Apple ID, multiple countries, changing store

I live in country A. But I’m from country B. I quite often travel between these two countries, and I have valid payment methods in both. And I also have to keep all my apps updated from both of these countries’ App Store. (Many apps are not available in country A or B) Because of this I have to change the store countries quite often. However it’s not convenient at all. If I want to have an Apple Music subscription for example then I can’t change stores anymore. Why is this so complicated? Why I can’t have a simple way for example to add 2 Apple IDs to my phone and simple change between them whenever I need. Is there anyone else who has similar issues? Or how do people who uses two or more countries manage to do this?

Posted on Apr 16, 2021 9:52 AM

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5 replies

Apr 16, 2021 10:00 AM in response to andris811

https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html - May 13, 2019 "Our Services are available for your use in your country of residence (“Home Country”)."

And,

"Terms found in this Agreement that relate to Services, Content types, features or functionality not available in your Home Country are not applicable to you unless and until they become available to you. To see the Content types available to you in your Home Country, go to the Services or visit https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204411. Certain Services and Content available to you in your Home Country may not be available to you when traveling outside of your Home Country."


Basically the system isn't designed for using stores in more than one country because the majority of users do not have true residency in more than one country.

Apr 17, 2021 7:29 AM in response to andris811

Realize we're walking a fine line here because we are not supposed to post "workarounds" for Apple's policies on this forum.


I have used a phone that had one account on it and then I simply changed accounts to mine. Some of the old content such as photos was on it until I deleted them. It isn't in tended to be done that way and can lead to inconveniences.


Things such as apps have to be updated using the Apple ID that was used to download them.


In order to change country you cannot have any ongoing subscriptions. You have to wait until they end. Apple ID balance had to be zeroed.

Apr 17, 2021 6:43 AM in response to Limnos

I see. So what if I set up a second Apple ID for my home country? Can I keep my music /iCloud subscriptions in the country where I live and just log into the other account to update my apps and then change back to the other Apple ID? Do I have to redownload every photo and music again every time a change between the 2 acocunts? Or how does it work?

Apr 17, 2021 9:25 AM in response to Limnos

Sad thing that we have to call this a workaround... I can prove that I have valid payment methods in both countries, even addresses but still I just can’t do it... So I’m just simply not going to subscribe to Apple Music anymore (other subscriptions are ok, I had like 3 other ongoing ones and I could change store) and just keep changing the country every now and then. That seems simpler than setting up another account... anyway, thanks for the replies!

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Apple ID, multiple countries, changing store

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