How to Register a Non-Mainland Apple Account?
Apple IDs from the mainland can use only a limited set of services. This guide walks through registering a non-mainland account step by step.
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Apple accounts from mainland China can use only very limited services. Many of them, including Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade, are unavailable. In short, if you want the full range of Apple's paid services and the excellent apps in the App Store, a non-mainland Apple account is essential.
#Define Your Needs
Before you start, be clear about your needs and budget. Otherwise, with information overload today and a certain learning curve in the process itself, losing focus can easily lead to endless hours spent, which isn't worth it.
If you're only interested in a few specific free apps in the App Store (such as TikTok or Instagram), you can simply register a non-mainland account to download them.
If you want a better experience with Apple's built-in paid services, such as Apple Music or Apple Fitness, you'll need to dig deeper. You can read the detailed guide first: How to Set Up Apple's Paid Services?.
But whatever your needs, a non-mainland Apple ID is essential. Let's get started.
#How to Register an Apple ID?
Registering a non-mainland Apple account isn't hard. Just open Apple's registration page. Click "Create Your Apple ID" in the upper right corner.
Then fill in the information as the page prompts, and make sure to choose the region you want. If you want the richest music catalogue in Apple Music, choose the US. If you want the Apple TV+ with its Chinese-language landing page, choose Hong Kong.
Keep your account secure Your email address and phone number are very important, because you may need them later to recover the account. Use a real email address that you'll keep using for a long time.
info Try to use a non-mainland phone number. If you don't have one, you can enter a mainland number first. Apple may still determine the account's country from the phone number you give.
Once you've filled in the information above and entered the verification code, the account registration is complete. But the account can't be used yet, because you still need to activate it. Just visit iCloud or sign in to the account on Apple's website, and it will be activated.
#Confirm the Account Region
To confirm the account's region, go to the Apple ID account management page.
The region shown on the management page is your account's region, and it determines which services you can use, so make sure you confirm it.