How to Change App Store Country or Region on iPhone

Changing your App Store country decides which apps you can download, which prices you pay, and which subscriptions you can hold. Apple treats it as a change of residence rather than a preference, so the switch comes with conditions attached — and most of the confusion around it comes from hitting those conditions without warning.

What Apple makes you do before it will let you switch

The region change is blocked until your account is in a clean state. Apple checks for four things, and it will refuse with a vague message rather than telling you which one you failed.

Your Apple Account balance must be zero. Store credit does not travel between regions. If you have credit left, spend it — Apple will not refund the remainder, and even a few cents will block the change.
Active subscriptions must be cancelled. That includes iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and anything billed through an app. Wait for the current period to end before switching.
Pre-orders and pending memberships must be cleared. Anything not yet delivered has to be cancelled.
You need a payment method valid in the new country. A card issued elsewhere is usually declined at this step.

Changing the region on iPhone or iPad

Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
Tap Media & Purchases, then View Account. Authenticate if asked.
Tap Country/Region, then Change Country or Region.
Pick the new country and read the terms, then agree.
Enter a payment method and a billing address for that country, and confirm.

The App Store reloads with the new storefront. Apps already installed stay on the device, but future updates come from the new region — and if an app is not published there, it will stop receiving them.

Changing it from a computer or the web

The same change can be made from the Music or TV app on a Mac or PC by opening your account settings and editing the country field, or from account.apple.com under your payment and shipping details. All three routes hit the same checks, so a blocked change on one will be blocked on the others.

What you keep and what you lose

This is the part worth understanding before you commit, because parts of it are not reversible.

Purchased apps stay in your purchase history and can usually be redownloaded, but only while they remain available in the new storefront.
Media licences are regional. Films, TV and some books can disappear from your library because the rights were never sold in the new country.
Store credit does not transfer and is not refunded.
iCloud data is unaffected. Photos, backups and documents are not tied to the storefront.

Why the change keeps failing

Almost every failure traces back to one of the conditions above rather than to a bug. Work through them in order.

"You must clear your balance" — buy something small until the balance is exactly zero.
The change is greyed out — an active subscription is usually still running. Cancel it and wait for the billing period to finish.
Payment declined — the card is not issued in the destination country. A local card or a locally purchased gift card is the usual fix.
Family Sharing conflict — everyone in a family group must share a storefront. The organiser has to move the group, or you leave it first.

A note on doing this to get cheaper apps

Region-hopping for price differences works badly in practice. Apple ties the storefront to a payment method registered in that country, and repeatedly switching leaves you unable to hold subscriptions, unable to spend credit, and occasionally locked out of media you already paid for. If the goal is access to one specific app, it is usually less painful to check whether the developer publishes an alternative in your own region first.

Frequently asked questions

How often can I change my App Store country?

Apple does not publish a hard limit, but changes made repeatedly in a short period can trigger a review and a temporary block. Treat it as something you do when you move, not weekly.

Will I lose my apps?

Installed apps remain on the device. What changes is availability: an app not sold in the new region will not update and cannot be reinstalled while you are in that storefront.

Do I need a VPN?

No. The storefront follows your account and billing details, not your IP address. A VPN alone does not change it and does not satisfy the payment requirement.