If you are someone who has used the trick to get a lower price subscription thanks to the use of a VPN, or you know someone who did it (I was not me, he was a friend), Google will now start to detect and block this practice.
And that should not surprise us, because Google Play Service does not allow users to change their region or country To access a lower price. Therefore, sooner or later Google could take measures in this regard, and this moment is now, as the company has confirmed during Google I / or 2025.
Goodbye to “the VPN tip” to pay for the cheapest subscriptions
We are currently living in a world in which Everything, or almost everything, has a subscriptionStreaming services to unique applications. While until a few years ago, we could buy an application with a single payment, now even the applications to take photos wish to charge us a subscription.
This is why many people try to find the price as little as possible, although sometimes the methods to carry them out are not aligned with the rules of the same services. For example, “the trick” to change the region via a VPN to obtain a lower price is well known, but now Google will take measures in this regard.
Google confirmed during a conference during the 2025 E / S which will expand the arbitration of local prices and prices protections to many other countries. Business will automatically detect and block when someone tries to enjoy a price from another regionAccording to the declarations of the conference, as reported by Android Authority.
The problem of taking advantage of the cheapest price in another region is complex, because this practice benefits, but can harm others. Do not be misunderstood, I fully understand the idea of paying less for a service, but in the worst case, this may be that companies and developers cease to locate prices by adjusting them to specific regions and imposing the same price everywhere, which would harm users inhabitants of this region.
Therefore, Google says that being stricter with this practice, detect and block those who try to take advantage of the price of other regions, developers They can offer more trust priceWithout fear that their income would be injured by users who jump this regional barrier. Google also guarantees that the protections against the abuse of free applications have improved. In general, and from now on, developers will have greater control over location payment restrictions.
However, although it is true that “the exploitation” of localized prices (that is to say to benefit from it via VPN) can harm the local users of these regions, it is also very true that it has been normalized that any application can have a subscription, and that is to say harmful for all users. The fact that users are looking for a lower price or a free alternative is something that could happen.
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