Play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Right Now
If you live in Australia you are lucky enough to be able to download the new Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp game for Android or iOS. Thankfully, some intrepid users have found a workaround to allow players across the world to also download the new title, but it definitely requires some jumping through hoops.
As someone who plans on playing the North American version when it launches late next month, I didn’t want to somehow jeopardize my ability to enjoy that version. That’s why I chose to mess around with the game on my iPad versus my iPhone, just incase I screwed something up in the process.
The first step to getting the game on iOS is to create an Australian account. You can do this right on your iDevice by going into the App Store and logging out. Then search for Super Mario Run and tap it to bring up the page to download it. Instead of doing that, tap the publisher, Nintendo Co. LTD to bring up the list of games they make. You should see Animal Crossing listed there. Tap it and then it will ask you to sign in with your Apple ID or create a new one. You’ll want to create a new one and select Australia as your country of residence. Assuming you logged out of your existing account you should be able to select your payment method as “None” so you won’t have to put in any credit card information. You will need to associate your new Apple ID with a different e-mail address then you’ve used for your other Apple ID. You’ll also need to make up an Australian address. I simply opened Apple Maps up and found a pizza place in Australia and used their address and phone number.
After all is finished you can go back and search again for the game. In my case it disappeared and I couldn’t find it again. Don’t panic! All you have to do is log out of your App Store account again and log in with your Australian Apple ID and then search for it. You’ll then be able to download it just fine.
When it asks to link to your Nintendo ID I told it no. I plan on starting over with my North American version and I didn’t want to screw anything up on the My Nintendo rewards side of things. There might not be any danger here, so if you’re not worried you could link everything up and see how it goes. I basically just wanted to get a taste for the game and try it out early.
As for Android users, Nintendo Life has a nice little guide on how to download:
Android’s open nature means that installing is a little easier than it is on iOS and doesn’t involve creating dummy accounts or making your phone think you’re in another part of the world. However, it does come with some risks which have to be considered before proceeding.
On iOS, your only option – unless you’re willing to “jailbreak” your phone – is to use the App Store to obtain the game. However, on Android it’s possible to download the installation file (known as an .apk) from the internet and “side-load” it onto your Android device – this basically involves disabling the security measure which prevents you from installing apps outside of the Google Play store.
Most Android phones have side-loading disabled by default, so you’ll need to go to Settings, then Security (this might be listed as Privacy on some handsets) and tick the box next to “Unknown Sources”. You’ll get a message which states that the installation of applications outside of the Google Play store comes with obvious risks (such as viruses and malware) – so we’d like to state that we cannot be held responsible for any issues beyond this point.
Various sites online offer apk files for download, and in this case there’s no real ethical issue as Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is a free-to-play title and doesn’t cost money. However, due to the fact that these sites also offer apps and games that are normally paid-for, we won’t be linking to any in this guide. Type “Animal Crossing Pocket Camp apk” into Google and you’ll no doubt find several sites offering the file. Which one you choose is very much up to you, and done at your own discretion.
Even though you’ve side-loaded the game, when it does eventually become available in your region it will receive updates and your user data will be carried over – you don’t have to worry about losing progress by installing the game early. The title is listed on Google Play now but can only be downloaded in Australia – but by all means add it to your wish list so you can grab the update the moment it goes live.
Have fun! Enjoy the relaxing Animal Crossing life.
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
