Geo-restricted iPhone apps

[malcontent]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

[malcontent]

After some research and tinkering, I think I can answer my own question.

The country change settings have been simplified for newer iOS versions, so you no longer have to change your phone settings and your iTunes account settings — only iTunes account, and that does the trick. I’m the App Store, you click on yourself and go into your profile settings and find country, change it in there and all that is needed is to agree to the terms, add your address and phone, that is about it. All in all, it’s a 1-2 minute job to change, and another 1-2 minute job to change back. That is much improved compared to last time.

[omshastry]

Stumbled on this searching for a similar topic. I believe the below would mess with your existing subscriptions and family sharing settings? Is there any way to getting around this without such issues?

After some research and tinkering, I think I can answer my own question.

The country change settings have been simplified for newer iOS versions, so you no longer have to change your phone settings and your iTunes account settings — only iTunes account, and that does the trick. I’m the App Store, you click on yourself and go into your profile settings and find country, change it in there and all that is needed is to agree to the terms, add your address and phone, that is about it. All in all, it’s a 1-2 minute job to change, and another 1-2 minute job to change back. That is much improved compared to last time.

[malcontent]

Stumbled on this searching for a similar topic. I believe the below would mess with your existing subscriptions and family sharing settings? Is there any way to getting around this without such issues?

After some research and tinkering, I think I can answer my own question.

The country change settings have been simplified for newer iOS versions, so you no longer have to change your phone settings and your iTunes account settings — only iTunes account, and that does the trick. I’m the App Store, you click on yourself and go into your profile settings and find country, change it in there and all that is needed is to agree to the terms, add your address and phone, that is about it. All in all, it’s a 1-2 minute job to change, and another 1-2 minute job to change back. That is much improved compared to last time.

If you have a spouse, you can set one phone to your home country and the other to local. I have found that to work well in some instances.

[omshastry]

Thanks, let me try. I and wife share the iCloud plan and other subscriptions. So need to make sure we don’t lose that if we change our phones to different countries. I recall reading on Apple Support that you can’t have family sharing on across two/more countries. But let me try.

If you have a spouse, you can set one phone to your home country and the other to local. I have found that to work well in some instances.

[malcontent]

Thanks, let me try. I and wife share the iCloud plan and other subscriptions. So need to make sure we don’t lose that if we change our phones to different countries. I recall reading on Apple Support that you can’t have family sharing on across two/more countries. But let me try.

If you have a spouse, you can set one phone to your home country and the other to local. I have found that to work well in some instances.

I think that is true. If you want to share paid apps or subscriptions within your family, it is likely to get cut off once they switch countries, almost certainly if that app or sub is not available in the other country. It’s a mess for international families. I am just glad iOS allows me to stay in the US even when my IP address says otherwise. Android is not as kind.

[Lisafuller]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

Does a VPN help?

[Lisafuller]

Thanks, let me try. I and wife share the iCloud plan and other subscriptions. So need to make sure we don’t lose that if we change our phones to different countries. I recall reading on Apple Support that you can’t have family sharing on across two/more countries. But let me try.

If you have a spouse, you can set one phone to your home country and the other to local. I have found that to work well in some instances.

Same here, we use it for Apple Music especially. Having the phones set to different regions would defeat the purpose as one of us would no longer be able to access the account.

[omshastry]

No it doesn’t. Because Apple’s App Store doesn’t work based on your location (which you could fake using the VPN) but based on the country of your iTunes payment account.

Does a VPN help?

[Lisafuller]

No it doesn’t. Because Apple’s App Store doesn’t work based on your location (which you could fake using the VPN) but based on the country of your iTunes payment account.

Does a VPN help?

I see. In the past, I bought my iPhones back in the US as they are cheaper there, and got the universal unlocked version. Was able to use the singapore App Store with no problem though, so I'm a little confused on that.

[Swn4]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

You can have apps downloaded from multiple accounts on the same apple device. So create accounts using different email account for different country’s iTunes stores. You just need to use an address in that country.
To access, just go to Settings/Apple ID/Media & purchases/ and login & out as needed. I keep to US and only use SG or UK when I need to update or add an app.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Lisafuller]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

You can have apps downloaded from multiple accounts on the same apple device. So create accounts using different email account for different country’s iTunes stores. You just need to use an address in that country.
To access, just go to Settings/Apple ID/Media & purchases/ and login & out as needed. I keep to US and only use SG or UK when I need to update or add an app.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So create multiple apple IDs? Doesn't that make it confusing to locate/store info?

[Swn4]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

You can have apps downloaded from multiple accounts on the same apple device. So create accounts using different email account for different country’s iTunes stores. You just need to use an address in that country.
To access, just go to Settings/Apple ID/Media & purchases/ and login & out as needed. I keep to US and only use SG or UK when I need to update or add an app.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So create multiple apple IDs? Doesn't that make it confusing to locate/store info?

Not that I notice. After downloading from the relevant country’s app store, the apps work fine when I signed in my preferred country app store. F


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Lisafuller]

We'll give it a shot, though I wouldn't be surprised if everything went berserk as all three of us use family sharing.

[Nhacchuongbaothuc39]

In the Apple app store I am seeing more and more apps being geo-restricted. Last time I could at least get updates on apps that I downloaded that were newly restricted, but now I can’t even do that in some cases.

Ez-link is the latest one. I can’t even get updated… and it won’t let me use the app without updating it, so I’m stuck!

Geo-fencing is so annoying. Does anyone know of any ways around it, WITHOUT switching countries on your phone? If I switch, then I will be restricted on other apps which I use from other countries… ugh… I need a way to side-load apps or something!

To bypass geo-restrictions on the Apple App Store without changing your device's country setting:

Use a VPN.
Create a new Apple ID for the desired region.
Ask someone in the app's region to share it via Family Sharing.
Contact app support for assistance.
Look for alternate app sources, but be cautious.