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How to change your App Store country when a balance is blocking it

APPLE ACCOUNTLast Cent editorial teamUpdated August 30, 2026

If Apple won't let you change your App Store country because you still have $0.17 in your Apple Account, that credit has to be spent before you can switch — and it has to reach exactly 0.00, which is harder than it sounds when nothing in the store costs $0.17.

This page is the narrow case: everything else on your account is in order and the only thing standing between you and a new storefront is leftover store credit. If you are not sure that is the blocker, start with the full list of reasons Apple refuses a country change.

Why the balance blocks the switch at all

Store credit lives inside one storefront and one currency. There is no mechanism to convert $4.31 of US credit into euros or lira when the account moves, and Apple does not pay it out. So the requirement is simple and absolute: empty the balance first, in the country that issued it.

What makes it hard is the arithmetic. A leftover is whatever a gift card minus some purchases happens to be, and App Store prices are a fixed ladder — $0.99, $1.99, $2.99, then in-app tiers. Buying something more expensive than your credit does not clear it: Apple spends the credit, charges the rest to your card, and you are left with 0.00 only if the numbers happened to line up. Usually they don't, and the leftover simply becomes a stranger number than it was.

And in the US, the price is not the price

American App Store prices are shown before sales tax. A $0.99 app in New York City actually charges $1.08. So a plan built by adding up price tags overshoots or undershoots every time, and people conclude the balance is impossible to clear. It isn't — the tax rate for your address just has to be part of the calculation. The mechanics of that, in detail.

Getting to exactly 0.00

1
Read the real balanceApp Store → profile picture → the credit line under your name. Take the exact figure, including cents. Do not work from memory: a subscription may have taken a bite since you last looked.
2
Find a combination that sums to itYou are looking for purchases whose total — after tax, if you are in the US — equals the balance to the cent. Doing this by hand means comparing tiers across several apps; Last Cent does the search and returns the list.
3
Buy exactly what is on the listOne purchase at a time, in the App Store. If a price has changed since the plan was made, stop and recalculate rather than improvising.
4
Verify, then repeat if neededCheck the balance again. A rounding difference of a cent or two is normal on the first pass — recalculate with the new figure and finish it off.
5
Change the regionSettings → your name → Media & Purchases → View Account → Country/Region. Accept the new terms, and pick None as the payment method if you do not have a local card yet.

Last Cent takes the amount you type in and returns a purchase plan that lands on 0.00 — sales tax included. It never signs in to your Apple Account.

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When the leftover is smaller than anything you can buy

Below roughly a dollar there may be no combination at all, because the cheapest thing in the store costs more than you have. There are two honest ways out: add a small amount of credit so a solvable combination exists and then spend the whole thing to zero, or ask Apple Support to remove the remainder. Both are covered in the guide on tiny balances.

What to expect after the switch

  • Apps you already own stay in your purchase history, but anything not published in the new storefront cannot be re-downloaded there.
  • Music, TV and Books libraries can lose items that are not licensed in the new country.
  • Subscriptions do not migrate — you re-subscribe at local prices.
  • The new balance starts at zero, in the new currency. Gift cards only work in the storefront they were issued for.

If you are doing this because you have moved, the moving-abroad guide covers what is worth switching for and what to do before you pull the trigger.

FAQ

Can I just ignore the balance and change country anyway?
No. The country change is refused while store credit remains — this is enforced by Apple, not a suggestion.
Can Apple transfer my balance to the new country?
No. Store credit cannot be converted or moved between storefronts, and Apple does not refund it to a card as a matter of course.
What if I buy something more expensive than my balance?
Apple uses the credit first and charges the remainder to your payment method. The balance goes down but rarely to exactly zero, which is why an unplanned purchase usually makes the problem messier rather than solving it.
Does Last Cent make the purchases for me?
No. It produces the list; you buy the items yourself in the App Store, and you change the region yourself in Settings. The app has no access to your Apple Account.
Do I have to do this again if I move back?
Yes. Every region change requires the balance of the current storefront to be at zero, in whichever direction you are moving.
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