How To Add Apps To Your American Google Play Account While Living Abroad

If you’re an American moving to or living overseas and wondering how to add local apps to your American Google Play account, this post is for you!

It comes from Linda, an American expat in Sweden.  She relied on my posts about Google Voice to help her with her American phone struggle overseas, and after loads of trial and error on her Android phone, she can now access her USA or Sweden apps whenever she wants to.

Read on for adding geo-restricted apps, like Hemköp and Lidl in Sweden, to your American Google Play without changing the country.

How to add apps to your American Google Play without changing country

For 3 years, I’ve wanted to add several apps here in Sweden to my Android phone.

I couldn’t add Hemköp, Lidl, Willys, and Max to my American Google Play.  Every time I attempted to add them, I got the message:

This app is not available in your country.

I tried downloading APK versions of the apps that I could find, but it didn’t seem especially safe. I didn’t want to change countries.  And also because:

• You can only change countries once a year. (Not really an option for switching back to USA apps when needed.)
• I didn’t want to lose my purchased apps.
• I didn’t want to lose my $ balance.

After loads of web research, I found a way to have the best of both worlds.

There is no need to change your Google Play country to access specific geo-restricted apps.

Android supports multiple Google accounts. By using a new account per country, you don’t need to worry about the consequences of switching the country of your primary Google account. If you do decide to change the country on your existing Google Play Account, be sure you’re OK with these callouts from Google first.

This solution is ideal for expats, who may want to have access to geo-restricted apps in 1 country at a time.

Steps to add another country account to your Android phone

1. Create a new Google account.
2. Link the new Google account to your Android phone, in addition to your primary account.
3. Continue using your primary Google account as usual.
4. When you need to install a geo-restricted app, tap the account avatar in Google Play search bar to switch to an account where the app is available.  Switch back to your primary account after downloading the app.
5. The additional Google accounts created may or may not be used regularly.

Other benefits after linking the new Google account

I’ve decided to use the account with Google Play, and I moved my Viber and WhatsApp backup to the new account.

I was having a problem with my regular account reaching the free 15 GB limit. I had to back up everything to the new account and then remove the accounts (Viber & WhatsApp) from my original account. By doing this, I freed up 8 GB!

I hope this helps other expats struggling to add geo-restricted apps to their American Google Play account.

And if you haven’t already, make sure to read these tips on How To Keep Your US Mobile Phone Number While Moving Abroad.

Have questions for Linda about using her Android phone in Sweden?  Please post in the comments.