Database Info

How to [permanently] use the US Play Store outside of the US with no hacks or Proxys!

YOU WILL NEED A CREDIT CARD (But doesn't matter from where or if it's limited to your country)
This method will get you access to the US Play Store permanently, without the need to fake your location (sort of), so you can say goodbye to those slow and painful proxys!
Hi Guys!
This is my first thread here at XDA, so cut me some slack if it's not perfect, although I'm pretty sure you'll thank me for this.
So everybody likes the Play Store. However, as with most services, a big part of the contents are limited to the US version of the store. While other services like iTunes have this problem, creating a US based account is pretty much painless, and they never really ask after you tell them where you live, even you're lying.
Google, however, is a team of pretty smart guys. The Play Store is a service based on a website that uses your location to tell which is the correct store for the place you're in. However, I've discovered that this method only applies on certain occasions.
You see, the Play Store will only use your location IF you don't have a payment method selected. I'm guessing you know where I'm going with this, but I'll go on anyways. After you set up a payment method, the Play Store will use the location of the billing address of said method to determine the store it has to access.
So what does this mean? Basically, if you set up a credit card in Google Wallet with a billing address with a US zip code (regardless of the real billing address, if you set it up through the Android app you only have to access the zip code) your account will become a US based account.
Of course, this means that you can use this method to access pretty much any Play Store available with a short Google Search of a zip code from the place you want.
Anyways, I'll tell you step by step how I did it. I want to be very clear: there are other methods. Again, you only need to set up a payment method with a US billing address. But some people are fond of Step-by-step tutorials and I want to get this to as much people as possible.
So without further do:
1. Getting the android Google Wallet app. For this I used tunnelbear, an app you probably already know if you've been trying to accomplish what I did, but in case you're not familiar with it, it's an app that let's you surf the web as if you were in another country, so that location based websites (like the Play Store) will send you to that country's version of the site. Anyways, use the app and go to the Play Store to download the app into your phone. If the app doesn't show up, chances are that already have a payment method with a billing address outside of the US, so you must remove that. Don't worry, you can enter it later, and even use it to buy thing (look at the end of the post)​
2. Setting up your payment method. Once you get the Wallet app, use the menu button or the 3-dot menu and go to settings. The first thing you should see is "Credit and debit cards". Tap that and then tap the "+" sign on the top right corner of the screen. Here you must enter the card info. YOU MUST USE REAL INFO, OTHERWISE IT WON'T RECOGNIZE THE CARD. The cardholder name is irrelevant. where it says zip code, you can probably guess what you need to do. I used a Florida zip code, but again, any US code will work.​
3. Final steps to victory! We're almost there! now that you've set up your US payment method, all you need to do is clear the Play Store app's Data (NOT ONLY THE CACHE). To do this, go to your phone's settings app, find the application manager, search for the Google Play Store app (be sure you're on the "ALL" tab on the most right) and tap it, and then tap the button that says "Clear data" (again, don't JUST clear the cache!). Proceed and then go the Play Store app. You should be prompted to accept the terms of service, meaning that everything went fine and dandy. Now feel free to enjoy!​
And there you go! No more proxys, VPNs, and temporary solutions! Again, this method is probably not the only way to achieve this, but I'm hoping that you at least got an idea of what you need to do to accomplish this.
I used my personal credit card, and to be honest, I'm not sure if prepaid cards will work, but I don't see why they shouldn't. Also, regarding the ability to buy apps and other contents, it seem to work just fine. I've purchased a couple of apps and books, so everything seems to be working fine.
The only time I had a problem with a payment was when I wanted to buy 25$ of Play Store credit, where the operation wouldn't go through, but I quickly solved it by buying the credit using Tunnelbear and then I could use the credit without any problems (and without Tunnelbear of course).
I really hope this works for you, It's really a shame that Google doesn't make the Store international (or at least get it to more countries quicker) since that is probably the only thing that is helping iTunes get the upper hand on it.
If you have any problems feel free to PM me, I'm far from an expert but I might be able to help you.
PD: As this is my first post, the title is very barebones. If you want to help me with what I should put up there, I'm all ears, since I want to get this to as most people as possible. Thanks in advance! :laugh:

