I moved country, changed iTunes stores and now my Apps can't be updated!?

Actually, there’s a page on Apple for changing stores, I used it and it’s very easy. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1311

@gshogren, thanks! However, you may have misunderstood. Most of us have purchased content in other countries, but we cannot change our country on our Apple IDs since we no longer have valid credentials for said countries. Murilogh's approach tricks iTunes into swapping back to a previous country temporarily, so that purchased items/updates can be downloaded.

Am searching for a similar tactic for the Mac App Store.

Alright, murilogh's approach works in the Mac App Store, showing previously purchased content from other countries.

1) Open Mac App Store

2) Menu: Store > View my account

3) Sign in to your account

4) Change Country/Region

5) Select a previous country

6) Click Change

7) Without continuing changing credentials, click on the Purchases or Updates tabs

Unfortunately, it seems that attempting to download previous content throws a bunch of error messages. Can anyone with pending updates on previous purchases check whether updates can be installed?

The same with new Ukrainian app store for Mac and iOs. I had an account in Russian Appstore, and some 4 months ago Apple opened Ukrainian Appstore, so I decided to switch there. Now my Aperture app is not available from the Appstore for Mac, and that's just ridiculous.

Why, for example, I can by content from Amazon without any country-specific limitations, but have these weird problems with Apple?

I currently live between Italy and the UK, and I purchased apps from both the Italian and the UK Mac App Stores. Every time I need to redownload an app I have to go to the app store from which I originally bought that app. But, despite the fact that I can't see my purchase history altogether, I have to say that I never had any problems updating the apps: once they're installed they update correctly, whatever store I might be logged into.

I've been a huge Apple user for years but it's getting more and more frustrating as I think it's just ridiculous of Apple that I am, as a German customer, living currently in France can't download a FREE French app which allows me to order some Sushi or any other free French app. This world has become a world of frequent travellers and expats, we can't change accounts all the time! I really wish they would do something about that! As said before, like for example Amazon. They are bringing out all these GREAT devices but what good is it if I can't use it properly while in the US for example (tried to download the ABC app, but that's of course only for US customers!!) One would just wish one of the CEOs would ever read this!

Agreed, But for Apple it's hard to bring all the apps in one store because in different stores there is different language and types of app like if I'm in France i can get french translator app from french store and it's only available for France users. So It's different from Amazon i think we should tell Tim Cook to bring Multi-National option for travelers which will enable us to change stores without losing any data or purchases that were made on the recent stores.

Making all the stories in one it's ridiculous but it's good to bring multi-national option for user which is more better and effective option for us.

I hope Tim Cook and his team will understand our discussion that made on this thread. 😉

I hope Tim Cook and his team will understand our discussion that made on this thread. 😉

They are unlikely to even see it. These forums are intended for users to help users, and there is no proof Apple ever browses them except the hosts who ensure posts follow the rules.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ - Apple products feedback links

I know i have already submitted the feedback and still didn't get response from them yet 😕

I couldn't agree more. Let me add to this - when trying to change billing details, etc., apple/iTunes not only does not acknowledge the country I've moved to (the Republic of Vanuatu in the South Pacific), but it does not even acknowledge the region. Fiji, Samoa, New Caledonia, The Solomons, PNG, not even on the list of possibles. Micronesia is there, presumably because the American protectorate of Guam lies within the Micronesian group.

I wondered if this might because there's no apple store here, but after consulting the list, realises that this is not the reason. For example, I doubt that there's an Apple store in Azherbaikhan, or Mali, or Cambodia. (please correct me if I'm wrong).

There is a large community of reisdent expatriates living here in Vanuatu, and a growing body of Ni-Vanuatu citizens who are both computer, app and music savvy.

Hellooo Apple? User friendly global community, or not? As John Macmil says, take a few pointers from Amazon.

I relocated my iMac and iPad from the US to Vietnam recently. For a while things worked OK and I made a few small purchases. Unfortunaltely I tried to change credit cards. If I had read this thread first I would not have. Then the system locked me out because it checked and saw that I had changed to a Vietnamese ISP. The Apple technician that I contacted said I would have to create a new ID for the Vietnamese iTunes store. The catch22 is that I need a Vietnamese credit card which I don't have. He said I can use an iTunes card instead but that is a nuisance and hard for me to find as I rely on my wife for things like that. From what I read here now I am not sure that will even give me the access that I want. His reason why was that Apple did this to protect developers and artists from piracy. Admitedly piracy is a problem in some countries (like Vietnam) but why penalize someone and not let them access the US store if they use a US credit card. After all how many Vietnamese 18 year old's have a US Visa card? My guess the piracy problem is more for music than iPhone apps but it is still frustrating when you are ready to legitimately pay for what you want. As a result my current replacement plans for my iPad are a Samsung/Android device. Apple is driving expatriate Americans into the arms of their "enemy."

I think that your friends can keep downloading but technically may be in violation of their iTunes agreement. What happened to me is that I made the mistake of trying to change which US credit card I was using and only then did the system pick up on the fact that my desktop was on a Viet ISP. Then it would not even let me change back to the old card. Now I can't even download free things. So Johnmacmil better inform your friends never change their credit card info.

By email the tech at Apple said that I must start an account in the Vietnamese store but as I do not have a Vietnamese credit card, I have not yet done that. He did say that he thought I could start a new account with an iTunes gift card. I checked with the Apple authorized store (FutureWorld) but they said I had to go to the cell phone company to buy. In my case that is Mobiphone but I have not had the time to try that yet. It seems strange that an official authorized reseller does not carry iTunes gift cards but we have to be philosohical about such things here.

I don't buy much music but I am surprised there is none at all on the Viet store. After all they do have some free things. Hopefully they have a decent supply of apps. I will be wanting to buy the Google maps app as soon as it comes out. One note is that my free updates do still seem to work.

As I said in another thread, Apple is driving expats into the arms of Samsung. This is just bad business. Those teens are going to find a way to get that music anyway.

I'm also stuck with 2 regions, my credit card details were fine for thai store, but i was using ios 6 beta, and changed to UK with a UK credit card, now when i try to go back to the Thai store it tell's me my credit card is not recognized, its the same one i have used for the last 2 years. it has thai postal address

i had some emails from apple customer care and they told me to create a new account and use a gift card as credit. not happy answer for me.

I'm waiting to see what happens with canceling my itunes match account first, as iit says I cannot changed regions until this is done.

Android is crap, but if you can use a global store it would help as i transit between regions because of work!!

Yeah - you definitely can create a new Apple ID for buying Vietnamese-only apps, but you should definitely be able to switch back your old account to the US store if you have a US credit card. I'm almost 100% sure that Apple don't check where you are physically located at the time so it might have just been a hiccup - I would definitely just try that again.

I was unable to switch regions due to having an itunes match account, and now i have received an email stating

"

I understand that you want to cancel your iTunes Match subscription and receive a refund. Once the cancellation is complete, you’ll no longer have access to matched or uploaded songs in the cloud. Therefore, please be sure to download everything before we issue the refund.

If you’d still like to cancel, just reply to let me know, and we'll cancel your iTunes Match subscription and issue you a refund. We'll also send you an email to confirm the refund amount.

Should you have any other concerns you wish to raise, please let me know. Have a nice day!"

so I'll try and switch over to my Thai account, after 24hrs