How to Watch Sky Go Abroad – Unblock outside UK
How to Unblock Sky Go outside UK – Intro
Sky Go does provide a great range of channels, and it supports a wide array of devices, and you do NOT need a Sky+ account to get a Sky Go account. To unblock Sky Go abroad you have to use one of the two methods below. Namely VPN and Smart DNS Proxies. Each of these methods has its merits but there are quite a few differences which are explained.
Simply follow these steps to get Sky Go abroad in USA, Australia, India, Canada, or anywhere else outside British territories:
- Sign up with a VPN provider that actually supports unblocking Sky Go. ExpressVPN is a good example.
- Download and install the VPN application to your PC, Mac, Android, iOS device.
- Launch the VPN application and sign in using your VPN account.
- Now, connect to a UK VPN server.
- Finally, go to the BBC iPlayer website or launch the iPlayer application.
- Watch Sky Go in USA, Canada, Australia, or anywhere else outside the UK.
How to Watch Sky Go Abroad – VPN
VPN refers to Virtual Private network. It does send your Internet traffic to a new server to spoof your location. In this instance you a VPN service with UK servers. This way the Sky Go servers would assume you are physically in the UK. A few more notable features of VPN are listed below
- All Internet traffic is encrypted. Your traffic cant be interrupted or inspected.
- US content is also available if you do use a USA VPN server. I.e. Hulu Plus, Netflix, WWE Network, etc.
- VPN is resistant to restrictions applied by ISPs that can affect Smart DNS. Some examples are DNS Hijacking and Transparent Proxies.
- No matter what VPN providers say, even the best VPNs will bring your Internet speed down by 10%.
- VPN does work on all Sky Go supported devices. Since a lot of devices do not support VPN by default. You will need a VPN enabled router if you do wish to use VPN on other devices.
I have tested a lot of VPN providers. ExpressVPN works best if you want to get Sky Go in USA, Canada, Australia, or elsewhere outside the UK. You can also use any of the top VPN services listed below.
- Best for streaming and privacy
- High speed servers in 160 VPN locations
- Works for Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu
- 24/7/ live chat support
- 3 extra months free on annual plan
- UltraHD streaming
- Free Smart DNS proxy
- Unblocks all major streaming services
- Limited Time 72% Discount
- Unlimited VPN connections
- Over 1000 servers
- Ad-blocking feature available
- User-friendly application
- Exclusive Smart VPN feature
- Standalone Smart DNS subscription available
- Extra security features
- Extensions for Firefox and Chrome
- Split-tunneling available
How to Stream Sky Go Overseas – DNS Proxy
Smart DNS Proxies are different from VPNs by design. Smart DNS Proxies only redirect the segments of traffic related to identifying your location. See a few more notes about DNS Proxies :
- Unblocks multiple regions at once. You can watch Sky Go, American Channels “Netflix, Hulu, Fox, ABC Go, WWE Network“, Canal Plus all at once without change of configuration.
- You can change Netflix regions with a drop-down box.
- All Network devices are supported and setup is quite easy. This includes Smart TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and other devices not supported by VPN.
- No bandwidth speed hit, as not all traffic is re-routed.
- Smart DNS is weak against DNS Hijacking and Transparent Proxies. If your ISP applies either of those you might have to use VPN. Vodafone is an example of an ISP that applies DNS Hijacking.
Unlocator do provide a week-long free trial. Around 214 unblocked channels in addition to Video guides, and screenshot documentationsfor easy setup.
List of Sky Go Compatible Devices
And here are is a list of the more prominent Sky Go Supported Devices.