I am going to give this a try, but a few questions: do you need to do this on each device or is once enough, and what will happen when for instance devices will become available, the US nexus 5 is incompatible with European 4g networks. Will you only be able to get the US variant and what about delivery?

sebachamaca said:
YOU WILL NEED A CREDIT CARD (But doesn't matter from where or if it's limited to your country)
This method will get you access to the US Play Store permanently, without the need to fake your location (sort of), so you can say goodbye to those slow and painful proxys!
Hi Guys!
This is my first thread here at XDA, so cut me some slack if it's not perfect, although I'm pretty sure you'll thank me for this.
So everybody likes the Play Store. However, as with most services, a big part of the contents are limited to the US version of the store. While other services like iTunes have this problem, creating a US based account is pretty much painless, and they never really ask after you tell them where you live, even you're lying.
Google, however, is a team of pretty smart guys. The Play Store is a service based on a website that uses your location to tell which is the correct store for the place you're in. However, I've discovered that this method only applies on certain occasions.
You see, the Play Store will only use your location IF you don't have a payment method selected. I'm guessing you know where I'm going with this, but I'll go on anyways. After you set up a payment method, the Play Store will use the location of the billing address of said method to determine the store it has to access.
So what does this mean? Basically, if you set up a credit card in Google Wallet with a billing address with a US zip code (regardless of the real billing address, if you set it up through the Android app you only have to access the zip code) your account will become a US based account.
Of course, this means that you can use this method to access pretty much any Play Store available with a short Google Search of a zip code from the place you want.
Anyways, I'll tell you step by step how I did it. I want to be very clear: there are other methods. Again, you only need to set up a payment method with a US billing address. But some people are fond of Step-by-step tutorials and I want to get this to as much people as possible.
So without further do:
1. Getting the android Google Wallet app. For this I used tunnelbear, an app you probably already know if you've been trying to accomplish what I did, but in case you're not familiar with it, it's an app that let's you surf the web as if you were in another country, so that location based websites (like the Play Store) will send you to that country's version of the site. Anyways, use the app and go to the Play Store to download the app into your phone. If the app doesn't show up, chances are that already have a payment method with a billing address outside of the US, so you must remove that. Don't worry, you can enter it later, and even use it to buy thing (look at the end of the post)​
2. Setting up your payment method. Once you get the Wallet app, use the menu button or the 3-dot menu and go to settings. The first thing you should see is "Credit and debit cards". Tap that and then tap the "+" sign on the top right corner of the screen. Here you must enter the card info. YOU MUST USE REAL INFO, OTHERWISE IT WON'T RECOGNIZE THE CARD. The cardholder name is irrelevant. where it says zip code, you can probably guess what you need to do. I used a Florida zip code, but again, any US code will work.​
3. Final steps to victory! We're almost there! now that you've set up your US payment method, all you need to do is clear the Play Store app's Data (NOT ONLY THE CACHE). To do this, go to your phone's settings app, find the application manager, search for the Google Play Store app (be sure you're on the "ALL" tab on the most right) and tap it, and then tap the button that says "Clear data" (again, don't JUST clear the cache!). Proceed and then go the Play Store app. You should be prompted to accept the terms of service, meaning that everything went fine and dandy. Now feel free to enjoy!​
And there you go! No more proxys, VPNs, and temporary solutions! Again, this method is probably not the only way to achieve this, but I'm hoping that you at least got an idea of what you need to do to accomplish this.
I used my personal credit card, and to be honest, I'm not sure if prepaid cards will work, but I don't see why they shouldn't. Also, regarding the ability to buy apps and other contents, it seem to work just fine. I've purchased a couple of apps and books, so everything seems to be working fine.
The only time I had a problem with a payment was when I wanted to buy 25$ of Play Store credit, where the operation wouldn't go through, but I quickly solved it by buying the credit using Tunnelbear and then I could use the credit without any problems (and without Tunnelbear of course).
I really hope this works for you, It's really a shame that Google doesn't make the Store international (or at least get it to more countries quicker) since that is probably the only thing that is helping iTunes get the upper hand on it.
If you have any problems feel free to PM me, I'm far from an expert but I might be able to help you.
PD: As this is my first post, the title is very barebones. If you want to help me with what I should put up there, I'm all ears, since I want to get this to as most people as possible. Thanks in advance! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good try, old info . Many guides and threads on this one.
And you forgot a crucial big time info...
You should use a ZIP Code/State/City from a state without Sales Tax....
Lets say Oregon, Portland....
or else you will be subject to the Sales Tax of the state....

