Dear User - Victim of SwissCom

In the case you use a different applestore than Switzerland, please follow the procedures:

You can change the country at iOS as follows:

1. Open “Settings”
2. Tap your name, then tap “Media & Purchases”
3. Tap “View Account”. You might be asked to sign in
4. Tap “Country/Region”>“Change Country or Region” and choose Switzerland
5. Tap “Agree” in the upper-right corner, then tap “Agree” again to confirm.
6. Select a payment method and enter your new payment information and billing address, then tap “Next”

You can change the country in Android as follows:

1. Open the Google Play Store on your mobile device
2. Tap the three dash Account Country and Profiles menu
3. Tap the country you want to add an account to
4. Select a new payment method and enter your new payment details and your new billing address

After Installing the SwissCom APP you can switch back to your previous country/region.

Please, be aware that sometimes this procedure does not work if you have some $ left in the balance. In that case, please look at apple store to find a solution regarding changing region/country.

Best Regards

Ricardo

Please, do not waste your time sending a e-mail.

Follow these steps

You can change the country at iOS as follows:

1. Open “Settings”
2. Tap your name, then tap “Media & Purchases”
3. Tap “View Account”. You might be asked to sign in
4. Tap “Country/Region”>“Change Country or Region” and choose Switzerland
5. Tap “Agree” in the upper-right corner, then tap “Agree” again to confirm.
6. Select a payment method and enter your new payment information and billing address, then tap “Next”

You can change the country in Android as follows:

1. Open the Google Play Store on your mobile device
2. Tap the three dash Account Country and Profiles menu
3. Tap the country you want to add an account to
4. Select a new payment method and enter your new payment details and your new billing address

After installing the SwissCom App you can switch back to your previous Region/Country.

Thanks @Chieniekop22 for your walkthrough.

But is it really necessary to post this solution twice? As you might have seen, this post is almost a year old…

This “solution” is not really a solution for the major overlying problem.

If you have have an Apple Fitness+ subscription you cannot change your App Store Region at all unless you cancel it and wait for up to one year. This is of course an Apple issue, but the region lock is a major oversight by Swisscom.

How do you explain how your budget competitor Yallo where I can get mobile service for 30% of Swisscom’s price manages to get this right? This is a disgrace. Period. You have been aware of this issue for over two years and have done nothing to fix it.

Fact is that every major developer of every App here is Switzerland is able to do this, but while my subscription at Swisscom is 1000+ CHF per year, you can’t even provide me with an app? I think it’s time to swap my provider yet again…

@Weupaustap62

How exactly does your comment fit into the discussion above?
By the way, this is just under half a year old.

I don’t understand what you mean. The original post is from 08.10.2020 which is 2 years and 3 months ago.

Secondly, the “solution” of “just change your region” does not work. It’s not as simple as 1 2 3 to change the App Store region: If you have any running App Store subscriptions, tough luck - you can not change your region.

The correct solution is for Swisscom to get their act together and abolish this unnecessary and client-demonizing region lock. The use-case exists for every single foreigner living in Switzerland.

Firstly, it might be intended from SC to only publish the App only in Switzerland. I do not know the reasons and arguing doesn’t take us to the Aim.

Secondly, Foreigners living in Switzerland should have a Address of Residence, why not using this one in the Apple ID?

Then you should be able to use CH-Apps…

@DomiP I believe you should stop replying to this thread, because I don’t think you understand the problem well enough.

What you stated is wrong: we know exactly why Swisscom doesn’t want to do this. As @AdrianW has written, and I quote “[…] if the app is also available in [other countries] Store, the legal framework of the respective country would have to be considered. The effort involved outweigs the value.”

Quite frankly, I’ve never heard a more ridiculous way of saying “we don’t care”. A huge company like Swisscom should be able to revoke a region lock in a globalized world, just like Sunrise and Yallo did.

In my final attempt to explain why I can’t physically change my App Store region, I attach this screenshot:

And as @davy3c has correctly stated, changing the region comes with additional, unforeseen consequences for your customers. In summary, this region lock is lazy anti-user design and nothing else.

Whether I participate in this discussion or not, I may finally still decide for myself.

As I already mentioned and as Adrian also wrote, it is about the regulatory rules. For example, software is also subject to export regulations. In Swisscom software this is clearly noted everywhere. Namely, for example, Russia, Iran, Iraq or North Korea.

Sure, you could unlock the apps for USA or UK, but it also means that the apps must comply with the regulations of the respective countries and authorities.

For a small number of affected customers, Swisscom will probably refrain from investing such an effort, especially since all functions of the MySwisscom app can be accessed within MySwisscom on the web, for example. The same applies to Cockpit, Mail, BlueTV or simply MyCloud.

As for the competition, let me put it this way, the other providers, especially Yallo, often also point to users from abroad (such as the “poorer” euro area), so the provider’s customer base is significantly more from abroad than Swisscom. But even there, web apps are now so widespread that native, normal apps are becoming obsolete.

@DomiP If this is the level…next time please do not participate

There’s no point in discussing it with you anyway. I suggest that the issue be escalated further via @ThomasS. He certainly has contact with the relevant agencies.

I know this question has already been answered, but I am adding my voice to this problem: I’m a Swiss citizen who lived for 20 years in the US. My phone and all my digital life are attached to the AppStore in the US, so switching the AppStore location to Switzerland is not an option. As someone said, all the other apps I need, Migros, Poste, etc. are available; it is too bad Swisscom is unavailable.

@jbovet I do think that *maybe* with iOS 17 these Problems are not there anymore. According to new Laws in the European Union, Apple is obligated to provide the possibility to “sideload” apps - so this could also work here (if you are geographically located in Europe/Switzerland)