Although it is possible to switch your iTunes or App Store country—which we'll show you how to do below—doing so comes with a fair amount of drawbacks, like losing access to all your previous purchases. Here's everything you need to know about this process.
The Problem With Changing Your iTunes or App Store Country Each country accesses a different version of iTunes or the App Store. Sometimes these stores have different apps, music, movies, and other media available in them. But even if two stores have exactly the same content, you can only access your purchased media from the store you bought it from.
🔴 👉 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄
🔴 👉 𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄
That means you lose access to all your existing iTunes and App Store purchases when you change your Apple ID to a different country.
Anything already on your device is still available to use, and apps you've already downloaded still get the latest updates. But you'll need to change the App Store and iTunes settings back to your original country again if you want to access purchases that you hadn't already downloaded.
The biggest issue is that you need a valid payment method for whichever country you want to change iTunes and the App Store to. You can't use an Australian credit card in the US App Store, for example.
So if you moved from Australia to the US, you'd need to get an American credit card to change to the US App Store. Then, if you ever wanted to access your Australian purchases again, you'd need to use an Australian card to change back. This might be impossible to do if you moved to America permanently and your Australian payment details have expired.
One way to get around this problem is to create a second Apple ID account, rather than changing the settings for your existing one.
The Benefits of Creating a Second Apple ID Account Instead of changing the country or region for your existing iTunes and App Store account, sometimes it's beneficial to create a second Apple ID to use instead. With two separate accounts—one for Australia and one for the US, for example—you can switch between them at any time without needing to update your payment information.
All you would need to do is sign out of iTunes and the App Store on your device, then sign in again using the second account. After doing so, you get instant access to all the iTunes and App Store content from that country, including your previous purchases.
It's possible to create a new Apple ID account without attaching any payment information to it, allowing you to download free media from iTunes or the App Store in any country. If you want to buy something from another country, you can either add a payment method from that country or purchase a foreign gift card to use with that account.
The problem with this method is that it splits your purchases across two separate accounts. You also need to associate each of them with a separate email address. And if you lose access to one of the accounts, you also lose all the purchases you made using it.
How to Keep iTunes and App Store Purchases From a Different Country If you've already downloaded them to your device, you can still use any apps, music, movies, TV shows, books, and other iTunes or App Store purchases regardless of which country or account you purchased them from. That means you should download all the purchases you want to keep using before changing your iTunes and App Store country or before creating a separate Apple ID account.
