Steps to getting BBC iPlayer to work on my phone/tablet in US

VPN
1

I subscribed to NordVPN on the recommendation of others, to enable me to watch BBC iPlayer in the US.

I installed it on my Windows laptop, iPhone, and Android tablet. I was able to connect to a UK VPN server and watch BBC iPlayer on my laptop pretty easily. However - I want to ‘cast’ to my big-screen TV from my Android tablet and/or, iPhone.

Focusing on the Android tablet first, after connecting to the UK server on my Android tablet, I tried to install iPlayer App from Google Play store, but it said ‘This app isn’t available on Google Play in your region’. I then found this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/nordvpn/comments/1ad695c/connected_to_uk_server_but_bbc_iplayer_isnt/ . The summary of that thread seems to be:

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a. you’d have to change your Apple ID/Google account’s region in order to download those apps

b. Both your apple and Google accounts are grounded to your home country. You could sign up for a new google account whilst connected to the UK server. That’ll give you a UK based “address” as such, and UK apps will become available to you as it looks like you’re located in the UK.

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and finally:

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  1. You can’t create a new gmail without a phone number for verification, UNLESS you add it to your phone. I turned my phone on airplane mode, then turned wifi back on, connected to VPN UK server, created the new gmail
  2. Then added the new account to Google TV.
  3. Restarted Google TV and changed to the new UK gmail, amd made sure NordVPN was connected to UK
  4. I was then able to download BBC iPlayer, and I just signed in with my previously registered account.

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I already have a (US-based) Google account / gmail address that’s tightly integrated with the Google Photos App that I use all the time. Can I just create a new gmail address while connected to UK VPN?

Assuming I’m able to register a new, UK-based gmail account, how does that relate to the fact that there’s only 1 Google Play Store app on the tablet? Do I ‘sign out’ of my US Google Account in the Play Store, then sign in to the Play Store with the new, UK-based gmail account?

I read the linked article (in the other reddit thread) about “how to change your google play country” https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7431675 and it doesn’t talk about switching email addresses, just tells you how to switch your EXISTING google account from one region to another. And that’s pretty dramatic - can only do it once a year, etc.

So - switching the Google Play Store region seems pretty drastic; can I just log out of the Google Play Store and log back in using a new Gmail/Google account, and will that not try to change the ‘primary’ google account on the Android tablet?

Once I figure out Android, I’ll move on to my iPhone!

Thanks for the help!

2

It may depend on the device, but it’s not unlikely you can watch BBC via a browser on your phone as well? You could give it a try while using several different browsers just in case too.

3

I’ve never been able to cast any of the British channels apart from Channel 4. In the end I just used my laptops HDMI out straight to the TV. Works great.

4

Add Nord to router, all devices will access through the VPN. Sorted

5

Well that’s an interesting suggestion! I hadn’t thought of that. I will try it and report back. UPDATE - I visited Channel4.com in a browser on the tablet, and found a show. But as soon as I selected the show, it launched the Channel4 app. I guess there’s an association somewhere that lets a webpage link to an app. Not sure how to undo that. I could uninstall the App as a test … UPDATE 2 - I was able to turn off the ‘auto-linking’ of the app. settings/apps/choose default apps / Opening links / (channel 4) / turn off ‘open supported links’. This stopped the website from launching the Channel4 app, AND let me watch the show! BUT - there’s no ‘cast’ feature in my browser. I guess I could cast the entire tablet screen - that usually works …

Meanwhile, I was able to create an additional UK-based Google account with associated gmail account (without providing a phone number), and then I was able log into the Play Store using that new Google Account, and then I could ‘find’ (and install) BBC iPlayer. I then installed the ‘channel4’ player also. I was able to play a few seconds of a BBC show on iPlayer, then tried the channel 4 app, and got as far as accepting the content warning but then got a 'Channel 4 is not available in your current location’ from the channel 4 app.

I decided to restart, and update my tablet, and will continue troubleshooting later. I will update this thread when I have more details. Going through the google account/gmail setup was the trickiest!