Woops!
PAGOT said:
Good try, old info . Many guides and threads on this one.
And you forgot a crucial big time info...
You should use a ZIP Code/State/City from a state without Sales Tax....
Lets say Oregon, Portland....
or else you will be subject to the Sales Tax of the state....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, to this day I have not found a guide to permanently achieve this. Although I should've expected that someone would've figure this out before me
About the state-dependent tax, I wasn't aware of that as I haven't been prompted to pay it, guess Florida is one of those tax free states

sebachamaca said:
Well, to this day I have not found a guide to permanently achieve this. Although I should've expected that someone would've figure this out before me
About the state-dependent tax, I wasn't aware of that as I haven't been prompted to pay it, guess Florida is one of those tax free states
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No florida isn't tax free, about 7% depending on the city
And it didn't work for me... I had a credit card that I used to pay some apps a long time ago (with marker enabler)
I removed it, enter another one but I couldn't make the trick, sadly my market is still blocked

sebachamaca said:
Well, to this day I have not found a guide to permanently achieve this. Although I should've expected that someone would've figure this out before me
About the state-dependent tax, I wasn't aware of that as I haven't been prompted to pay it, guess Florida is one of those tax free states
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Permanently ? You for sure mean temporarily till Google blocks it ...
And if you did not find it, then you did not search hard enough
One of the older guides I used to get my Music http://www.androidbeat.com/2013/05/get-google-play-all-access-to-work-outside-us/ ....
And yes as the poster above me, its not tax free... I had some tax free purchases, but then an in app purchase came with a tax... thats from what the screenshot in the attachment is from.
alwin006 said:
No florida isn't tax free, about 7% depending on the city
And it didn't work for me... I had a credit card that I used to pay some apps a long time ago (with marker enabler)
I removed it, enter another one but I couldn't make the trick, sadly my market is still blocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well for me it worked after I have no idea what. Default card I have on a US address, completely US. Not just ZIP or Country.
Now I have everything correct the country code being US.
Shows now this in Wallet > before the US in the end was my Country.
Code:
Oregon
Portland OR 97201 US
Also I did not use the Google Wallet app... Just the regular Google Wallet Setup in web. Or the Google play add credit card...
I would say his 2 step is unnecessary. Or you do not have to use the tunnel, hacked Google Wallet etc....
PS also there is another thing I changed to US https://accounts.google.com/b/0/EditUserInfo?hl=en but no idea if that had some effect

Do you guys still have your local mobile phone number on Google settings ?

alwin006 said:
Do you guys still have your local mobile phone number on Google settings ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have two. My U.S. Google voice and my local. On the credit cards the Google voice...
Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

Is this still working for you guys?
It suddenly stopped working for me, I am not sure whether its because
1. my credit card expired and need to register a new one, I still use a US address for billing though.
2. the new google play app with paypal support screwed it up for me?

where do we get an address and zip code from

change your play store country
i tried all these thing but nothing didn't work for me. so i found a gig infiver that works out for me. only there days sit and relax no complex things. here the url
"fiverr.com/androidea"

Good
Works great, thank you!

