Changing the region in the Google Play Store is easier than it sounds, but there are certain things to keep in mind when doing so. Google Play Store, is the most popular application store in the world. It is also extremely easy: you open it, look for the application you want to download and install it on your device, and that’s it. But what if you relocate to another country? You will need to access the appropriate version of the Play Store to get certain apps and all of your billing information.
So whether you’ve recently moved or want to try accessing the Google app store from another region, here’s how to change your country or region on the Google Play Store. You can not lose this!
How to Change Country or Region in Google Play Store
To change your country on Google Play, all you have to do is make a few simple adjustments to your settings in the app store. These are the steps you will have to follow to do it:
- Open the Google app store.
- Click on the menu with three parallel bars located to the left of the search bar.
- Select the Account option.
- In the Preferences tab, you will see the Country and profiles section at the bottom with the current country of your account. If your phone detects that you are now in a different country, you will see the Switch to
- Play Store from (region name) option.
- If you don’t see this option, you can click on the More information link.
- Now, you will have to click on one of the options to add a payment method for your new country. This will vary by region; most should at least have the option to add a credit card.
- Verify the warning message that will appear and if you agree, click on the Continue button.
- Follow the instructions to add a new payment method for the country you are moving to.
- Once you’ve switched countries, you can now browse the Play Store for that region. The change may take up to 48 hours to take effect.
You should bear in mind that the option to change the country in the Play Store is not available to everyone. You will only see it if you were previously in a different country than you are now (based on IP address). This means that you cannot just switch to whatever region you want.
Something You Should Know if You Change The Region in The Google Play Store
When you change your Google Play Store location, you should keep in mind some important points:
- You will not be able to use your old payment method with your new account, so you will have to use the one in your new country.
- You could lose access to some apps and other content if they are not available in the newly selected region.
- You will also not be able to use your Google Play balance from the previous country, including any gift cards that you have added but have not yet spent.
- You will lose access to Google Play Points and if you are subscribed to Google Play Pass, that subscription will be transferred to your new country if the service is available there.
- You should know that you can only change regions in the Play Store once a year. You won’t see the option available if it’s been less than a year since your last chance.
Because of all this, we recommend changing your region on Google Play only if you’ve actually moved to another country and plan to stay for at least a year. While you can get around some restrictions by using one of the best VPNs available, it’s not worth it just to get access to a few different apps. Remember that if you do it lightly, you would be locked in a Play Store outside your region for quite some time, which would be a huge headache.