How to Set Up a Phone for US TikTok: A Step-by-Step Guide

The platform decides who to show your video to based on a combination of signals from your phone, network, and behavior—not just the language of the video itself. If your phone says 'Russia' but your video is in English, it gets shown to Russian-speaking viewers who don't watch English content, and it gets zero views. The goal of this setup is to make all signals point to the same country.

A disclaimer right off the bat: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube don't disclose exactly how they weigh these signals. Everything below is based on established best practices from creators and public analyses, not an official guide. The rules are always changing, so verify your results with analytics rather than taking this on faith.

What Signals the Platform Looks At

The platform locks in your account's region upon registration. Changing it later is difficult: according to creator analyses, TikTok will only migrate an account to a new country after about 90 days of consistent signals from that new location. That's why you need to prep your phone before you register.

Step 1. Get a Dedicated Device

You need a separate phone, not a second account on your primary one. Your main phone already has your SIM card, your network, your app history, and links to your other accounts. All of this will pull your new account toward your old audience.

What kind of phone to get. Any smartphone from the last 3–4 years that can shoot 1080p video at 30/60 fps and still receives system updates will work. An iPhone XR or newer, or a mid-range Android from 2022 or later is fine. A flagship camera isn't necessary; for short-form video, light and sound are more important.

If the phone isn't new — perform a factory reset. That means a full wipe, not just "deleting apps," to ensure no old accounts are left on it.

Step 2. Create a New System Account

iPhone. Create a new Apple ID with the target country's region (e.g., United States). When creating it, you can select "None" as the payment method—you don't need a credit card for free apps. Do not sign in to your old Apple ID on this phone.

Android. Create a new Google account. In Google Play, the profile country is determined by your location and payment method; this usually isn't an issue for downloading free apps without a card. Do not add your primary Google account to this phone.

The email for these accounts should be new and not linked to any of your previous accounts.

Step 3. Set the Language, Region, and Time

On iPhone: Settings → General → Language & Region. On Android: Settings → System → Languages.

1. Phone Language — English (US) for the United States, English (UK) for Great Britain. Set it as the primary language, not a secondary one.
2. Region — The same country. This affects the date format, units of measurement, and app store currency.
3. Time Zone — Turn off "Set Automatically" and choose a city in the target country. For the US, a common choice is New York (Eastern Time), as it's in the country's most populated region.
4. Keyboard — Set the English keyboard as your primary. You can keep your native language as a secondary keyboard, but only type in English within the apps.

Step 4. Disable Geolocation

Your real-world coordinates will contradict all your other settings. Turn off location access for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and the app store. The easiest way is to disable location services for the entire phone while you're using it for this account.

Step 5. Handle the SIM Card and Network

This is the most critical part, and where most people make mistakes.

Remove your local SIM card. The mobile carrier code is one of the strongest regional signals. All your other settings can be American, but a Russian or Kazakh SIM will override them.

From here, you have two paths.

Path A: SIM-free, Wi-Fi only. This is the easiest option. The phone connects to the internet via Wi-Fi, and your network provides the IP address of the target country (more on that below).

Path B: A target country eSIM. This is the strongest signal for the platform: a real carrier from the country, plus a phone number that will come in handy for verifications. For the US, you can get prepaid eSIMs with a local +1 number—for example, T-Mobile Prepaid has a plan for visitors, and services like Airalo and ETravelSim sell eSIMs with American numbers. But be aware: some of these plans can only be purchased while you are physically in the country, and data roaming can route your internet connection through an IP in the wrong country. Check the specific plan's terms before you buy.

Your Internet Address. You need a dedicated IP address from the target country—the same one every day.

• Free VPNs and mass-market VPN services are not suitable. Their data center IPs are shared by thousands of people, and platforms have long been able to detect them, often penalizing videos posted from them.
• Suitable options include dedicated residential or mobile proxies from the target country, a personal server in that country, or a router configured to use such an address.
• Consistency is key. One stable address is better than the "best" address that changes every day. The platform sees jumping between countries as suspicious activity.

To check: open any IP lookup service in the phone's browser. The country should match your target, and the provider shouldn't have a name that sounds like a hosting company or data center.

Step 6. Install the Apps

Install TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and CapCut after you've configured all the settings and from the correct region's app store. If an app was already on the phone, delete it and reinstall it.

On first launch, deny access to your location and contacts. Allow access to the camera, microphone, and photos, or you won't be able to create content.

Step 7. 'Warm Up' the Phone for 2–3 Days Before Registering

Don't register right away. For two or three days, use the phone like a local resident:

• Watch the English-language feed in your future niche for 20–30 minutes a day.
• Watch interesting videos all the way through and like them.
• Watch content in the evening, according to the target country's time zone.

The platform will build an interest profile, and your new account will launch with a relevant behavioral history: "a person from the US, interested in this topic."

Frequent Questions

Can I use one phone for two countries? No, the signals will get mixed up. One device per country.

Can I run a Russian-language account from this phone? No, for the same reason.

Do I really need a phone? What about an emulator? Platforms are good at detecting emulators and will limit or restrict those accounts. You need a real phone.

How much does this cost? A phone that many people already have lying in a drawer, plus a dedicated IP address, which usually costs a few dollars a month. An eSIM with a number is more expensive but not required.

Pre-Registration Checklist

1. A dedicated phone, reset to factory settings.
2. A new Apple ID or Google account with the target country's region.
3. System language and region set to the target country.
4. Time zone set to a city in the target country, with auto-detection turned off.
5. Geolocation is turned off.
6. No SIM card from your home country is in the phone.
7. A stable, dedicated IP address from the target country has been set up and verified.
8. Apps were installed from the correct region's app store after the phone was configured.
9. You've spent 2–3 days watching the English-language feed.

Once you've checked off all nine points, you're ready to move on to our article, "Your English-Language Account: Registration, First Days, and First Videos."