34

I have an iTunes account with an Italian billing address; because of this Apple assumes that I want the app store in Italian which is not the case.

Part of the UI is in Italian (other parts are in English, go figure), the app descriptions and their reviews are in Italian, even the "Top apps" are the top apps in Italy instead of worldwide.

The biggest problem of all is that there is no way to see the ratings for apps without logging out first. This is a big inconvenience as almost all applications show up as having "no ratings" (as only local ratings and reviews are shown, which are very few and almost non existent).

This of course severely hinders my capability of knowing whether an app is good or not. Even the most popular apps have either 0 ratings or less than 5.

As an example, YNAB which currently has 1574 ratings when viewed from the English store shows up as "No Ratings" while I am logged in.

Is there any way to change the language to English, and see worldwide ratings without having to log out first?

EDIT: 6 years later, there appears to be still no solution.

EDIT 2: 10 years later, I just went to the US and opened a Wells Fargo account, and changed the credit card to that. Problem solved. Apple 🤷‍♂️

Improve this question
9
  • is iTunes in Italian? The menu and user interface outside of the App Store?
    – user588
    Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 16:35
  • @mankoff: partly.. The buttons are, but things like "Loading" is still in english. Same for the app store.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 17:08
  • What language is the menu bar in?
    – user588
    Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 18:41
  • @mankoff: almost all in italian, except the "more" button which is in english.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 18:57
  • 1
    Its even worse for me. I am Australian and live in Thailand but work in Papua New Guinea. I really hate how various interactive sessions make so many assumptions Mal
    – user3846
    Commented Feb 22, 2011 at 15:52

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
15

It seems to be possible for some countries, but most countries only have one (or few) native languages.
The table at the bottom of the above link lists which countries support which languages in iTunes.
Some oddities:

Go figure!

Note there have been many complaints about this on the apple forums already.

--jeroen

Improve this answer
1
  • 4
    In would have a friend write a nice piece in Italian using lots of slang at apple.com/feedback - and put a small (and once you've translated this, you might realize how I feel as one of your English speaking / Italian resident) customers trying to spend money on your app store in Italy. Keep it very polite, but repeat with a different friend / different language - three or four weeks of this from the same email, and I bet you get a response.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 5:22
6

iTunes always sets itself to the country your credit card belongs to. If you insist on the US store then you must use a US credit card.

You can't set this up directly on your phone. You must use iTunes on your computer to change this:

Click on your email address in the top right of iTunes to get to your account details, then click the "change" button next to your "Country/Region". Select a country for which you have (access to) a credit card. iTunes will ask you for credit card information when you save this country setting.

Improve this answer
4
  • 5
    So there is no way to change the language to English unless I have an american credit card? Was Daffy Duck their lead programmer? Why do they tie your language to the country you reside in... It's a really stupid assumption.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Nov 12, 2010 at 9:12
  • It is not only about the language. There are apps that are only available in certain country specific stores (i.e. US only). And of course there is also the issue of taxes. So it is more a legal requirement than a 'stupid assumption'.
    – Turismo
    Commented Nov 12, 2010 at 9:58
  • 5
    No, it really is a Daffy Duck issue: Apple hasn't learned to separate content from presentation. Example: I'm in Austria and if I use my Austrian credit card then the iPhone App Store is in German - but the rest of my iPhone is in English! I can't have the app in English while using a German CC.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Nov 12, 2010 at 14:58
  • @Kop you could set up an american account with no credit card, and it will stay in english. Only down said is that you can't buy stuff this way. :P
    – cregox
    Commented Dec 24, 2010 at 19:42
0

This is not an issue about the language of the UI but that the iTunes stores are country specific for legal reasons (e.g. taxes).
You cannot purchase anything from an iTunes store in a country you don't have a credit card in.

But you can use the iTunes web interface to browse foreign iTunes stores.
For the US store you can go to http://itunes.apple.com/us/browse

For other countries just replace 'us' with the country code you like to view.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    This is a terrible answer. The issue is clearly one of language and not a legal reason. The OP is not asking for the ability to buy things in the American store. He is simply asking to have the interface be english and to see the english review. All of this could easily be implemented while still only allowing him to make purchases in the Italian store. Apple is just making lazy assumptions that if you live somewhere that is the language you want everything to be in which for millions of us is not the case.
    – Kvothe
    Commented Nov 6, 2020 at 14:15
-1

you can change the App Store in iTunes to use the store of another country.

Click on iTunes Store (left menu in iTunes), then click the home button on the top. Scroll all the way to the bottom (page footer) and under Manage you will Change Country. There you can change it to whatever you want and the music, apps and other items will change accordingly

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    This doesn't work. "Your account is only valid for the Italian iTunes Store. Clicking OK will redirect you there." (this text was in italian). After this I have no choice but to click ok.
    – Andreas Bonini
    Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 22:04

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .