App Store is hanging up

[MacInWin]

Now that Apple has removed app support from iTunes, what was an annoyance is becoming a more severe problem. Maybe I've got something wrong, but I'll share it here to see if there is a solution or if others are seeing the same thing.

Frequently, not every time, but sufficiently often to be annoying, the App store hangs up when trying to update an app. In the past, with iTunes, I'd just ignore the ever-spinning circle and go to iTunes to get the update and to process the update to my iDevice. Now, however, that iTunes alternative is gone. The symptom I see is that when I get the notice that an update is available and then tap on the Update button or the Update ALL button if more than one are available, the little spinning circle appears but never changes to the circle with a box in the middle, or does change to that circle/box but there is zero progress on the downloading of the update. I've let this go for up to 5 hours with no progress, just in case it's something that will eventually clear. Killing the store and restarting it doesn't help, the spinners just spin. What I have found is that if I power off the iDevice and then reboot it will then download and install the updates.

As I said, before when the store hung up I would just let it spin, go to iTunes to get the update(s) and install from there, but that escape is now gone and only the power off/on seems to work.

Anybody else seeing this? Anybody seen any suggestions on how to make it work? Is Apple aware of the issue? I'd open a bug report if I thought it would help, but previous bug reports resulted in a deadly silence from Cupertino.

 

[ferrarr]

What device(s) and iOS version?

I was experiencing that before, but after a backup/sync with itunes, I don’t seem to experience it anymore. We have 2 iPhone 6’s with iOS 11.0.3, an iPad Pro 12” with iOS 11.0.3, and an iPad Air 2 with iOS 11.0.3. One iPhone 6 and the iPad Air sync with iTunes on 12.7 on winOS 10, and the other devices are synced with iTunes 12.7 on macOS 13.

 

[chscag]

Might be a problem local to you Jake. I've recently updated apps and iOS on an iPhone 6s+, 7+, and my 10.5" iPad Pro without any hangups or delays. I'm running iTunes 12.7 and doing the updating direct from the app store on the individual devices. Running iOS 11.0.3 on all my devices.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, it's happening on three iPhones and two iPads, running a variety of iOS. iPhone 6s, 7 and 8, iPad mini 4 all on 11.0.3, and a more vintage iPad still on 10.x.x. App store hangs on all of them, which to me points to the App Store. My ISP is providing me 250MBPS service with no throttling, which checks out even on the iDevices. Can't use iTunes on my MBP, as it is updated to 12.7 and that left the store out. I've been getting 4-6 app updates every day, usually get 3-4 of them updated and then hangs. Reboot device and it gets the last one(s) ok. I guess I'll keep doing that. I cannot think of anything unusual here, no strange software, normal firewalls, modems, routers, nothing new or out of the ordinary and no other functions hang up the way the App Store does. I've done the usual checks for anything that could be the cause, nothing comes up strange. Rebooting the iDevice works EVERY time, which also points to some communications glitch where both sides are waiting for the other. I can keep rebooting, but it is a real PITA that Apple got rid of the App store from iTunes.

 

[ferrarr]

Have you synced or backed up any of your devices using iTunes 12.7?

 

[MacInWin]

Yes, I used iTunes to back them up a few weeks ago when it first came out and just before I stopped using iTunes. iTunes was only useful to me for the App store and backup as I don't use it for music at all. So when the App store was removed, I shifted over to iMazing for the backups and management of the iDevices. But I don't think any of that has any impact on how the App store hangs up from the individual iDevices during app updates. It's just that what was a minor annoyance of the App store stalling is now a major annoyance because Apple removed the other path to updates and has not replace it with anything.

 

[chscag]

I can verify that iMazing 2 is not the problem. I use it exclusively to backup our iPhones and iPad and rarely if ever use iTunes now that it's at 12.7. Like Jake, I do not use iTunes for music or to rent movies, etc. Yesterday I updated my wife's phone using the App Store and had no hangups or delays.

 

[MacInWin]

Yeah, the problem is intermittent. Sometimes I can get the updates just fine, other times it hangs up. Nothing in common that I can find, except that it "feels" like the hangups occur more if there are multiple updates pending. If I tap "Update All" I seem to get the hangups more often. So I've taken to updating them one at a time, which means I have to sit and watch the updates instead of tapping "All" and just putting the phone down. But even one at a time occasionally hangs up, too. I'll keep working it and if I get something consistent that i can duplicate, I'll post it here. The real purpose was to see if it was just me (It apparently is) or systemic (apparently not).