How to change App Store country or region (and switch temporarily)

To change your App Store country, open Settings, tap your name, tap Media & Purchases, then tap Country/Region and pick the new country. Agree to the terms, add a payment method and billing address for that country, and tap Done. First spend your store credit, cancel blocking subscriptions and wait for pending refunds, pre-orders and rentals to finish. For a temporary switch, a second Apple Account is easier.

This guide covers the official steps on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows and the web, the checklist Apple requires before the change, whether you can switch back and forth, and how a second account works for short-term access to another country's App Store.

What to do before you change your App Store country

Apple blocks an App Store country or region change until a few account conditions are met. Clear these first, or the Country/Region option will fail or show an error:

• Spend your Apple Account balance. If the remaining credit is less than the price of one item, contact Apple Support to clear it. Gift card balance cannot be cashed out, except where the law requires it.
• Cancel subscriptions that block the change and wait until their current billing period ends.
• Wait for pending activity: memberships, pre-orders, movie rentals, Season Passes and pending Apple refund requests must finish. You can cancel a pre-order instead of waiting.
• Check Family Sharing. Members of a Family Sharing group might not be able to change country. Leaving the group removes that block.
• Have a valid payment method for the new country, plus a billing address there.
• Download what you own. Some apps, music, films, TV shows and books may not be available in the new store, so redownload them on every device first.

One side effect is easy to miss: cancelling iCloud+ or Apple One drops your iCloud storage to the free 5 GB plan until you resubscribe in the new country, if the service is offered there. Check that your photos and backups fit, or keep a local copy.

How to change App Store country on iPhone or iPad

The App Store region is a setting of your Apple Account, so you change it in the Settings app, not inside the App Store. The change applies to every device signed in with the same account.

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap Media & Purchases and sign in if prompted.
3. Tap Country/Region.
4. Select the new country or region, then tap Continue.
5. Review the Terms & Conditions and tap Agree.
6. Choose a payment method, enter the payment details and billing address for the new country, then tap Done.

The same steps work on Apple Vision Pro. If Country/Region is greyed out or the change fails, one of the conditions in the checklist above is still open, most often a subscription that has not reached the end of its billing period or a small leftover balance.

How to change App Store region on Mac, Windows or the web

On a Mac or Windows PC, the App Store country is changed through the Apple Music or Apple TV app, and on the web through your Apple Account page. All three routes change the same account setting as the iPhone method.

On a Mac:

1. Open the Apple Music or Apple TV app.
2. In the menu bar, choose Account > Account Settings and sign in if asked.
3. Click Country/Region, select the new country, then click Continue.
4. Click Agree on the Terms & Conditions, enter payment details and a billing address, then click Done.

On a Windows PC:

1. Open the Apple Music or Apple TV app.
2. Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar (or click Sign In first).
3. Click View My Account, then Change Country or Region.
4. Select the new country, agree to the terms, add payment details and a billing address, then click Continue.

On the web: sign in at account.apple.com, open Personal Information, select Country/Region and follow the onscreen instructions.

Can you change your App Store region back and forth?

Yes, you can change your Apple Account region again later, but every switch repeats the full checklist: zero balance, no blocking subscriptions, no pending refunds or rentals, and a valid payment method for the target country. In practice that makes the official method a poor fit for frequent switching, because you have to cancel and restart subscriptions each time.

For someone who only needs an app that is listed in one other country, the cleaner path is a second Apple Account registered in that country, covered in the next section. Your main account, purchases, subscriptions and iCloud data stay untouched.

Keep in mind that the App Store terms tie an account to a country, and some apps and content are licensed only for specific regions. Use another region's store for apps you are entitled to use there, for example when you move, travel or work for a company based abroad.

How to change App Store country temporarily with a second Apple Account

A second Apple Account set to the other country is the simplest way to change the App Store country temporarily. You create it once, then sign in to it only for the App Store when you need it. Apple notes that if you do not want to add a foreign payment method, you can wait until you are physically in the new country and then create a new account there.

1. Open the App Store and tap the account icon.
2. Tap Create New Apple Account. If you do not see the option, sign out of iCloud first.
3. Enter an email address that is not already used by another Apple Account, set a strong password and choose the country or region.
4. Enter payment and billing information, or select None if it is offered. You are not charged until you buy something.
5. Confirm a phone number, then confirm your email address through the verification message Apple sends.

Full details are in Apple's guide to creating a new Apple Account. Once the account exists, you can usually switch only the store account under Settings > your name > Media & Purchases (Sign Out, then sign in with the second account), so iCloud, Photos and backups stay on your main account. Apps you download keep working after you switch back, but updates may ask for the account that downloaded them.

FAQ

Related: App Store anti-fraud measures, block Apple Account changes with Screen Time, factory reset an iPhone step by step