This guide contains easy, step-by-step instructions on how to buy music, movies, TV shows, iOS apps, books, audiobooks etc. from the US iTunes store, from any location in the world. This is my proven method to pass the US content restriction for anyone who wants to make these purchases outside of the United States.
Working in December, 2024.
Learn How to:
- Create a U.S iTunes Store account anywhere in the world
- Download U.S only restricted content worldwide (UK, Canada, Australia, etc.)
- Obtain a U.S iTunes Gift Card with PayPal account from any country
For legal reasons, a lot of English language content on the app store is restricted to North America only. To prevent downloads from restricted countries, apple requires a US credit card or an iTunes gift card purchased in the US/online with a US credit card. Luckily we can get around this with a few extra dollars.
What You Will Need:
- Working PayPal account from any country in the world
- A valid address from the United States
- A new free e-mail address
Obtaining US iTunes Gift Card
For making money purchases from the US store, you need a US credit or gift card. If you have one already, or want to download free content, you may skip this step.
Most retailers of digital gift cards, such as Apple themselves, cannot be used with non-US payment options. The way around this restriction is to obtain one from an international seller on eBay. At the time of writing, there is only one reputable seller, but with an excellent track record. Selling gift cards from anywhere between $10 to $200. You just need a PayPal account that can be from any country.
Please note that this card will only work on the US store with a US account.
>> click here for a good, trusted gift card shop on eBay
>> alternative eBay gift card sellers here
A few dollars will be added to the regular price. But I can say from experience that it’s well worth it for the super fast service, and good support. When you have your 16 digit voucher code, you are ready to move on.
The PIN code will be sent to you in digital format, ready for use. The fastest I ever received it was just a couple of minutes. You’ll get a message like this:
Registering US iTunes Store Account
Normal registration will ask for credit card details to verify your country. Follow these simple steps to create a US account without it.
First make sure that you are signed out from your usual Apple ID.
Open up this link in your browser: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/movie/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle/id1315255745?mt=6&at=11lMHw
This should automatically open the iTunes Store or if it does not:
– select “View in iTunes”.
This will ensure that you are in the US store before you start the registration process. If you are on another store, it will prompt you to change.
This is the important step to register without a credit card. First, click on “Get” to attempt to download the free app. This will pop up the sign in window, where you should select “Create Apple ID”.
Select “Continue”.
In the next window, provide an e-mail address that has not been used with apple products before and fill in the other details.
If you followed the steps correctly, you will see an option “None” under payment types. Also fill in the 16 digit gift code in the box below. Or if you just want to get free content, leave it blank.
Next we need to fill out a valid address in the United States. As well as a random phone number with a valid Area Code. Preferably from a state that does not tax the sales of digital goods. To see a current list of tax free states, check out the Download Fairness organisation website.
For obtaining a valid address, a search on Google maps for a nearby florist or dentistry clinic should do with a bit of editing.
You are ready to make purchases!
Please, help us out and leave a comment on how it worked for you. Also it would be very helpful if you could mention your version of iTunes and Mac OS X you used to create the account.
I hope this helped. Thank you.
Comments and questions on iTunes purchases below!
cant purchase… i have 30bux credit in my US account and iTunes keeps asking for billing verification when i click “buy”.
is there a solution?
How did you create your US iTunes account? What version of iTunes?
I’m located in Germany, and the US iTunes gift card trick worked fine for me.
Thanks for sharing.
It works for purchasing apps. But I feel like it does not work when you gift an app. Am I right?
Sorry, no experience in sending iTunes Gifts. But I don’t see why it wouldn’t work if the receiving end also has a US account.
Hi
I’m trying that too, i cant send gift without payment method :/ I have enough $ to buy the gift, itunes gift card is not enough for buying that. any other idea?
Hi.
Do I absolutely need an VPN (Hide my ass) type of thing before I open my US account in order that it works? I heard that some people had their accounts closed and lost all the content they had bought because Apple saw that they connected to the US store outside the United States. I live in Canada and all I want is to buy “Agents of Shield season 3” and it’s not available in the canadian store.
Can I open a US account, pay with a US itunes gift card and download all the episodes from Canada WITHOUT an VPN (like Hide my ass) ?
I am awaiting your answer. I would be nice to receive it in my hotmail box.
Not absolute. But I am not surprised if they are catching up on non-VPN circumvention. The iTunes terms & conditions clearly states:
“The iTunes Service is available to you only in the United States, its territories, and possessions. You agree not to use or attempt to use the iTunes Service from outside these locations.”
But I doubt most people would be even aware of this, or willing to open up a new iTunes account for every country they travel to. This leaves the control to Apple, which can freely choose how and when to govern the contractual obligation.
