Apps make the smartphone experience smooth. They offer different functionalities, entertainment, convenience, financial transactions, and more. However, you might often encounter an error, “App not available in your country,” when installing a certain app. While it can be frustrating, it is probably due to government restrictions or OS compatibility.
You might be surprised to learn that Google does not work in China. That is due to government restrictions. In 2024, the US government moved to ban TikTok. If this happens, the app will not be functional in that region. These are government restrictions and can be the reason an app is not available in your location. In addition, some OS versions are dropped by developers. That might be another factor, but often, you will see the app but cannot download it.
But that is the beauty of Android as an open source. You can download apps from third-party websites or even change your location to access restricted apps in your region. Fortunately, you can do all these on your device by following a few steps. But before we dive into how to solve this problem, let us see how they can come about.
What are the reasons an app is not available in your location?
There are many reasons, like regional restrictions, government interference, local challenges, and OS version. Any of these can restrict the availability of certain apps in your region, but there is a way around it.
- Regional Restrictions: Like OTA updates, which are released in batches to contain serious issues, developers employ this technique when releasing their apps. Especially for new apps, it allows designers to ensure compliance with local laws and another experience with the locals.
- Government interference: Some apps do not appear on your Play Store because the government has banned them. Political tension can result in the exclusion of some apps from certain regions, just like the case of Google and China. Developers are forced to leave our apps.
- Local challenges: Some apps are meant for a particular region and hence difficult to install in other countries. WeChat is a Chinese app with Chinese as the language. It is almost impossible for an English-speaking person to use the app.
- OS version: Meta recently announced it will stop supporting phones running Android 4.4. It means you might get an error message trying to install WhatsApp on devices still running this OS version. Also, developers sometimes limit their apps to a particular OS version. That is probably the reason an app is not available in your location.
How to resolve an app not available in your country
If you travel to a different country for a vacation and need to install an app designed for that region. Unfortunately, you can not because the app is not available in your original country. How do you then go about that? Well, Google knows that can happen, and they offer a simple step to adjust it.
Change Google Play store country
If you are visiting a country and need to install a local app, you can adjust your region in the Play Store. Google only allows that once a year, so it is essential you think about it very well before utilizing it.
- Head to Play Store and tap on your profile icon.
- Click on Settings>>General.
- Tap on Account and Device Preference.
- Select Country, and profiles and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the procedure.
Download the APK file.
The issue with installing an APK file is that if an app is limited to only a particular region, side-loading it will not work. Even when it does, it will be impossible to get the full functionality. Resulting to this method should be when you are in that region but cannot change your location on the Play Store. Perhaps you are only there for a few days.
- Head to your browser and search for the app you want to download
- From the results, download the APK file
- Once the app has finished downloading, tap on it to start the installation
- You might be asked to enable installation from an unknown source, tap continue.
- When that is done, launch the app and start using it.
Also read: How to share your live location with your friends and family for easy monitoring
Use VPN
Since VPN masks your current location by rerouting your internet connection through servers in different regions, it will trick Play Store into believing you are in that region. That way, you can download apps limited to that particular region. However, most VPNs that let you do this are paid, but you can try Windscribe.
- Head to the Play Store and download Windscribe or any other liable VPN.
- Launch the app and select a country you want to connect to
- Once the connection is established, head to your home screen.
- Long press on the Play Store app icon
- Tap on App info from the pop-up menu
- Tap Clear data and click on Clear cache
- Head back to the home screen and trigger the App info, but this time, you need to Force Close the app.
- After that, relaunch the app and search for the app you wish to download.
Why can I not change my region on the Google Play store?
Aside from the fact that you can only change your location on the Play Store once a year, if you have an active subscription, Google will not allow you to change to a new region. The idea is to stop people from changing your location to get a cheaper offer from what is being paid in their current location.
In addition, your Google Play balance becomes unusable when you switch locations. Your balance is linked to your original location in your account settings.
Conclusion
The best way to resolve an app now available in your country in the Play Store is to find an alternative app in your region. Since Google restricts changing location to once a year in the Play Store, it is impossible to change it on each trip. Also, you risk your balance being unusable and other things that come with that.
Also, downloading APK files is not ideal since many of these apps were kicked out of the Play Store due to some violations. You risk exposing your data to scammers and stalkers.
