How to change play store country?

[bazgrant]

Hi All,

I really would like to change my play store location to UK (as I'm from UK, just don't currently live there), there are a few apps I would like but are "currently unavailable in your location". I have tried every method I have found through googling to change the play store location; I have changed address and credit card in google wallet to a UK one, I have used a UK VPN, a UK sim card and cleared data and cache of play store and download manager, I have bought an app using uk card, even left it on the pay screen for over 30 minutes after paying for it but nothing seems to work, I am still stuck on the crappy UAE play store

Can anybody shed any light on google's current way of changing the play store please?

 

[SpookDroid]

AFIK the only two ways of changing your store is by having a valid address in the country you want (which implies verification with a credit/debit card and completing a transaction with such a payment method; you don't even have to purchase it, you can go as far as the confirmation screen and just cancel) or having a SIM AND IP Address from the country you want to access.

I just moved from Mexico to the US and as soon as I tried to purchase something with a US card, my Play Store country changed to US, even on my still-Mexican-SIM active phone.

 

[bazgrant]

Thanks SpookDroid, I have tried that - maybe Google's server has just become better at detecting a VPN and that is why it is not changing my store?

 

[SpookDroid]

That's odd, because the Play Store doesn't use IP information anymore, it uses SIM card and/or payment method. If you have a UK SIM or a valid UK payment method (with a UK billing address) you SHOULD have acess to the UK store.

 

[bazgrant]

The only thing I can think of now is that it's a UK sim but roaming internationally i.e. not in the UK

 

[SpookDroid]

It still shouldn't matter. Back when I had a Mexican SIM, even in the US or in China, I still got the Mexican version of the Play Store.

By any chance, did you first activate your account with the UK SIM card while abroad. That might have triggered a different geolocation. But if you do have a valid UK address and can prove it, I would contact Google. I've read about a few people that can't change their country when moving no matter what they did and Google had to do something with their accounts.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Hi, what phone do you have? If you have KitKat installed, go into developer options and allow mock locations. Then there's an app in the play store which will let you spoof your location, if it still works. I might not be accurate that this ever worked for Google accounts but people have used it for Google Now.

 

[bazgrant]

Hi SpookDroid, I first activated my play account with a UAE SIM which is what I currently use now, just trying to force it to change to the UK store but I think I may have to wait until the next time I am in the UK

Hi mrsmumbles, thank you for your suggestion but I have tried that, along with the market helper app but nothing seems to work

 

[steven Hadjez]

Hello,
I think i may have a solution for you, but it does not involve changing the country in the playstore. I know of a way because I wanted to download a betting app that is not allowed in the US. What I did is that I downloaded Aptoide (google it). It is an alternative app store that has almost all the apps of the playstore and it does not care who you are or where you are from. They will let you install whatever you want and it works very well. Even gives you the update when available...

Let me know if it worked.

Cheers,
Steven

 

[tommybc]

It still shouldn't matter. Back when I had a Mexican SIM, even in the US or in China, I still got the Mexican version of the Play Store.

By any chance, did you first activate your account with the UK SIM card while abroad. That might have triggered a different geolocation. But if you do have a valid UK address and can prove it, I would contact Google. I've read about a few people that can't change their country when moving no matter what they did and Google had to do something with their accounts.

i got up to the coinfirmation google wallet BUY page and it still ddidnt change even though i used a CC with a uk address

 

[Pkvmvpa]

Step1. Change home address in payment.google.com. once you dinish this, play store will show amount in local currency.

Step 2. Make a small purchase. Ideally the amount will be shown in local currency(same as your credit card's).

Step 3. Wait for 2 days. All country specific apps should show up in app store now.

 

[Don23476]

Hi... I got this done today using help from Google expert and it turned out to be a pretty easy process.

1) Sign into Google wallet
2) Click on settings (top right) -> go to personal information -> change address -> Save it
3) Come back to home screen of Google wallet -> change payment method -> enter card specific to new country -> change the billing address
4) Get back to google play -> choose any app that requires payment -> click buy (you dont have to buy it, just click on buy) -> on the following screen click 'continue' -> on the subsequent screen you will now see price in the new currency -> Dont click buy here (we came till here just to confirm if the price is shown in new currency)
5) Close google play, clear cache and wait for 30 minutes by which time updates will reflect in your account. In my case the updates happened in just a few minutes. I had to agree to google conditions and terms of the new country etc.

Hope this helps.