Nexus 5 Google Wallet Australia

Hi,
This is my first post and I'd like to try and see if this might be able to help someone else in the same position as I am. I really want to use the Google Wallet app in Australia on my new Nexus 5. I've managed to get the app to work, and it shows a message saying "This is not available in your country. Change your home address if you've moved." I've managed to change my account to a Google one with no home address attached, and it decided to play nice and let me through using this method. I'm going to set it up with a new Google account that I can just bin if it doesn't work, and see how it goes on Tuesday, when I go out next. Does anyone know if this is doomed to fail or if I should try it?
To activate the Wallet app (I'm not sure if it was already when the phone was fresh out of the box) I found an APK on the net somewhere (I would advise not doing this, I was lucky to find a good version) and installed it as an update to Wallet. I then was able to choose an account when activating it. This was all I did, and it doesn't care that I am in Australia. I'll tell you guys how it goes.
EDIT: Sorry, I put this in the incorrect section. May someone move it for me? I can't find how to delete my post.

roadblock
So I just tried to add my MasterCard to Wallet. Adding through the app worked, but when I went and properly added it with my Australian address (had to try) Wallet now considers it an "invalid card", which is really not surprising. Looks like I've hit a dead end until I can pick up a prepaid Visa (the Mastercard is a prepaid one and is about to expire) from Australia Post.

You can also add Play Store gift cards to your online Wallet account, and it should show up as available funds in your wallet app for Tap & Pay. I don't think they sell the physical cards outside of the U.S., but I found this:
http://www.offgamers.com/buy/googleplaygiftcard.html

Wallet Balance
Thanks for that, but do you know of an actual link to put the card code into? I looked into it and Google seemed to say that Play Store balance wasn't able to be used as Wallet balance, but I'd just like some clarification on that.
EDIT: Oh, also, we can get cards here too, just not sure if they'll work with Wallet as my account is classed as a US one.

Declined
Well I've hit a bit of a dead end for now. I got my prepaid Visa from the post office today, put the details into Wallet and it even accepted it. However, when I tested it in a local shop Wallet decided to decline it with an error message of "International transactions are not yet supported." Unless anyone here knows how to bypass that through some way, I guess it just won't work until it officially comes to Australia.

Google Play Music in Canada

to my fellow canadians that get their news (or some of them) from xda, the Google play music is finally available here. it comes with one month free subscription to unlimited music..
rock on
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Anyone having the same problem as me?
I originally signed up for All Access using a US credit card.
Now that it's available in Canada, I can't switch.
My Google Wallet seems tied to the US.
I was able to change my home address, add and verify a Canadian credit card, set it as default.
But when I try to re-activate All Access, it won't recognize it, and the currency still shows up as USD.
Isn't there a way to change this ?

JLishere said:
Anyone having the same problem as me?
I originally signed up for All Access using a US credit card.
Now that it's available in Canada, I can't switch.
My Google Wallet seems tied to the US.
I was able to change my home address, add and verify a Canadian credit card, set it as default.
But when I try to re-activate All Access, it won't recognize it, and the currency still shows up as USD.
Isn't there a way to change this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you tried already new Google account + new Canadian cc + cc address? Otherwise give the wallet support a call, they should be able to help. good luck
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

millicent said:
I assume you tried already new Google account + new Canadian cc + cc address? Otherwise give the wallet support a call, they should be able to help. good luck
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will contact them. I'd rather have my Wallet account migrated (they can switch currency, but manually).
I use one Google account for everything; including Play Store, Android, Gmail, Google+, Photos, YouTube, etc. so creating a new account just to get music is out of the question.

JLishere said:
I will contact them. I'd rather have my Wallet account migrated (they can switch currency, but manually).
I use one Google account for everything; including Play Store, Android, Gmail, Google+, Photos, YouTube, etc. so creating a new account just to get music is out of the question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any luck for you?
I think I'm in same boat as you. But I never signed up for All Access before. I simply enabled Google Music while I was in USA and kept using it for uploading music and claim free music.
Now I'm trying to sign up and it just give me USD price, however if I want to buy any music, it works fine as my default cc is selected and Buy button is blue. While signing up for All Access shows no supported method of payment and Buy button is grayed out.
I'll give support call as well.

