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Comment by SideburnsOfDoom | Hacker News Reader

Does this fool the android app store regarding current country, or is that based off who is currently providing Mobile phone signal?

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As someone who has had to trick Google Play store country, it's a bit more complicated than that.

You can only change the Google Play country setting once a year. You can only change it if Google determine you to be located physically in that country. Based on my testing, the only combination I could use to trick them was:

* no SIM in the phone

* Wi-Fi connected to another phone's hotspot which is VPNing to the desired country

* GPS off

* payment method in the desired country

That way Google have no way of knowing you're not actually in the desired country. Just certain parts (even including a SIM card in roaming originally from desired country didn't work) weren't enough.

Why did you need to trick google play into using a different country?

Some apps are only available in certain countries, and some countries have more favorable prices when exchanging from USD (or etc.).

Apart from what the sibling comment mentions (certain apps not being available in the country you're in as far as Google Play is concerned), there's also family sharing app plans that are sometimes geofenced (everyone on the same family plan needs to live in the same country which is not how my family works so it doesn't work for me).

You can install region specific APK and use Aurora store to manage the updates.

Sometimes when traveling, local apps are restricted to their country’s App/Play store. Really annoying!

Google's knowledge of your location is much more detailed than only your phones GPS location.

- Billing addresses for Google Play

- Wifi and cellular networks seen by your Android devices

- IP addresses and other identifiers of all devices you used to access Google services (mobile and web)

- GPS metadata in pictures uploaded to Google Images and Drive

- Documents with addresses such as bills in your Google Drive and Gmail

And probably much more that I can't think of right now.

The Google Play store country however can be changed once per year, but you need a valid billing method originating from this country.

From a conversation with a Google employee, they also know what floor of a building you're in from the accelerometer and barometric pressure sensor. Probably even which direction you're facing from the compass.

The easiest way is to just have multiple accounts, ideally with payment methods/phone numbers for the relevant country. My primary account is locked to Belgium because of family sharing, but I have a separate US one with a US CC I made when I lived there. And a separate Swedish one with a Swedish CC because I live in Sweden now. I can just switch between the accounts in the Play Store and have apps from all three installed and auto-updating at all times.

I tried this using Fake Traveller and it didn't work.

- Installed Fake Traveller

- Set Fake Location App

- Set location to Sydney, Australia

- Open Play Store

- Search for ANZ Shield (Australian banking app)

Result: App not available in my region :(

Combine it with a VPN with an exit in Australia and you might have better luck. IP addresses are pretty standard for geo-fencing as well.

Aren't almost all app stores linked to the billing country (Country of credit card) for tax reasons alone?

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