- PC/Mac
- Android
- Iphone, Ipod, Ipad
- Xbox 360
- Xbox One
- PS3
- PS4
- Apple TV
- Now TV
- Roku
Sky Go Channel List
Here is a list of some of the supported Sky Go channels :
- Channel 4
- Sky 1
- SyFy
- ComedyCentral
- Fox
- TLC
- MTV
- More 4
- Sky Disney
- Sky Action
- Film 4
- Sky Sports 1/2/3/4
- Sky Drama
- Eurosport
- Discovery
- Animal Planet
- Nat Geo
- Sky Premiere
- Sky Family
- History
- Cartoon Network
- Disney XD/Channel/Junior
- Cartoon Network
- Sky Showcase
- ITV
- Channel 5
- Nickelodeon
- BBC
- Sky Sports
Sky Go Geo-Errors
If you try watching Sky Go programs overseas, you will get one of the following geo-errors. This is mainly because you are not currently residing in the UK.
- “Sky go is only available to users connecting from within the UK or Republic of Ireland. You appear to be outside of these territories.”
- Sky ID Error 288
Unblock Sky Go Outside UK – Watch as an Expat Abroad
Whether you are a UK expat working or on holiday in Spain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Cyprus, Australia, USA, Canada, France, all you need to unblock and watch Sky Go abroad is VPN or Smart DNS proxy.
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About Author
William Reeves
A technical wizard of 10 year experience. Certified in Linux, Ethical Hacking and all sorts of technical stuff . I did work on projects around the world worth millions of dollars. My aim is to free you the reader from location restrictions and protect your privacy.
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Have been using express VPN with Sky go for ages
It’s giving a message “unable to stream” on all my devices
Is it express VPN or have sky done something
This is as at 3/1/19
Hello Geoff. That’s weird. Have you tried connecting to a different UK VPN server?
I’m getting the “Error 200: Please sign in again on the website”
I’m running Express VPN in Singapore, using Chrome, Sky Go and MacBook Pro…any suggestions?
Have a express vpn on phone paid for. Trying to get it on laptop ia hot-spot on phone its still blocked. Help I just want my sky based in saudi
Hello Geoff. Try visiting WhatIsMyIP.network and verify that you get a British IP address. That way you can make sure that your current setup is OK.
I have a new holiday home near Barcelona and have no idea how to get my Sky TV there. I have a full sky package here in the UK with q box and mini boxes for multi – room. Please can you tell me what i need to do/bring to set up in my Spanish holiday home
Here’s a weird one. I can access sky go on my phone whilst in turkey using a vpn and local WiFi. But my laptop, connected to the same internet connection won’t play any programme. The TV guide is accessible but clicking play just freezes the screen.
Check that all internet traffic is directed through your vpn connection on the Laptop. Search for “vpn split connection” if you want to search for more info.
I can only provide the fix for ExpressVPN.
No need to change your time settings either and, as of today, doesn’t appear to matter what UK server you are on.
The fix is this – ensure ExpressVPN is off, i.e. disconnected from a server. In the top left hand corner of the app there is three horizontal lines. Click this and go to options. Then go to the ‘Protocol’ icon, then select ‘TCP – OpenVPN’ and click OK.
Connect to your chosen UK server and voila.
ExpressVPN isn’t cheap but definitely the best of the best.
In my haste I note that the default UK server didn’t work but the ‘UK – East London’ server does, as of today.
I’m using Ukproxy.tv for a DNS and manage to view BBC Iplayer but not SKY GO. I’m getting an error message that I need to register my device but it is registered.
FIXED!!!!! JUST CHANGE TIME ZONE OF DEVICE TO UK
I am using ExpressVPN and none of their servers were working. However I emailed them and they replied promptly with the location that works, and told me to change the time zone on my device to UK. I did it and it works
which location are you using and is it still working as i can’t get it working!
Are you using chrome or Firefox still? Or only internet explorer now?
I cannot receive SKY GO from my hotel in Turkey. It has been working fine so far and at another location today. It just says ‘ unable to stream. I am a SKYGO CUSTOMER and have VPN Express + Hotspot shield. I do not use them together, but occasionally one is better than the other. It works fine in Ukraine where I live. ITV, CH4 Aand BBC iPlayer all work. Please, help me watch SKY. thank you.
