Updated: 30 September 2026
Before you can change your Apple Account country or region, Apple asks you to spend any remaining balance — and in practice even a few cents stop the switch. Here is every way to clear it, free ones first. You don’t need an app for any of this.
In the App Store, tap your photo at the top right. If you have a balance, the amount appears below your name; if nothing appears, you have no balance and something else is blocking you (see the checklist below). Apple’s instructions.
Write down the exact figure, cents included. Every route below depends on it.
An app, a game, a film or a book you’d actually use. That’s the whole trick, and it’s the best value for the money.
Don’t start a subscription to use it up. An active subscription blocks the country change by itself, and Apple only takes a recurring charge from your balance when the balance covers the whole charge (Apple: how purchases are billed).
Buy any single item that costs a little more than your balance. Apple uses your balance first and charges the remaining amount to your payment method (Apple: how purchases are billed), so the balance lands on exactly zero.
Pick the cheapest item above your balance so the extra on your card is as small as possible, then check your balance again: it should show nothing.
Without a working card, a purchase only goes through if your balance covers it in full. So you need items whose prices add up to exactly your balance.
That’s harder than it sounds. Most App Store prices end in .99, .49 or .29, so a handful of them can only add up to a narrow set of amounts. Every price ending in 9 shifts the last digit of the total by one, which is why a balance like 3.02 has no exact match within four purchases of such prices.
Try combinations of small in-app purchases in apps you already use, working up from the cheapest. If no exact match exists, spend down as far as you can and use step 5 for what’s left.
When the balance is smaller than the cost of any single item, Apple’s own advice is to contact Apple Support (Apple: change your country or region).
Hello. I have a small remaining balance of [amount] in store credit on my Apple Account. I understand this amount is non-refundable and I’m not asking for a refund. I’d like to change my App Store country, and to do that I need to spend down my remaining balance first. Could you please remove this remaining [amount] so my balance reaches zero? Thank you.
It’s a request, not a guarantee — the decision is Apple’s. The amount isn’t refunded; in practice it is simply removed.
Then: Settings → your name → Media & Purchases → Country/Region.
Zeroed is our iPhone app that does steps 3 to 5 for you. Type your balance and say whether you have a working card; it reads the real prices in your currency and shows the exact purchase or combination — or, when zero can’t be reached by buying, writes the Support message with your amount filled in.
It’s free to download and needs no account. The purchase that zeroes your balance is a keepsake card, and that money goes to us. If your balance is more than a few dollars, the app refuses it and tells you to spend it on something you’d enjoy. Everything on this page works without it.
Generally no. Apple doesn’t redeem gift cards or account balance for cash except where the law requires it. If your jurisdiction does, Apple Support can take a refund request.
Apple asks you to spend any remaining balance before a country or region change, and in practice the change is refused while any amount remains.
With a working card, buy one item priced just above the balance: the balance is used first and the rest goes on the card. Without a card, find items that add up to exactly the balance, or ask Apple Support to remove what’s left.
Cancel the subscription and wait until its current period ends; Apple blocks the change while a subscription is active. Any balance still has to be spent as well.
Only if the balance covers the entire charge, and an active subscription blocks the country change on its own. Use a one-off purchase instead.
No. Funds on your Apple Account balance are available only to you, even in Family Sharing.