For a limited time, you can get a 60 day free trial by clicking here: http://g.co/PlayMusicCA
I got this link from Google Play's official Google+ page. (See here: https://plus.google.com/+GooglePlay/posts/FQPxSoP5kE4)
None the less I'm excited that Google Play Music is finally available in Canada. Now all we need are TV Shows and GPE devices!

mumbhai55 said:
any luck for you?
I think I'm in same boat as you. But I never signed up for All Access before. I simply enabled Google Music while I was in USA and kept using it for uploading music and claim free music.
Now I'm trying to sign up and it just give me USD price, however if I want to buy any music, it works fine as my default cc is selected and Buy button is blue. While signing up for All Access shows no supported method of payment and Buy button is grayed out.
I'll give support call as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No resolution yet, but apparently, there are thousands of users with this problem (method of payment is greyed out when attempting to sign up for All Access, and Google Wallet thinks we're trying to buy a US subscription). I got the issue escalated to technical/engineering, and I hear reports of users with the same response. They will manually change our Google Wallet account to CAD currency.
There seems to be another bug with people who have a Google Play balance in USD (from an old Nexus purchase in the US, or a US gift card). Those users can't be switched. But Google is working on a fix to allow them to convert their balance in another currency, and therefore, be able to switch subscriptions to their home country.

JLishere said:
No resolution yet, but apparently, there are thousands of users with this problem (method of payment is greyed out when attempting to sign up for All Access, and Google Wallet thinks we're trying to buy a US subscription). I got the issue escalated to technical/engineering, and I hear reports of users with the same response. They will manually change our Google Wallet account to CAD currency.
There seems to be another bug with people who have a Google Play balance in USD (from an old Nexus purchase in the US, or a US gift card). Those users can't be switched. But Google is working on a fix to allow them to convert their balance in another currency, and therefore, be able to switch subscriptions to their home country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I called em too. Got same response, gonna put my name in list of people who have this problem.

So today I was finally able to subscribe to All Access. 60 days free promo worked as well.

I'm also enjoying 60 days free trails, its just marvelous...

Just an update for anyone following this :
As of June 11th, Google has issued a fix that prevented users from changing their home address in Wallet if they had a Google Play balance..
We're pushing a fix for one of the issues that was preventing users from updating their Wallet home address. Starting today, having a Google Play balance should no longer prevent you from changing your Google Wallet home address.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to re-subscribe to Google Music All-Access on the Canadian side, and also got the promo price of $7.99, which is good until June 30th.
:good:

[Issue] Couldn't complete your transaction Gift cards can only be used in the country where they were

"Couldn't complete your transaction Gift cards can only be used in the country where they were".
This is the error Im getting everytime when trying to purchase apps with play store.
Im rooted, have xposed, have tried to mock location, change ip with a reliable vpn. Im not in US.
Any workaround for this issue? Even a hard one?

Change your Google Play country:
1. Open the Google Play Store app .
2. At the top right, tap the profile icon.
3. Tap Settings - General Account and device preferences Country and profiles.

I am having the same issue, except with Indonesia. I previously bought IDR gift cards and could redeem them just fine, but since today that has no longer been working and I get the same error. The Google account has its store and region set to Indonesia and I have tried using a VPN to no avail. No clue how to fix this

James_Watson said:
Change your Google Play country:
1. Open the Google Play Store app .
2. At the top right, tap the profile icon.
3. Tap Settings - General Account and device preferences Country and profiles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not a solution. Those who change their country in play store, will lose all of their balance and even access to the paid apps, books and games that they got before.

Check my next post

It's also not a solution because my country in those settings is already correct, and yet the gift card redemption doesn't work.

SkrubbyJohnny said:
It's also not a solution because my country in those settings is already correct, and yet the gift card redemption doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Google messed up. It seems in their ham fisted attempt to target scammers they ended up locking the play balances of untold thousands (perhaps more) of legitimate accounts.

