How to Change Apple ID Region

by Rian

Region-changing on old systems has become something of a quiet craze — remote work and streaming have made it a growing necessity that cannot be ignored anymore. Apple was relatively late to the game; as far as I know, the region-change program didn’t gain real traction until 2020. Now in 2026, the documentation is conflicting, even from Apple itself, on where the program actually stands.

There are several preparations you need to make. My migration was from the US region to Korea, so the experience may differ per region. But no doubt the gist of it remains the same.

• Payment method, valid for the new region
• Billing address
• Identification, if the new region calls for it
• Cancel or let all Apple-issued subscriptions expire — contact Apple if the renewal date is too far out.
• Empty Music and TV wallet. This includes the account balance and free rentals, in case of the TV app.
  

Apple’s own documentation does not make it clear on the last two points. ‘No outstanding subscriptions before migration’ only affects Apple’s services, not the developers or any other third-party services. If you were grandfathered-in to a specific subscription, it will remain active until the renewal date. There were conflicting anecdotes on this; one said they kept the grandfathered-in subscription after migration, the other had to resubscribe. I will find out more once the day comes. Apple TV Channels — subscriptions to third-party services billed through the Apple TV app — may also fall under this requirement. It wasn’t a factor in my case, but readers in regions where they’re available should account for this. And for the wallet, it has to be completely empty, not just the account balance. They do not disappear on their own — though amounts under $1 can reportedly be refunded on request.

The process of migration itself is almost instantaneous except for a few hiccups on App Store and Apple Music. It may take a while for the App Store to load the right region. On the Apple Music side, if you are familiar with the slow pacing of reloading the Music library, double that with the slow pacing of the server. I do not believe I lost any tracks from Apple Music. In fact, I knew some of the tracks weren’t available in North America specifically; that’s definitely a plus in the whole migration.

With Apple now offering “global” services, I suppose the two where I’m still keeping a region-based account are Blizzard and PSN. In the case of Blizzard, at least their games are now on Steam, purchasable in local currency. However, in the case of PSN, Sony, for an unknown reason, still does not support changing region. It’s quite the mystery when these online services are more landlocked.