How do you get sky go working on iPhone using the sky go app – it appears geo location taggging is enabled despite usuing a VPN? (IPVANIsh)
Good evening. I do not leave in the UK so I cannot have a SKY account. How is it possible to watch Sky here even with a VPN?
You’re better off signing up with Now TV which basically is the same as Sky but is a stand-alone VOD service. Of course you still need VPN to make it work outside UK.
Now that Chrome and Firefox are rejecting Sky GO I can only use Internet Explorer however, my sky GO is not recognizing my VPN. I use VPNUK for years without a single problem.
Any recommendations what I can do to get my SKY GO working again, the TV in Croatia is pretty poor!!
We have used vpnuk for last three years in Spain and no problem. Just come back and sky go says unable to stream!, what can I do.
I updated my sky go app yesterday. I was using my hola vpn prior to the update and all was well. After the sky go app updated, I opened it to continue watching but when I selected the channel a message said, unable to stream. I have installed and reinstalled, turned on airplane mode etc but no joy. Can anyone help?
I did exactly the same yesterday and find I can no longer stream sky go using vpn. Can anyone help?
I am using NordVPN in USA and no matter what their support say, Sky are able to identify I am not located in the UK and block me on the Andriod TabA app I have loaded for Sky Sports And Sky Movies. Seems the VPN suppliers have lost out to Sky
I have Express VPN and have been watching Sky Go for about three month now in the USA however last week it came up with it cannot confirm I’m in the U.K. Or ROI. I’ve tried everything from deleting the App and reinstalling etc, yet I can still watch BBC iplayer?
Hi John C. Have you tried connecting to a different UK server?
How do I do that?
If you are using the ExpressVPN app, click on ‘Choose Location’ -> UK -> Select a different server.
Hi the same thing happened to me two weeks ago and I have PureVPN. Looks like Sky are clamping down, but how do they work out we are not in the UK when BBC and ITV still work with PureVPN..?
Because Sky knows the range of IP addresses attached to the servers that PureVPN uses.
John – contact ExpressVPN support – I had a similar problem (on PC) which they were able to fix.
As of April 2017, do any VPNs actually work with enabling Skygo access when abroad?
IPVanish no longer works. Looks like Sky are winning this game.
Hi read all threads here – has anyone found a way round the Sky blocking problem or do we assume they’ll always be on top of this?
I use VPN unlimited and it was ok in early March but stopped working last week when I was in Spain. I contacted their support and they basically said that Sky go are actively blocking known vpn ip addresses. They didn’t offer me a solution. Worse luck is that I just upgraded from my free trial to their unlimited lifetime package!!
IPvanish has stopped working on sky go now. so annoying. only reason why i have IPvanish
I had tried hotspot VPN as a trial and it worked on my ipad, but that was a few weeks ago so it might have stopped working. I use unotelli which is a smart DNS not a vpn (they have a vpn option as well but I don’t need it). The advantage is that it will take advantage of your entire internet speed, but I don’t believe it hides your browsing activities from your ISP. Like Peter I have VPN Unlimited and it doesn’t work for sky go on my iPad but I use that mainly for the privacy anyway.
Change location on app, got it working.
Not going to say which location as those devils at sky will be watching
Hi,
I just downloaded Buffered VPN and it works great with iPlayer but Sky Go can’t confirm I’m from the UK and won’t let me run content. Have I picked the wrong VPN?
Seems a rethink is required.
UNLOCATOR, HMA, PureVPN all fail to get Skygo these days, although good for BBC and ITV.
A couple of years ago no problem getting Sky with VPN but nothings seems to work now, even after flushing cache of Java and Adobe Flash
Haven’t had any issues with Sky Go using Unlocator recently. Have you tried contacting their support?
I am trying to watch SkyGo in France. I had downloaded HolaVPN and was using Chrome to watch 4OD. when I tried to watch SkyGo it says that it doesn’t work on that browser. I then tried on internet explorer but I don’t know how to get Hola working on internet explorer.
Hello Aisha. Try using a Firefox browser instead.