Michael Westen said:
This. Google messed up. It seems in their ham fisted attempt to target scammers they ended up locking the play balances of untold thousands (perhaps more) of legitimate accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using a Mastercard or Visa if you can.

blackhawk said:
Try using a Mastercard or Visa if you can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, credit and debit cards confirmed still work but that's not an adequate solution for many, especially those who already have substantial amounts of money in their play balance.
The issue only affects play gift cards and play balances. It even affects play balances that weren't necessarily filled using play gift cards in some cases, I'm told.
I choose not to willingly give out my bank CCs or real identity to scummy spyware companies like google anyways, so I have a prepaid visa gift card set as alternate form of payment.. this form of payment remains unaffected by google's recent gaffe.

Michael Westen said:
Yes, credit and debit cards confirmed still work but that's not an adequate solution for many, especially those who already have substantial amounts of money in their play balance.
The issue only affects play gift cards and play balances. It even affects play balances that weren't necessarily filled using play gift cards in some cases, I'm told.
I choose not to willingly give out my bank CCs or real identity to scummy spyware companies like google anyways, so I have a prepaid visa gift card set as alternate form of payment.. this form of payment remains unaffected by google's recent gaffe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rarely use pay apps. I have 4 on the phone.
Package Disabler and Poweramp are needed the other two I could ditch.
Best to feed the beast as little as possible (meaning Google Playwhore).
Google can't do much to a MC or Visa at least in the US as your assets are protected.

blackhawk said:
I rarely use pay apps. I have 4 on the phone.
Package Disabler and Poweramp are needed the other two I could ditch.
Best to feed the beast as little as possible.
Google can't do much to a MC or Visa at least in the US as your assets are protected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poweramp is def worth ponying up for. I think the dev even has a non-google payment option with a separate non-google variant of the apk. That's the way to go for sure, but I also understand he probably gets more volume of sales through the play store than through his own site's vendor process. Nature of the beast.
As for payment, walking into a store and putting cash on an unregistered mc or visa debit/gift card is simple enough and works for most online purchases with the exception of subscriptions/recurring billing. If all I wanted was a $6 app for instance I would just load $10 on the card. Better to risk compromising pocket change than to risk compromising your checking account. Plus it's anon if you follow the correct opsec procedures.

Michael Westen said:
This. Google messed up. It seems in their ham fisted attempt to target scammers they ended up locking the play balances of untold thousands (perhaps more) of legitimate accounts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New accounts balance can be use by ip and vpn if anyone wants to transfer Google play balance from old to new account contact me +923165779897

SkrubbyJohnny said:
I am having the same issue, except with Indonesia. I previously bought IDR gift cards and could redeem them just fine, but since today that has no longer been working and I get the same error. The Google account has its store and region set to Indonesia and I have tried using a VPN to no avail. No clue how to fix this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any solution to this issue yet sir ?
Im also from Indonesia and having the same issue. Tried to contact google and their answer is not helping.

Borororon said:
Any solution to this issue yet sir ?
Im also from Indonesia and having the same issue. Tried to contact google and their answer is not helping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope but I also don't live in Indonesia, I am guessing this change in Google policy is targeted at people like me. My Play Store region is set to Indonesia, I have tried using a VPN in Indonesia and setting my GPS location to Indonesia all at the same time, but Google still somehow detects that I am not in Indonesia. No clue how to activate my cards.

Read security PIN Google Wallet (Pay) from PayPal for online payment

Hello,
I have added my PayPal account to my Google Wallet. Everything works fine, but I want to use virtual/generated Mastercard behind this for online payment. I've already identified the card number and the expiration date. The only part that is missing is the security PIN (CVC). I found a thread, that claims it is the first 3 digits of PayPal's (In-store-PIN), but this seems not to work. I always get a declined-message in Google Wallet.
Is online payment even possible in general? Where do I get this code.
Thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Danny
PS: Rooted phone, so access to everything, if needed.