in another country than the other members of the plan, then changing your App Store country will not be possible.
• Some apps are restricted to certain countries or geographical regions. This means that if you switch App Store countries, those apps could stop working, disappear entirely from your device, or at the very least, will stop receiving future updates. This also applies to books, music, TV shows, etc.
• You need to cancel all of your active paid subscriptions and wait until the subscription period is over. All memberships, pre-orders, movie rentals, or Season Passes must also be finished first, and all pending store credit refunds must be processed.
• Also, you can’t change your country if you have any Apple credit in your account. Spend it!
• Changing to another country will most likely mean switching to another currency, which might mean a higher price than you are used to paying. On the flip side, you may end up paying less if you’re lucky.
• For the country you are switching to, you need to enter a valid billing address and a valid form of payment based in that country. Foreign payment methods will likely not be accepted.

How to change your Apple App Store country

We will cover how to do this on both an iOS device and a MacBook. For the iOS device, we will show an iPhone, but obviously, it’s the same on an iPad.

Using an iPhone

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on your name, which takes you to your Apple Account settings.
3. Go into Media & Purchases.
4. Select View Account.
5. Tap on Country /Region.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the change.

Using a MacBook

If you would prefer to do this on a MacBook, here’s how to change your country from the comfort of your laptop.

1. Click on the Apple Menu, in the top-left corner.
2. Go into System Settings.
3. Select your Apple Account (again, it is labeled with your name).
4. Go into Media & Purchases.
5. Next to Account, click on Manage.
6. Click on Change Country or Region.
7. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the change.

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