Apple Care+ monthly plan: will it block region/country switching?

Question

Apple Care+ monthly plan: will it block region/country switching?

I am mulling whether or not I should go for the monthly AppleCare+ plan but I am trying to understand if doing so would then block my ability to switch the country/region that my App Store is linked to. I notice this is the case now because I have an ongoing AppleTV subscription (which I intend to cancel soon anyway).

Thing is, I absolutely need to switch regions now and then because there are a couple of banking/fin./wallet apps which will, otherwise, not update and that leads to usage issues.

Any workarounds that people are aware of (one is I could go for the 24-month option, but I'd prefer monthly now)?

And more importantly, will going for a monthly AppleCare+ subscription continue to lock me to the current country/region? I did try calling and asking Apple Customer Support... Less said the better.

Appreciate any suggestions.

iPhone SE, iOS 14

Posted on Sep 10, 2021 3:31 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 10, 2021 3:48 PM in response to karthik.swaminathan

Good questions. People on this forum do not work for Apple so we can't speak with authority but I would imagine what you wish to do may not be possible. Monthly payments come from your Apple ID balance which is country specific and has to be zeroed out in order to change countries.

This article does not directly address your question but may have some information bearing upon it. Cancel or change the payment method for your AppleCare plan - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Sep 11, 2021 7:27 PM in response to karthik.swaminathan

Generally Apple doesn't do international transactions. You would be buying something monthly from a different country instead of buying it once in a country where you had previously lived and then taken the product outside the country when you moved. You can't, for example, buy a computer from the USA while you live outside the USA and have it shipped to you. I know you aren't speaking of a computer but it is an Apple product and that is similar.

If you are determined to keep this monthly plan then you would have to keep your Apple ID set to the country where you set it up and use a different one for your other apps. Having two Apple IDs generally is not a good idea unless you use them for completely different purposes pretty much on two separate devices.

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Answer 3

Sep 10, 2021 4:29 PM in response to Limnos

Oh of course, I wasn't expecting replies from Apple employees. Just that I have seen how the user community comes together to help one another or share ideas, and so I figured I'd try asking.

When you say "Apple ID balance", would that mean any credit card on file too? Because I am not adding a gift card that would show up as a balance.

And thank you, I did see that article earlier. Didn't answer my question; although it makes it clear that a subscription once cancelled cannot be renewed, which is why I wanted to be clear how monthly billing would work and if it would affect my ability to switch regions.

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Answer 4

Sep 10, 2021 5:38 PM in response to Eric Root

Thank you. So would that mean an ongoing monthly Apple Care+ plan would still NOT allow changing App Store region/country? Because I realise any thing that's deemed as a subscription might block that ability: be it a recurring iCloud payment, Apple TV, etc. And even if the accound balance doesn't include the credit card on file, all fees are charged to the iTunes account which is in-turn linked to the card on file.

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

685,299 points

Sep 10, 2021 5:30 PM in response to karthik.swaminathan

Apple Account balance doesn't include the credit card on file. It only includes money added to your Account by using Gift Cards or money transferred from a payment method.

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Apple Care+ monthly plan: will it block region/country switching?

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