Either way, I wouldn’t think of it as a totally permanent account. Good thing is that you can save the videos to your computer with NoteBurner M4V Converter Plus for example (perhaps a better investment than a VPN?), in case the account gets frozen.
Speaking of Hide My Ass. They do run some decent discounts from time to time.
We are in september 2015. Is itunes only checking location during sign up?
I heard that some people had their accounts deleted by itunes for connecting to the US store from another country while they were traveling (ex. Japan).
If I go to the United States in december, I might open a US itunes account and buy something (TV show not available in Canada) while I am there. But I want to know if I will be able to connect to my US account and download the purchased episodes from Canada when I will be back home.
I am not planning to use a VPN because that would be too expensive since I only want to buy one TV show (full season). So, I need to make sure that I will be able to download the content that I bought in the US while connected to my US itunes account from Canada.
Could you help me with that? Thanks in advance.
Location verification depends on your method of payment.
The iTunes program in itself, is not going to prevent the access of an account in a different country. So it does work but like I said, according to the terms, this is not allowed. Even though surely a lot of people are doing it, with or without being aware of the rules.
Thank you very much for your quick answers.
So, if I understand well, I could open a US itunes account while I am traveling in the United States in december. I could also purchase the “Agents of Shield – season 3” TV show with a US itunes gift card and download the episodes available while I am in the US. But I won’t be able to download the rest of the episodes when I’ll be back in Canada since it is not allowed. Well, that is kind of shocking! It’s not my fault if the content that I will buy in the States won’t be entirely available for download at that time. They should give us permission to download what we paid for even from Canada.
It seems like I am stuck and do not know how I am going to do it since I want to remain legal.
Just wanted to tell you this. I spoke with an Apple representative today. I asked for an assistance call from itunes and asked if I could download the media that I bought in the US with my US itunes account while in Canada and he told me that I was allowed as long as I did not change my Apple ID and did not switch back my account to canadian.
Well, I was very happy about this. I was starting to be a little desperate. He told me I could open my US account when I will go to the States in December, buy the season show that I want (Agents of Shield season 3) with a US itunes gift card and download the episodes when I will get back to Canada.
Very cool!
Hope this helps.
Im trying to setup a US iTunes account i have an American iTunes gift card but when i create Apple ID it’s giving me an error msg does anyone have any idea’s?
What does the error message say? How did you try to create the account?
The message says to contact Apple and will not let me continue, i followed every step mentioned above.
Does the error message say: “please contact iTunes support to complete this transaction”? You could try with a free US IP address through VPN.
im using unlocator the error message says for assistance contact itunes support.
I got it working i asked my cousin in the states to open an account for me thanks for time Elf David it was appreciated.
Does anyone know if the same would work in reverse, for a person in the US trying to buy itunes audiobooks only available in the UK? Does anyone know a way around this? Thanks
Yes. Absolutely. This should work in the same way if you create a UK iTunes account. Just search for “UK iTunes Gift Card” on eBay. And see this link for a cheap VPN connection to get a UK IP address. Which can be a good precaution as well.
Hey guys, thought I’d help you all out. It’s actually easier to download things from the US store thank you think. I live in Canada and this is my trick.
You do not need to hide your IP in iTunes. iTunes doesn’t geo-restrict based on actual location, the restrict based on credit cards.
Make an account like above, and if you’re like me in Canada, convert your Postal Code to a Zip code. Ex. T6C 1C2 now equals 61200 or 61201 (just makes sure it’s actually a zip code, Google it). When registering your credit card, use the above converted zip code and city it belongs too. When you try to buy things, it only checks the postal code to verify the billing address. It works magic, on Hulu too 😉
Hope this helps! It’s a great way to access US content from North of the border 😉
This was very very useful advice thanks so much Rob
Hi! I’m from the Philippines and I got a $15 iTunes gift card and I was planning to buy iMovie from the App Store. What do I do with the phone number? It’s the only information I have left and it’s needed and I don’t know what to do.
When registering a “US account”, I would recommend using a phone number that has the same area code as the state of the address you are using. For example, you can search for a business within that area and see what the phone numbers look like. Perhaps change a few numbers in the end. Does that help?
Hi!
I’ve had a US account for a long time now, with no payment method. I mostly use it to download free apps not available in my country.
I wanted to step it up by subscribing to a service like Hulu. Do you know if the credit from a gift card can be used for a subscription?
Thanks!
The answer is yes. And this is confirmed by Hulu themselves. Good luck and do report back if successful. Thanks.
hi
I’ve been trying to make an account all day and it keeps saying “for assistance contact itunes support at…”
I checked the zip code and I have VPN on
can someone help me ?
You can try to create an Apple ID through appleid.apple.com with the same email and then try to login again with iTunes. Does that help?
Oh thanks!
