12

What can you do if you are located in a country that still does not support paid apps? Please include solutions for non-rooted users as well.

Improve this question
2

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
12

Requirements

  • a google checkout account with valid credit card (this has no country limitations)
  • pre-paid SIM card from supported country (for me pre-paid Three UK SIM worked just fine)

Steps for purchasing

  • insert the pre-paid SIM
  • enter google account that is associated with google checkout (account will be asked because of SIM change)
  • connect over Wi-Fi
  • purchase the wished application
  • just download and install

Questions

What about roaming charges? As a rule pre-paid SIMs do not work in other countries, so the only way to browse the market and download applications is connecting over Wi-Fi.

Why is a SIM required? Market detects Your location by SIM cards home country. By using a SIM from supported country You are effectively faking Your location.

Isn't it required for Google Checkout account or credit card used to be in supported country? It seems that not. For me these were both located in Estonia and everything went without problems.

What if application is using some weird copy protection that locks it to a specific SIM card? Would the app not stop working when real SIM is swapped in? To prevent this kind of copy protection on locking to the incorrect SIM the easiest option is to cancel the download after purchase has been complete. Swap the real SIM in and complete the download. If there is some kind of SIM check, it can be only done after installation has been complete.

Where can I get a pre-paid SIM card? Check eBay :) There is no actual credit required on the SIM, so these should be pretty cheap.

--credit: the poster himself (JaanusSiim)

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    This answer is many years old. Can anyone confirm if it still works?
    – Kit Johnson
    Commented Mar 9, 2018 at 3:17
7

For rooted phones:

There is an app called Market Enabler that allows you to fake which country and carrier you're on when you're browsing the market so that you can easily browse markets from other countries or carriers. using this you should be able to connect to other European markets (I don't know which country you're in but many European markets such as UK do allow paid apps, you don't have to go to the US for them).

Improve this answer
2
  • For Market Enabler phone must be rooted and this only works for buying apps not selling them
    – Joakim Elofsson
    Commented Aug 20, 2010 at 15:33
  • 2
    You can't sell apps on an Android phone anyway.
    – Arda Xi
    Commented Aug 20, 2010 at 21:19
5

I think you'd need to have a credit card that has a billing address in the US (or other supported country).

In Europe apps can be bought by users in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and Switzerland.

Hopefully the number of supported countries will be increased when Google announces its apparently imminent Market improvements. The recent change to the terms and conditions to allow for carrier billing and rumours of Paypal support suggest that there will be new payment options in the near future, potentially for countries where Google Checkout is not currently available.

If you can't use the official market you could use AndAppStore, SlideME or one of the other third party app stores. The app selection and user base is considerably reduced however.

Improve this answer
1
  • The billing address doesn't make any difference. I have a German credit card (in euros), but my Google Play store is set to the US. Some German (and Swiss) apps are Play-store-region locked and won't work for me. I strongly suspect the real issue is that developers think this allows them to geographically restrict their apps without having to demand location permissions. They seem to have the misconception that one's Google Play store region and one's geographic region are the same. They're not.
    – Kyralessa
    Commented Feb 24, 2021 at 13:06
0

You could also use Entropay for obtaining a Virtual Card to make payments in Google Play Store wherever you are. I was able to buy games and apps for my Moto X using the Virtual Card from Entropay as I live in India and Google Play Store doesn't accept my debit card.

Thanks to Mr. Narendran for sharing this info. https://android.stackexchange.com/a/65739/77738

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .