Change country of Apple ID without losing apps?

Question

Level 1

2 points

Change country of Apple ID without losing apps?

I am about to move from the UK to the US and so will need to change the country of my Apple ID. I've already found the kbase article on how to do this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6119?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

but it contains the following sentence:

"After you change the country of your account, you won't see the items you purchased from the previous country’s store in the Purchased section."

Does this mean I will lose all my apps? I've got some very expensive apps (for example, Final Cut Pro X) that I do not want to lose.

Or does it just mean that I will only lose apps unavailable in the US store? (Such as iPlayer.) I'd be OK with that.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Mar 20, 2014 9:28 AM

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Answer 1

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,138 points

Mar 20, 2014 9:56 AM in response to Mwongozi

It means that you won't be able to redownload them from the store. As well as being tied to the account, content is also tied to the country that they were downloaded in, so you won't be able to redownload any of your UK purchases unless you are here in the UK with a UK billing address on your account. No content will be deleted from your computer, or from your backup of your downloads, you just won't be able to redownload them.

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Answer 2

Mwongozi Author

Level 1

2 points

Mar 20, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Mwongozi

Well that su cks (Seriously? "su cks" gets censored?), as it means I will stop getting updates too.

Is it better to create a new, second Apple ID for use in the US? Can I have apps from two different Apple IDs installed and get updates for all of them?

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Answer 3

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,138 points

Mar 20, 2014 10:11 AM in response to Mwongozi

I'm not sure that updates will be affected (I haven't changed countries so I'm not 100% sure), I think it's just the redownloading of the app (or other item) - if somebody else has confirm one way or the other then hopefully they'll reply.

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Answer 4

Jul 21, 2016 12:18 PM in response to Mwongozi

The world is a global community, now. People move where they live--even across countries...

It is a shame that everywhere I go, it all seems to be all about money...

"You paid for it over there, but you didn't pay for it over here"...

I lost so many apps, it's not even funny.

It bites. Hard.

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Answer 5

Oct 21, 2016 4:08 AM in response to KristiaRen

I feel your pain. I really think this issue needs more attention! It seems ridiculous since the user account hasn't changed, and the item was ALREADY purchased under conditions that satisfy the original country. I suppose Apple will continue to ignore this issue unless we raise awareness. So, if you kept your original apple ID but had to change billing details to a new country and you can no longer access your Mac OS X apps for download, please comment here! There are workarounds for apps of mobile devices, but none for Mac OS X apps.

Apple this unfair business practice!

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Answer 6

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,138 points

Oct 21, 2016 4:50 AM in response to hardyfrombc

Apple are not here, these are user-to-user forums - and this particular forum is about the iTunes Store

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