I already made one but I didn’t sign in with it on my iphone because I thought it will ask for payment info when it tells me to “review my info”. Turns out there’s a none box there too ! So that worked out great.
That’s good to know, hope this can help others too.
..and great to hear you got it working!
can i reedem my itunes balance in bank account or transfer to cards ?
No you cannot. Looks like the balance will just sit on the account until used up.
kailangan ko ang Redeem code number ko now na
No filipino please.
Hi, David.
My brother lives in the Philippines while I live here in the US. He wants me to buy some games from the app store. I wanted to buy him an iTunes gift card (is there one electronically delivered?). I have been doing my research on how to gift apps to when I purchase these apps but I have not succeeded. Any suggestions? My next research would just be to purchase a prepaid international credit card and gift that to him so he can purchase those apps he wants by himself. Pls help me!
Thx!
The gift card needs to be from the same country as the Apple ID. I don’t think they have them in the Philippines (better confirm that elsewhere). He could open a US account to which you can purchase an electronic US iTunes gift card.
Hi – simply cannot get the NONE as an option on the payment methods.
Am I doing something wrong?
AB
Are you trying to register through iTunes – while attempting to download an app for free? Some more details would help to assist further.
I buy all my USA iTunes from this seller on eBay:
http://stores.ebay.com/Gift-Card-Hut-Marketplace/iTunes-Cards-/_i.html?_fsub=2806060016
Looks good and they have the whole range from 25, 50 to 100 dollar cards.
Thanks for sharing your tip.
Hi, I have a couple of questions:
1. Do you recommend opening a new account for every purchase or is it safe to top up one account with gift cards multiple times?
2. How risky is it to purchase a new season of a TV show completely in advance and then use a VPN connection to download new episodes each week?
Thanks for the answer.
I don’t think topping up a single account multiple times is going to make any difference. On the contrary using too many accounts on the same iTunes application would seem suspicious if anything.
Especially if you are using VPN — I wouldn’t say it’s risky at all.
And what I like about iTunes in particular is that with the appropriate program, you can easily copy the episodes directly to your hard drive for later viewing with VLC — with no loss in quality.
Thanks for questions!
Im stuck in verification code 🙁
Hi David, you seem to be a real vault for problems to be solved. Kudos! Here is mine: Some years ago I installed a US iTunes account, bought movies and downloaded them on my iMac. The German iTunes was awful. Now I did it the same way, bought an US iTunes gift card and the movie in my old US account. When I tried to download the movie, I was told that my iMac would be bound to the (American) iTunes account for 3 months if I downloaded the film. This was different. What did I do wrong? Thank you in advance for your help!
David, thank you so much for your step by step instructions, it worked 100% for me and now I can enjoy US content unavailable in my country! Thank you.
I’m so glad it’s working for you and to know the method is still valid. Thanks so much for your feedback! //d
Nice step-by-step instructions made it easy for me.
Cheerio! [d]
Hello, everybody!
Maybe my method can be useful for somebody.
I’ve been trying to follow these instructions from Latvia, Europe, but since in my iTunes there is not an option to download apps as all the apps are available only trough the App store which is a separate application on my Mac, I didn’t have an option where I could register an account without specifying a payment method. It only offers to create an account with a specified payment method – Visa, Paypal, etc. No such oprtion as “None” since it’s only paid content available for download in iTunes. And when trying to do the same exact steps in my Mac’s App store it doesn’t let to complete the registration because of an error. “We’ve run into a problem” pops out each time trying to create a US account.
Luckily I found a workaround. Although iTunes doesn’t let you to register an account outside the US and would deny your non-US credit card, there is one service that allows you to do this without any complications – and it’s Paypal. I logged out my Latvian Paypal account and created a US one entering my relatives’ address in Florida and my old cell number which I had 10 years ago when spending a summer in FL. And it worked. And the best part is that in Paypal there is no verification trough text messages needed which allows you to use a dead cell number.
Then I went back to registering my US iTunes account just as you would normally do it. Only when I was asked to specify my payment method instead of credit card I chose Paypal. And again – it worked. Here Apple doesn’t check the source anymore. It makes sure you have a US based Paypal account and does not check how did you get it. And the last part is that when proceeding with the registration iTunes will ask you to link a creditcard to your Paypal. This is where I thought it’s gonna end for me. But again – Paypal doesn’t care where your card was issued.
So last step is to transfer some money to your new Paypal account and you’re good to go.
Best,
Lauris
Thanks! It’s great.
Hi David,
Thank you for the awesome guide.
Can I check if US Itunes limits the purchase up to US$50 per billing cycle? As everytime I hit US$50 mark, it prompts me to contact support for assistance.
Is there any way to workaround this?
Thanks,
Bill
Hi I am trying to buy an itunes gift card and its asking me for a credit card information is there another way i can get it ?