Been using HMA for three years with no problems to sky go. All of a sudden saying not available in your territory. Can anyone help?
Does anyone know how to get skygo on Ipad now,as a UK resident staying for a few weeks in Spain?(Aug.2016)
Hidemyass VPN used to work but now doesn’t.
I use Tunnelbear VPN which used to work fine. As of today my Sky Go has stopped working, stating that it is not available in my territory. Sounds like a familiar story based on the below comments. Can anyone help?
Hi Robin. It might be that Sky Go has flagged Tunnelbear VPN’s servers. Switch over to ExpressVPN or Unlocator as both still allow you to watch Sky Go abroad.
Express VPN worked for the first night, no I have no access to sky go again..
Hi Kevin. Have you tried contacting ExpressVPN support about the issue as I am still able to use their UK VPN servers to unblock Sky Go.
Help anyone?
Going back to Spain ( Costa Del Sol) for a few weeks in December.
Can anyone update me on how to get Skygo on an ipad or android and how to access Betfair etc.
I was using Cloud VPN for the past few months on my Sony Xperia here in the U.S. and was able to watch SkyGo no problem.
Made the mistake of doing an Android update this morning (to 5.0 from 4.4) and boom – SkyGo doesn’t work any more :(
Any thoughts?
I can’t easily go back to 4.4 (KitKat, I think) without firmware and flashing. Argh!!!!!
I’m using Private Internet Access (PIA) on an Android phone and I am having issues with either a Sky ID error 288 when trying to open the Sky Sports app login page, or if I open the Sky Sports app first, log in, and then open/log in to PIA, I get an, “Unsupported Territory” error saying that “Sky Sports is only available to users connecting from within the UK or Republic of Ireland. …”
Any ideas?!
Have you tried putting the phone in flight mode…..had the same issue was using a vpn but still said I was outside UK, I can only assume by the phones network provider being Spanish at the time.
I recently setup my SynologyNAS as a VPN server and can connect successfully. Recently went on holiday to Portugal and was able to connect to my VPN, googling my IP showed by home IP address and BBC iplayer and ITV hub worked fine. Sky Go did not and said “service was unavailable in your territory” and I was unable to use it. If I turned my phone into airplane mode but with wifi on and VPN enabled, Sky Go complained about not being able to access location services.
Can I assume Sky have locked down access via VPN? Or is my SynologyNAS server somehow inferior to other paid for services?
Thanks
Hi Dave. It seems that Sky Go have made it mandatory to have location services enabled on your iPad/iPhone. They can use these location services to pinpoint your location, bypassing the VPN service you are using in the process. You should still be able to unblock Sky Go in Portugal on devices which do not use location services by using VPN though.
You sir are a genius!
I was using my normal VPN (TorGuard) earlier today to receive Sky Go on my PC’s IE browser. It worked fine, even though it complained about an outdated version of Silverlight. I then made the error of allowing Silverlight to update and the latest version detected the VPN. It seems that if one can obtain an old version of Silverlight, that may circumvent Sky Go’s detection method via PC. I shall be looking, but if anybody knows of one, then please post.
Hi, I am in England now a days and using my cousins Sky Go on my iPad and will be going to Australia in March. Can you please tell me that how can I continue watching Sky Go there as well?
Seems like sky go & Iplayer are now blocking all UK VPN ip addresses.
Looks like smart DNS is the only way to go for the moment
do you have to be a Sky subscriber in the UK? i live in Australia, so not a subscriber, can i still get Sky Go?
Hi David. You can sign up with Now TV which is the same as Sky Go but does not require you to be a Sky subscriber.
Hi i tried signing up with Now TV via using ExpressVPN but they required a residential address on registration any ideas? I live in Australia. Regards
Rob.
Hi. Try searching Google for residential UK addresses.
Using IPVanish on sky go and has worked perfectly until today. I did hear rumours that sky was going to block vpns and it now looks like they have achieved it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hi. Have you tried using different UK VPN servers? I can confirm that Smart DNS still works when it comes to unblocking Sky Go outside UK.
