Mobile phone billing – also known as carrier billing – for Apple ID purchases is now available in a further seven countries in the world. This allows people to pay through their mobile phone bill for App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple Books purchases – as well as Apple Music subscriptions …

Apple has gradually been rolling out the the facility since 2015, with previous waves including Germany, Austria, Italy, Singapore and Russia.

The latest countries are:

  • Bahrain
  • Cambodia
  • Croatia
  • Luxembourg
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania

This brings the total number of countries to support mobile phone billing to 38.

Here are the instructions to activate it on your iPhone or iPad:

If you want to bill to a different number, then in step 5 above tap ‘Use a Different Mobile Number.’ A code will then be sent to that number to confirm, and you then need to tap Verify on the original device to enter the code.

  • Go to Settings > [your name] > iTunes & App Store.
  • Tap your Apple ID, then tap View Apple ID. You might be asked to authenticate your Apple ID.
  • Tap Payment Information.
  • Under the list of payment options, select Mobile Phone.
  • If the phone you’re using is the one connected to the carrier plan that you want to bill to, select “Use This Mobile Number.” Then tap next.
  • Apple will use the mobile number of the iPhone you’re on to check with your carrier and confirm that you can be signed up for mobile phone billing. You might see a screen that says “Verifying” while this happens.

See Apple’s support document for more details, including how to setup mobile phone billing on a Mac.

Please note that support for the service is carrier-dependant, so it won’t necessarily be available with all carriers in any given country.

Bahrain photo: Shutterstock