Why is Crunchyroll Not Working? – Probably Your Geolocation

If you’re a newcomer to the Crunchyroll anime streaming platform and immediately find that the Crunchyroll app or website isn’t working at all, it could be your geolocation that is the issue. In this article, I’ll explain how to determine if that is the case and how to get around that issue with a cheap VPN.

Table of Contents

1. Dang! We couldn’t connect to Crunchyroll error
2. Why is Crunchyroll not working?
3. How to determine if your geolocation is supported
4. How to Access Crunchyroll from geo-blocked locations

Dang! We couldn’t connect to Crunchyroll Error [Solved]

Being a hardcore anime fanatic, I’ve always been looking for the best places to watch anime online. Now that I’m no longer a high-school student, I can afford the streaming platform memberships and have used Netflix for the longest time.

However, depending on your location, the Netflix anime selection might not be the best. I had avoided Crunchyroll for the longest time and finally decided to pull the trigger to see what all the hype was about. So I signed up, started a free trial, and loaded up the Crunchyroll mobile app.

But as soon as I did…

If you see this error check:

1. If your internet/wifi is working
2. If other apps are working, like YouTube or Netflix

If you do the above checks and they all pass, I’m sorry to tell you that Crunchyroll is probably not supported in your country.

Why is Crunchyroll Not Working?

Answer: You’re in a country where it is not supported.

So if you’re new to Crunchyroll and immediately see the above error in the app, or if you log in to the Crunchyroll website on PC and don’t see any anime titles available here, then the issue is most likely your geolocation.

This means Crunchyroll isn’t supported in your country. If you’re wondering why, it is because of licensing issues. Do you remember this famous story when it was announced that you could watch Ghibli films on Netflix?

The reason these areas don’t have access to the films is that licensing agreements are based on country. Netflix might be allowed to stream a certain film or show in America, but not in Canada.

Similarly, Crunchyroll anime title availability differs by region. You might be able to watch Attack on Titan on the platform in the US, but not in the Philippines, for example.

How to determine if your geolocation is supported

Unfortunately, Crunchyroll doesn’t have a list of supported countries (no idea why). But the easiest way to check is to a. see if Crunchyroll is even in your app store (on mobile) or b. open the Crunchyroll anime list on desktop and see if anything pops up. If no anime titles pop up, then the reason why Crunchyroll isn’t working is that it’s not supported in your country =(

For example, this is what I see in Japan (a country where it’s not supported):

How to access Crunchyroll from geo-blocked locations

But don’t worry, you can still access Crunchyroll even if you’re in a geo-blocked location.

The process is simple:

1. Get a cheap VPN (some even have free trials)
2. Connect your VPN to a country with a good Crunchyroll library (like the UK or the US)
3. Clear cache on your Crunchyroll app or open your desktop browser in incognito mode
4. Open Crunchyroll (via app or desktop)
5. Select your desired anime and start watching!

1. Get a cheap VPN (some even have free trials)

So VPNs are simple apps that can hide your IP address and fake your IP address to make websites and apps think you’re in a different country. For the purposes of this article (and in my personal viewing time) I have used our affiliate partner company, NordVPN and can confirm that their VPN works to unlock Crunchyroll.

You can get a discount on the VPN here (as of the writing of this article it is just $5 USD):

2. Connect your VPN to a country with a good Crunchyroll library (like the UK or the US)

Pretty self-explanatory. Once I load the VPN app on my phone, I normally select the United States as my location or the United Kingdom. These two countries have great anime libraries both for Crunchyroll and Netflix if you have an account there as well.

3. Clear cache on your Crunchyroll app or open your desktop browser in incognito mode

You might not have to do this, but if you find that Crunchyroll still doesn’t work after your VPN is connected, it is because your app or browser has location data saved from the last time you connected (before you started the VPN).

To clear that data in mobile, go to settings->apps->crunchyroll and then “clear cache”.

To clear that data on desktop, you can just open your browser in incognito mode and it should be fine.

4. Open Crunchyroll (via app or desktop)

After doing steps 1-3 the only thing left is to start the app or navigate to the website.

5. Select your desired anime and start watching!

Now you should be good to go!

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If the above steps didn’t work, please feel free to message me in the comments below. I use this method to watch Crunchyroll from Japan literally every day, so if you have any technical issues I should be able to help you out.

Have fun and let me know what anime you’re watching!