Why can’t I find BBC iPlayer in the Google Play Store?

Would you like to download and install the BBC iPlayer application on your Android device? But, when you do a quick search for BBC iPlayer in the Google Play Store, you do not find anything? You might find some different application, but the real and authentic BBC iPlayer is hiding. What can you do about it?

If you try to watch BBC iPlayer abroad, you will quickly notice that it isn’t really working. That is because the BBC only let people in the UK get access to the material available on their website. And to block further users from watching BBC programs, the BBC iPlayer application is only available for download to people in the UK. In other words, if your Google account is registered to some other country that England, you will not find the BBC iPlayer application in Google Play Store. But, what can you do about this?

Download the BBC iPlayer application manually!

To download the BBC iPlayer application to your Android device, there are two things that can be done.

1. You can register a new Google account in the UK. That is, however, quite complicated, so I would skip this solution!
2. You can download the BBC iPlayer application manually to your device from here.

Once you have downloaded the application, you can simply install it. Sometimes your Android device will warn you about installing programs from unknown sources, but you will just have to accept such programs and go on with the installation. You will soon have BBC iPlayer installed on your device and you will be ready to stream all your favorite content.

BBC Media Player needed
It is not enough to have the BBC iPlayer installed. You will also need to install the BBC Media Player. This is a background program which needs to run. You will find this in the Google Play Store, even though your Google account is registered somewhere else. So, download this from the Google Play Store and you should then be ready to really stream the content available on BBC iPlayer.

But, I am abroad… what can be done?

If you are outside England, downloading the BBC iPlayer application isn’t your only trouble. The next challenge is when you actually try to stream the content. If you have an IP address outside the UK, you will receive all sorts of error messages telling you that the content is unavailable at your current location. So what can you do about that?

Use VPN working with BBC iPlayer

Most VPN providers are blocked by BBC, but there is one that is still working. So, if you want to watch BBC iPlayer on your Android device or some other device abroad, this is what you need to do.

• You need to use the VPN services of ExpressVPN.
  You can visit the ExpressVPN website right here. If you click that link you will get 3 months for free if you sign up for 12 months. They do have a 30-day full refund guarantee… no worries!!
• Download the ExpressVPN application from Google Play Store.
  You do not need to manually download it as you can find it in Google Play Store all around the world, no matter where your Google account is located.
• Connect to a server in England.
  You will then get an IP address in England that actually works with BBC iPlayer. You can now watch BBC iPlayer on your Android device, but not only on your Android device, but also on your iPad, iPhone, and on your Windows and Macintosh computer.

That is it! You should now be able to download and use the BBC iPlayer application, no matter where you might be in the world! Are you happy? Write a comment to share your happiness or to ask your questions!