If you’re using the free version of Spotify and travelling abroad, you may receive an error message saying, “you can only use Spotify abroad for 14 days.”
Spotify does this because it wants to push you into subscribing to the app’s premium version, where this restriction doesn’t apply.
This can be frustrating if you don’t want to pay for the music service and even more so if you’re overseas for longer than 14 days.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to get around this issue. When connecting to the app, you need to make Spotify think you’re in your home country. The easiest way to do that is with a reliable VPN.
This article will explain how to unblock Spotify abroad using a reliable VPN.
See also:
- Spotify not working with VPN? Try these EASY fixes! (September 2023)
- Telegram not working with VPN? Try these EASY fixes! (September 2023)
How to unblock Spotify while abroad: Quick Guide
If you’re coming across the “you can only use Spotify abroad for 14 days,” error on Spotify, don’t panic. Simply follow these steps:
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Create a new account with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
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Download and install the new VPN app
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Open your new app and connect to a server based in the country where you made your Spotify account
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Continue using Spotify
Why do I need a VPN to unblock Spotify?
When you create a Spotify account, the default country/region is set to the country/region you’re physically in. For example, if you make a Spotify account in the US, your region will be set to the US.
When you go overseas, Spotify scans your IP address to determine where in the world you’re located (more on this below). You’ll receive the “you can only use Spotify abroad for 14 days” message if you’re outside your default country.
To unblock Spotify, you need to make Spotify think you’re still in the country where you created your account. The issue is to do that on the Spotify app; you need to be physically located in that country.
Fortunately, a reliable VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) allows you to trick Spotify into thinking you’re in a different country.
How does Spotify know where I’m located?
This is all to do with your IP address. An IP address is a bit of code your device uses to communicate with Spotify’s servers.
Whenever you go online, you’re allocated a unique IP. The problem with this is for the communication between your device and Spotify to work, your IP contains information disclosing where in the world you’re located.
When you visit Spotify, the app scans your IP address to determine your location. If you’re in the US, Spotify knows you’re in the US. If you’re in Australia, it knows you’re in Australia and so on.
When your IP is scanned Spotify provides you with the streaming library for that country. Similarly, using the same technique, Spotify knows when you’re outside your default location and implements the 14-day limit.
Why am I getting the error message “You can only use Spotify abroad for 14 days”?
The reason you’re getting this error is because Spotify has identified that you’re outside the country where you created your account.
Spotify does this as an incentive to upgrade to a premium Spotify account where you won’t encounter the error.
Fortunately, using a reliable VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) is cheaper than upgrading to Spotify premium.
To fix the error, all you need to do is download ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) and connect to a server based in the country where you made your Spotify account. Alternatively, you could connect to a completely different country, and you’ll be given another 14 days to use the free version of Spotify.
Will any VPN work?
When looking for a VPN, free VPNs are a tempting option. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, free VPNs don’t work reliably. They put caps on the amount of data you can use, they don’t have servers all over the world, and often they aren’t secure.
Also, because VPNs are a well-known way of getting around Spotify’s 14-day block, the streaming service tries to prevent VPNs from accessing its platform.
Spotify does this by monitoring the IP addresses that connect to its service. Because free VPNs are very popular, they don’t have enough IP addresses to accommodate the massive number of customers. When this happens, they force customers to share IP addresses.
Spotify uses this to its advantage. When it sees hundreds or thousands of people connecting to its servers using the same IP address, it knows it’s a VPN, and it blocks the connection.
Does Spotify still work with VPNs?
Yes, it does, but you need to use a VPN that meets certain criteria.
You need a VPN that has fast servers all over the world, that has a large number of IP addresses to reduce the chance of you sharing with other customers and most importantly, that has measures in place to get around Spotify’s VPN blocking techniques.
The best way to unblock Spotify while abroad is with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month). Both these VPNs have fast servers around the world, 24/7 chat support, significant IP addresses, and, most importantly, a measure in place to make sure you can stream Spotify reliably.
Although, highly unlikely if an IP address provided by ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) gets identified and blocked by Spotify, these VPNs will close that IP address and open a new one. This will allow you to stream reliably and get around the Spotify 14-day limit while abroad.
The best VPNs to unblock Spotify
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2023
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
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Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
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2. Private Internet Access 🥈
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
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3. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
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4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
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Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
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