How Tos

How to make an American iTunes account

Living the American iDream

How to make an American iTunes account
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Ah, America. The land of freedom, liberty, and redeemable promo codes. Turns out there are are two very good reasons to set yourself up with an American App Store account.

Promo codes, which give you a free download for a specific app, are only redeemable on the US store. And some releases, like Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 and Split/Second, take their sweet time when travelling across the Atlantic.

It's not rocket science, but Apple doesn't want any old Tom, Dick, or Harry making a secondary account, so it definitely won't make things easy for you. Follow our step by step guide to get the low-down on sneaking across the border, and living the American Dream.

Step 1 - Change stores

In the bottom right hand corner of the App Store is a little Union Jack flag (or whatever country you're currently in, iTunes supports a massive 90 different stores around the world). Click it. You can now choose a store to log into, so choose United States.

Step 2 - Don't jump the gun

Woah now. We know you're excited about seeing all these dollar signs and references to Justin Bieber, but if you go straight to the 'Create Account' option under Store you'll only get so far until iTunes forces you to enter some payment details. Not cool.

Step 3 - Attempt to download a free app

Instead, download a Free App. That's the important bit, it must be an app that costs zilch. iTunes will pop up a message asking you to sign in or create an account, choose Create New Account.

Step 4 - Make an account

Go through the usual rigmarole: agree to the Terms and Conditions, choose a password, and select a secret question. Now, though, you can choose "None" as your payment choice. Obviously, choose it.

Step 5 - Fake an address

You'll now need to find a legitimate American address. There are plenty of resources out there in Google Land, but we've had the most success typing in things like 'Florida Bakery' or 'Oregon Zoo'. The important parts are getting the State and Zip Code to correspond.

Step 6 - Redeem a promo code

Promo codes give you a free download of a specific app. We give most of them away to you guys every now and again, so this is what you need to click. Go to the iTunes Store home (not the App Store, but the actual 'home' button) and click Redeem in the quick links. Paste your code there. It will now download.

Step 7 - Redeem an iTunes Gift Card

If you're not lucky enough to win a promo code from your pals at Pocket Gamer, you might resign yourself to actually buying an app. Instead of messing about with American credit cards, just purchase an iTunes gift card (or get a Stateside buddy to waltz into his nearest Best Buy and email you to redemption code) to fill your new American account with lovely dollars.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer