Apps
How to Bypass MLB At Bat Blackout Restrictions
The MLB regular season is in full swing and that means making time to watch all of the games. Unfortunately, not paying for an expensive cable package means that you won’t be able to watch most of the games that you want to watch, as local channels only broadcast a handful of games, most of which are primetime and your favorite team may or may not be playing.
However, with an MLB.TV subscription and using the MLB At Bat mobile app, you can watch any and every game that you wish, but MLB At Bat blackout restrictions still apply. However, with a little bit of effort, you can bypass these blackout restrictions and watch your favorite baseball team whenever you want and wherever you are.
For this how-to, we’ll show you how to bypass MLB At Bat blackout restrictions, and we’ll be using an iPad for the demonstration. However, this trick also works on Windows, OS X, Android and iPhone, even if you’re on a 3G or LTE connection.
How it All Works
To bypass MLB At Bat blackout restrictions, you need to trick the app into thinking that you’re in a location that you’re really not in. For instance, I normally wouldn’t be able to watch my Chicago White Sox play because I’m in the blackout area in next-door Indiana. However, using something called a Virtual Private Network (VPN), I can trick MLB At Bat by telling the app that I’m located in Florida, which is obviously outside of the blackout area.
Of course, if the White Sox play the Miami Marlins at some point, I’d have to change the location to somewhere that isn’t near Florida or Chicago, so I would change it to California, for instance.
If this sounds confusing to set up, it’s really not that bad, and we’ll guide you step-by-step through the process. Let’s get started!
UPDATE: According to several readers, starting with version 7.1.1 of the MLB At Bat app, it seems they patched up the exploit that allows you to bypass blackout restrictions, so please stick with version 7.1.0 or older if you can. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.
Sign Up for MLB.TV
First thing’s first: You obviously need a subscription to MLB.TV, which will allow you access to all of the live games. We suggest getting the MLB.TV Premium package, as that will get you the MLB At Bat mobile app for free, as well as give you the option between home and away broadcast feeds. Plus, it’s only $20 more for the entire season, and you’ll be paying at least $110 anyway, so it’s a bargain upgrade.
After you sign up, download and install the MLB At Bat mobile app on your mobile device. It’s available as a free download, but there’s an in-app purchase to access the entire app. Again, if you bought an MLB.TV Premium subscription, the in-app purchase is free.
Sign Up for a VPN Service
There are a horde of VPN services to choose from, but we personally like Private Internet Access because it’s relatively cheap and it’s easy to set up for the most part. It costs only $40 per year, which is a little over $3 per month.
Once you sign up for an account and are good to go, you’ll want to configure your VPN service to work on your iPad. If you’re using a different device, Private Internet Access has guides for Android, Windows, OS X and more.
Configure Your VPN Service
Open up the Settings app and navigate to General > VPN. Next, tap on Add VPN Configuration… and a pop-up window will appear with various text boxes. This is probably the most difficult part of the setup process, so if you can get through this, you’ll be good to go.
Before filling in any of the text boxes, log in to your Private Internet Access account if you haven’t already and scroll to the section titled PPTP/L2TP/SOCKS Username and Password. Click on Generate Password and a username and password will pop up. This isn’t your new account login information, but merely just supplemental credentials that we’ll be using on our iPad. Be sure to jot this info down or keep the browser window open.
Go back to your iPad and select L2TP at the top of the pop-up window. Now fill in the text boxes with the following information:
- Description: Private Internet Access
- Server: us-florida.privateinternetaccess.com (you can change the region to whatever you want. Refer to this list for servers in different regions)
- Account: This where that generated username goes.
- RSA SecurID: Leave it alone
- Password: Your generated password.
- Secret: mysafety
- Send All Traffic: On/Enabled
Tap on Save in the upper-right corner and then turn the VPN toggle switch to On. A VPN status logo should now appear in the upper-left corner of your iPad’s screen next to the WiFi signal. This means you’re good to go.
To make sure that your VPN is working, open up Safari and go to www.whatismyip.com. This will tell you your “location.” If it tells you you’re in a location that you’re actually not in, then it’s working properly.
Play Ball!
Now, open up the MLB At Bat mobile app and tap on the TV icon in the upper-right corner. Select the game you want to watch from the list and it will take a few moments to verify your location to make sure you’re not in a blackout area. If it detects that you’re not in a blackout area, you’ll get the all-go signal and can start watching live games, even if you’re truly in a blackout area.