Has anybody managed to fix this?
I have been using HMA through my router for over a year and gradually saw all my devices drop out.
Laptops, followed by the ps4 & now even the iPad and phone won’t work.
Is it that sky are identifying and blocking the Bon Ip addresses or am I missing something.
Surfeasy VPN no longer working with Sky Go as of yesterday afternoon.
Hi. You might consider using a different VPN service like ExpressVPN or HideMyAss.
Hi, I have a premium account with cyberghost was in Spain May/June this year and sky go working just fine have returned now and it will not work….error message ‘this channel is not available in your territory’…ideas anyone thanks.
Hi. You can use http://www.whatismyip.network to check whether your VPN provider is changing your IP address to UK. Alternatively, you could use Smart DNS to unblock Sky Go in Spain.
Hi, thanks for the reply, it would appear the vpn is working as iplayer is ok when it is activated but will not work when it’s turned off….I am thinking it’s the sky go app itself that might be the problem.
I’ve set up a free trial with unlocator, got all 3 green lights after logging in…tried to use sky go, same problem ‘this channel not available in your territory’…am I missing the point here or is it no longer possible with sky go?
I’ve used private internet access successfully in the past as a vpn to access sky go. However all of a sudden, it’s no longer working. All my settings are the same. Could anyone tell me whether sky go still works using a vpn.
Would a smart dns be any better? Does this still work?
I used hidemyass vpn successfully in Spain last year,but in May this year it was no good,both times on my ipad with unchanged settings.Are you quite sure Sky have not figured out how to block VPN?
OK, changed my vpn server from London to Southampton as well as setting to connect via tcp. Now working fine. I wonder whether sky is blocking some servers?
Hello,
I have tried all of the recommended VPN’s above (and others available on Android) to try to access the Sky Go (UK) app whilst in mainland Europe. So far none have worked for me. I use an HTC One M8 and the app works in the UK.
Is it the case that this app uses additional means of determining your location to block access?
Thanks,
Adam
What error are you getting? Also, have you faced similar issues with other UK channels like BBC or Itv, or did this only happen when accessing Sky Go?
Does unlocator work with Sky Go? Their web site doesn’t mention it.
Yup, Unlocator certainly works with Sky Go.
Thanks. So it does :)
I use ExpressVPN and Sky Go has stopped working on my iPad.
When trying to stream content is says: Video Unavailable – this operation could not be completed.
According to their own troubleshoot guide, the solution was to delete and re-install the app. This does not fix the problem.
Have Sky worked out how to detect a VPN connection?
If not, any idea what else might be causing the problem?
Have you tried accessing Sky Go on another device?
Hi, I’ve got sky go with van working, but can’t send it from my iPad to the TV. I’ve got the Apple made connecting cable, doesn’t work, and chromecast, also doesn’t work. Please can you help?
Have you tried SmartDNS directly on Apple TV ?
Does any of the above work for skygo abroad( honestly)?
Yup, they do work. You can always try Unlocator’s free DNS just to be sure.
Sky go is not working with vpn now
Hi What is your VPN provider ?
Watchuktvabroad.com
what is the cost of skygo
Please refer to their site
Surfeasy vpn no longer works for skygo. Have sky got round the entire vpn thing?
I can confirm the VPN and DNS above both still work.
Hi, I get my bb through sky and want to use sky go, I have just cancelled purevpn because it worked for one day then stopped working. I would like a recomendation for using during travel and one that can be used in a sky bb environment?
can you help, thanks
See the article, I have not had any complaints on the services evaluated.
Hi. I’ve got express vpn and trying to access sky go in dubai. However the error ‘it is not possible to connect to sky media whilst roaming’ comes up when trying to play a channel. I have switched roaming off and tried other methods. My device is a Samsung s4 with the latest 4.0 software. BBC iplayer works fine. …
Can u assist?
make sure you are set to send all traffic through VPN. If you did that contact their support, it should work.