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Is it illegal to use US itunes acc if outside the country?

J

james714x

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 24, 2011
54
0
I'm outside the US country. Ok so there is a trick to create a US iTunes account by choosing none as the payment option. Now if I use it here to purchase apps and music, is it illegal? Will I get caught? I mean, I'll pay the apps legally using an app.

Does it bear the same weight as jailbreaking to pirate apps?

I'm really curious about it and I am about to create now.
 
james714x said:
I'm outside the US country. Ok so there is a trick to create a US iTunes account by choosing none as the payment option. Now if I use it here to purchase apps and music, is it illegal? Will I get caught? I mean, I'll pay the apps legally using an app.

Does it bear the same weight as jailbreaking to pirate apps?

I'm really curious about it and I am about to create now.
Click to expand...

Millions of users are doing the same. Apple won't be bothered.
 
so are you guys saying it's ok to do that? Are you familiar with freemyapps since that's what I'm going to do.
What if I bring my ipad3 to an authorized apple reseller and they find out my itunes account not matching with the country? Should I just log it out? I mean the country is US but the address is here xD.

also which screen manufacturer is the best? I hear a lot about DY but heard also it's bad.
 
Last edited:
james714x said:
so are you guys saying it's ok to do that?
Click to expand...

Until for example EA starts offering the same sales on intl AppStores than on the US ones, I say perfectly acceptable. I wouldn't use two accounts if purchasing stuff from the US ones wasn't at cases MUCH cheaper. (The above-mentioned EA, for example, generally only has sales in the US AppStore.)


james714x said:
Are you familiar with freemyapps since that's what I'm going to do.
Click to expand...

Definitely. Love it. A gold-mine for me - I have an iDevice of almost every single iPhone / iPt / iPad model (need them all as a dev, journalist and iOS programming lecturer) and have earned tons of AppStore redeem cards via my devices in the last half a year, using these devices in parallel to download FMA stuff. I REALLY recommend FMA it if you have more than 1-2 iDevices.
 
^
Thanks. What if most apps are available in our country yet I used a US account to purchase one using freemyapps. Will I get caught easily? If ever I get caught, what does the law say about it?

Bottomline, should I create a US based account even when I'm outside the US or should I just stay safe and create an account with the country to where I live?
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Millions of users are doing the same. Apple won't be bothered.
Click to expand...

;) That's pretty much it.

It's technically a violation of the TOS, however as long as there is nothing illegal involved, chances that there will be trouble are more than minor.

I'm german, I have used an US ID since forever basically speaking
(though I live in the US now..)
Yet it has never been a problem. I'd go for it.
 
james714x said:
^
Thanks. What if most apps are available in our country yet I used a US account to purchase one using freemyapps. Will I get caught easily? If ever I get caught, what does the law say about it?

Bottomline, should I create a US based account even when I'm outside the US or should I just stay safe and create an account with the country to where I live?
Click to expand...

You are not pirating / stealing anything. IMHO, you can just easily disregard Apple's really restrictive (and, IMHO, stupid) rules.
 
flameproof said:
Reading material:

Yesterday, Apple has decided to block my account permanently. Why? Because I am (was) using US iTunes store from outside the US.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1432294/
Click to expand...

It's not common; that is, I don't think one should be afraid of its account getting deleted. Besides, I've also told (once, about a year ago) the Apple folks I have two accounts (a local and a US one) but they didn't delete the US one.

EDIT: of course, one should not tell Apple he/she has a US account, though. It's just that they won't actively track down folks using "illegal" (hah hah) accounts based on IP addresses etc.
 
Last edited:
flameproof said:
Reading material:

Yesterday, Apple has decided to block my account permanently. Why? Because I am (was) using US iTunes store from outside the US.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1432294/
Click to expand...

Anyone else riding the same boat as the user in that thread?
Can I not be caught if I choose none as the payment option? That's what everybody is doing. It's a little unfair to me since if his account got blocked, then all the rest should have been blocked.

Any tips to avoid being seen by apple? I will buy apps legally but the country issue is very small for me but why does it feel heavy? T_T
 
ok to wrap things up again, should I create a US account or not? And Menneisyss2, are you from US? You mentioned of having 2 accounts. I heard a case of doubling the payment when you use identical emails. Mind to tell me the story again?

offtopic
@Menneisyss2, yes most animes I will be watching are in .MKV. So you're saying they have retina display support?
 
james714x said:
ok to wrap things up again, should I create a US account or not? And Menneisyss2, are you from US? You mentioned of having 2 accounts. I heard a case of doubling the payment when you use identical emails. Mind to tell me the story again?

offtopic
@Menneisyss2, yes most animes I will be watching are in .MKV. So you're saying they have retina display support?
Click to expand...

1. You should

2. I'm not from the US
 
james714x said:
ok to wrap things up again, should I create a US account or not? And Menneisyss2, are you from US? You mentioned of having 2 accounts. I heard a case of doubling the payment when you use identical emails. Mind to tell me the story again?

offtopic
@Menneisyss2, yes most animes I will be watching are in .MKV. So you're saying they have retina display support?
Click to expand...

Create a US account. I've had one on an undisclosed email for over a year now. If anything, you can always say something to weasel your way out of an account closure, if it DOES come to that.
Also, set the US with a DIFFERENT email, to avoid conflict.
 
thanks guys. Also, what if the email I'll use in my US account has the address of our country? Does it matter? I think I'll stick to one account only.
 
james714x said:
thanks guys. Also, what if the email I'll use in my US account has the address of our country? Does it matter? I think I'll stick to one account only.
Click to expand...

Create a gmail account and use it for registering your US iTunes account.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
You can - I don't think it'll be checked by Apple, though.
Click to expand...

so, to wrap things up, I may or may not choose US as my country in my gmail account? Why do I have to create another account btw? I have my yahoo already O.O Unless it's really necessary...
 
james714x said:
so, to wrap things up, I may or may not choose US as my country in my gmail account? Why do I have to create another account btw? I have my yahoo already O.O Unless it's really necessary...
Click to expand...

Gmail was just an example f quickly creating a use-once mail address for AppStore registration - you can use anything else to register, of course.
 
thanks

Just concerned, say I'm going to use my primary email to register an US itunes account, if ever my account get caught (percentage of being caught is?), will my email still be there? Can I talk to apple about that perhaps allowing me to use that account?

and is it possible to download youtube videos in ipad 3 without jailbreaking it? I heard of protube HD but it requires jailbreaking. Also, will the battery life change if you jailbreak the ipad3? Will my ipad3 still function the same way as when it hasn't been jailbroken yet?
 
So how are people actually getting around the payment issue with this? Surely apple can see your credit card details and address when you come to buy something.
 
Menneisyys2 said:
Millions of users are doing the same. Apple won't be bothered.
Click to expand...

I know people who have had their US iTunes account closed therefore losing all their purchases for using a US iTunes account outside the US. (I am in Australia).

There is really no longer an incentive for people here to use a US iTunes account here as app prices are now cheaper in Australia than the US.

I personally have never had any problem using my US account to occasionally download free apps from the US store.

Maybe invest in a VPN service (only costs $7 a month from WiTopia) so when you are downloading from the US store it appears you are in the US.

----------
james714x said:
and is it possible to download youtube videos in ipad 3 without jailbreaking it? I heard of protube HD but it requires jailbreaking. Also, will the battery life change if you jailbreak the ipad3? Will my ipad3 still function the same way as when it hasn't been jailbroken yet?
Click to expand...

I think these sorts of questions would be better of being asked in the iOS hacks section FYI.
 
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