Don
04/06/2014 at 10:06 am
Does this work when not on wifi (using LTE)
Craig Lloyd
04/07/2014 at 9:15 am
Yes it does.
Peter
04/07/2014 at 11:52 am
Could a program like Mask my IP work just as well?
Mike
04/08/2014 at 6:04 pm
Can I do this on my AppleTV?
Craig Lloyd
04/09/2014 at 11:31 am
Unfortunately you cannot.
Don
04/09/2014 at 12:03 pm
Unblock-us works great for Apple TV
Craig Lloyd
04/17/2014 at 7:23 am
Oh awesome. Great suggestion! One thing to be aware of, though, is that the Apple TV doesn’t come with VPN support, so you’ll have to route it through a VPN-enabled router, which can be a bit advanced for novice users.
Chris Mc
04/09/2014 at 6:25 pm
Hi Craig-
I live in Hawaii and want to watch SF Giants games which unfortunately are blacked out here in HI. So I did everything as advertised from your sight via my ipad… step by step, and I even went to whatismyip.com and it showed that my IP address was in Florida exactly as your example does. However when I log back into MLB.com I realized that I did not have my location preferences accessible for MLB.com. Not a problem, went in turned it on and instantly the blue icon “blip” on MLB.com’s map showed that I was in Hawaii, as opposed to Florida which my IP address is tricked into thinking.
When I attempted to watch the Giants game it says that I am in a blacked out area and unfortunately I cannot access the game.
Am I doing something wrong? I have everything off of the VPN menu correct and even have the VPN icon next to the wifi signal. It shows my IP address/location as Tampa Florida which is not a blackout area for the Giants, but MLB.com shows the blip location of my iPad in Hawaii.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Chris
JayBob
04/12/2014 at 8:45 pm
You’re not doing any thing wrote, Chris Mc. MLB At Bat this year requires Location Services to be turned on, and it doesn’t look like it can be fooled. It uses GPS and WiFi signals around you to pinpoint your location, not your IP address.
Craig Lloyd
04/17/2014 at 7:31 am
Based on that, this method wouldn’t work, but it does…
rondmc0101
05/07/2014 at 7:30 pm
I assure you, your solution does not work. You are giving terrible advice. Just tried it on my iPad Air. MLB at bat still knows where I am because apple location services uses crowd sourced wifi router geo location. This has nothing to do with ip geo location and thus nothing to do with VPN. If all it took was ip location then a simple DNS setting would do it (see unlocator). As an IT professional I sort of figured this but tried your “expert” tip for the heck of it. How much commission you get for all of these VPN sign-ups?
Craig Lloyd
05/07/2014 at 7:41 pm
Not sure what to tell you. I suppose I can triple-check the guide and see if there’s anything I left out, but I normally can’t watch White Sox games. Then, after turning on the VPN, I can instantly watch them without a problem. Black magic? Yes, the app will still show your actual location, but the VPN tricks it. And no, I don’t get commission. (Jesus, why does everyone think that every writer gets paid for promoting stuff? I like Private Internet Access so I recommend it to people. That’s it.)
rondmc0101
05/07/2014 at 8:05 pm
What version of MLB at bat are you using? The most recent version 7.1.1 of the At Bat app requires you enable location services on the IOS device and this defeats your solution (at least for me it does). I just downgraded to 7.1.0 of MLB at bat, and yes your VPN solution works with the older version…they are onto us. Note a DNS solution like unlocator is more economical and does not negatively impact bandwidth like VPN can..and I think I lashed out because I am a Twins fan.
Zig Wilson
05/26/2014 at 9:38 pm
Another potential problem is the location address on your MLB account. If the address of the credit card you used to sign up for MLB TV is in the blacked out area you want to watch you’re going to have a problem.
You may have to buy a Visa gift debit card (not connected in any way to a bank account.) Many of these card let you go online and enter and enter an address. You can use the address of a friend or relative outside the blacked out area. Then make sure the proxy or VPN service is located in or near the same area. If those two things are consistent you should be good to go. At least on a PC running windows or linux. Don’t know about mobile tablets or phones with geo-location.
llloungelizard
04/17/2014 at 3:20 pm
I hate to say this but VPN is simply not the right solution for this. Use a service like https://unlocator.com which works with Smart TV, Apple TV, Roku, Gaming Consoles, Computer, iPads, iPhones and much more. VPN is great for some things but when it comes to beating geo restrictions then services like Unlocator are far superior.
matt
05/03/2014 at 10:24 am
The most recent update of MLB at Bat 2014 requires Location Services to be on and uses that data for lacation. The updates often break the articles hack by requiring Location Services and then for some reason, the Location Services requirement is disabled again in a future update. Very frustrating.
Don
05/03/2014 at 10:49 am
Matt you are correct. In order for me to watch games on mlb app on iPad I have to use a VPN and a location faker on my jailbroken iPad
Shawn Walther
05/06/2014 at 6:42 pm
Can’t even do this on the PC anymore. Any thoughts?
Andres santos
05/18/2014 at 1:06 pm
Just try it a couple of times, I always select Germany …it work for me
Ross
05/09/2014 at 9:23 am
This does not work at all. I wish I had read the comments before buying a VPN. I followed everything step by step and nothing worked.
rondmc0101
05/09/2014 at 9:42 am
To be fair this did work up until the May 2014 update to the MLB At Bat App (7.1.1). That update uses your ipad’s location services to find where you are (not your IP). If you can downgrade your At Bat App to (7.1.0) and turn off location services for the app, it should work. There are guides how to do this but getting the old app version can be tricky. I happened to have it on my PC.
Alison Foxall (@alisonmf)
05/17/2014 at 7:54 pm
Just confirming what others are saying: This solution doesn’t work with the latest At Bat App. You need to use something in addition to VPN.
Andres santos
05/18/2014 at 12:55 pm
It worked for me but using it on window PC ..just down load airparrot to mirror the PC image to Apple TV , just $10 bucks…Right now I am in ny watching the pirates vs Yankee
Andres santos
05/21/2014 at 12:54 pm
Ok I found a way to watch my local team playing, just go to the App Store and buy photon flash player for ipad.. Open photon browser and write mlb.com/mediacenter…they gonna ask you for your mlbtv credential , email address and password ..click on your team network since I live in ny my team network is yes network …that is all. Enjoy !
Carl Sechen
05/27/2014 at 5:45 pm
Yup, works just as you say! Thanks!
Darn
05/28/2014 at 8:46 pm
VPN on router. Worked last year on my roku, now gives error message. :(
Any help?
NIX
05/31/2014 at 12:33 pm
Updates stopped the trick. No longer a working option or solution for iPhone (for sure).
doug
06/13/2014 at 4:51 pm
I have a VPN and a GPS spoofed but you have to turn on Allow Mock Location. Android. MLB can obviously detect that and says it can’t locate me. Using just the VPN doesn’t work as all have said. I have heard that by rooting your android device you can move Fake GPS from \data\ something I don’t remember to \system\same name I don’t remember. This apparently allows the Fake GPS to work without enabling Allow Mock Locations. Any thoughts? This is over my head. Also, how can I download an earlier version of MLB At Bat? That sounds like a solution. Then my VPN would work.
Feng
06/26/2014 at 4:39 pm
So is this still not do-able if I have version 7.1.1? :(
tristan
07/18/2014 at 5:11 pm
with jailbreak device u can get mlb app free plus watch all games for free with flex 2 via cydia.i been watching switching game on my ipad with no blackout using vpnoneclick
Bill Rosa
08/03/2014 at 10:12 pm
I have version 7.1.2 what can I do to watch blacked out games?
Jeff
08/06/2014 at 6:50 pm
Bill… I rolled my iphone app back to the previous version but if you don’t have that in itunes, just jailbreak your smartphone and use FakeLocation. Jailbreaking is damn easy these days and it’s the only way you can relay fake GPS info.
cj
10/06/2014 at 5:31 pm
I have a vpn service but my samsung smart tv still shows a blackout
Burt
04/19/2015 at 10:54 am
Hey MLB geniuses….Here’s a novel idea….Charge us for the home team and split the freaking revenue with the broadcast companies!!!!! I dont have cable, won’t buy cable, but I WILL pay a premium to watch the Rangers (God help me). You collect, pay FSW and let me be in peace. #fsakes. – Burt
M. Todd Lestage
06/07/2015 at 11:52 am
Good idea, Burt.
DodgersGuy
04/03/2016 at 2:33 am
No VPN! You’re a lot better off using a DNS service. Works on all devices and your internet speed isn’t affected. I bypass the blackouts every season with this guide:
https://mlbtvblackout.blogspot.com/2009/07/mlbtv-blackout-workaround-bypass.html
Pat Phillips
04/05/2016 at 5:33 pm
Doesn’t work with At Bat anymore (iPhone) it would seem. Sad.