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K3y

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2019
12
1
Here's something odd. Someone on Twitter mentioned that since this problem started he wasn't seeing App Store notification badges. I've never seen a notification badge on the App Store since installing iOS 13.1. I haven't had them since iOS 12. I'm not sure if it's related since I also have this problem on an iOS 12 device, but it's odd. I'll have to go check my iPhone 5s and see if it has a badge on the App Store.

Do you have automatic app updates on?
I generally have it off because I like to see changelogs before actually updating, but when troubleshooting our problem I also tried turning automatic app updates on, and I remember that my App Store badge disappeared (and it appeared again when I turned automatic updates off).
 

Ybot

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2008
24
16
Winnipeg, Canada
Do you have automatic app updates on?
I generally have it off because I like to see changelogs before actually updating, but when troubleshooting our problem I also tried turning automatic app updates on, and I remember that my App Store badge disappeared (and it appeared again when I turned automatic updates off).
Interesting. I did have automatic updates on and the second I turned it off the badge did show how many updates were pending. Unfortunately I couldn’t install them, but the correct number showed up...
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
So the Apple advisor did reach back out to me and told me I need to talk to their iTunes and billing support team. I'm on hold with them now.
 

K3y

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2019
12
1
Interesting. I did have automatic updates on and the second I turned it off the badge did show how many updates were pending. Unfortunately I couldn’t install them, but the correct number showed up...

I don't know. Maybe it's because if you have automatic updates on, the apps... just update (normally), and the badge doesn't make sense.

Anyway, to make things even more annoying, I have some problems offloading apps on my iPad.
Sometimes all works without problems, but most of the time the indicator just keep spinning (and I've tried waiting for up to an hour!), and I cannot redownload the app from the App Store (it shows the "stop" symbol, and an empty circle, like when an app is "starting" to download).
If I click on the app icon in my home screen it actually downloads the app normally, but this way it only downloads the "old" version of the app.

Rebooting actually fixes it, and I can redownload the app from the App Store, but it's "really" frustrating having to reboot for each offloaded/redownloaded app...

No problem offloading apps on my iPhone.
Still, I remember to always having these same problems offloading apps on my iPad, so I never used this feature up until now.
 

emirb351

macrumors newbie
Mar 25, 2011
16
9
Its funny you mentioned it because I do use a RSS feed app and it also refreshes all the time whenever I open it.

yeah it’s definitely odd isn’t it? Should have absolutely nothing to do with the current issues yet it does? As soon as I restart the phone the RSS app works perfectly.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
So my hope that support will ever fix this is sinking quickly. The Senior Advisor transferred me to iTunes billing. I spoke to that person for about 20 minutes and he contacted his senior advisor who told me it wasn't a billing problem and sent me back to another senior advisor at tech support. That person put me on hold and then told me I need to contact Media support, which is the same group as iTunes billing. So basically the tech support people are telling me I need to talk to billing and billing is saying I need to talk to tech support.

At the moment I'm no with a senior advisor for device support who is attempting to reach out directly to a senior advisor with iTunes billing/media support. I've been on the call for over 50 minutes and around 30 minutes of that has been on hold.

For people who've contacted Apple Support, who are you actually dealing with? iTunes/Media or device support?

Anyway, to make things even more annoying, I have some problems offloading apps on my iPad.
Sometimes all works without problems, but most of the time the indicator just keep spinning (and I've tried waiting for up to an hour!), and I cannot redownload the app from the App Store (it shows the "stop" symbol, and an empty circle, like when an app is "starting" to download).
If I click on the app icon in my home screen it actually downloads the app normally, but this way it only downloads the "old" version of the app.

Rebooting actually fixes it, and I can redownload the app from the App Store, but it's "really" frustrating having to reboot for each offloaded/redownloaded app...

Tapping the icon on the home screen does actually download the newest app, but the App Store app gets confused and thinks its the old version. As you mentioned rebooting fixes this. I think it's a problem with memory or something. I've only ever seen it on my iPad Air 2.

Oh and I'm back to having 15 updates on my iPhone. At this rate, if I don't offload/reinstall them regularly I'll hit 100 updates soon.
 

tweedledivo

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2019
7
4
Hi everyone,

Just got off the phone with my Senior Advisor contact at Apple Support. He confirmed that Apple is aware of the issue and is working on it. (And people at Apple are monitoring this forum as well as the "official" ones.) His superiors told him that the Gigafiles (?) team confirmed this is a server-side issue, not a client-side one, so going as far as a factory reset of your device is pointless. The only thing we can do is wait, or, if we're desperate, offload/delete apps and reinstall the new versions (even though they'll still mistakenly show up in the "update" list).

So... progress, I guess?
 

Ybot

macrumors newbie
Feb 1, 2008
24
16
Winnipeg, Canada
I am so glad Apple admitted it’s a problem on their end. What’s shocking is their radio silence on the issue on their website or Twitter. Lots of people are going to go through the hassle of wiping their devices for no reason unless Apple blasts this information to their support team.
 

TravelerHD

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2019
14
6
Sorry, but where did they admit it?

They haven't made any public admittance. They just admitted it over the phone to one of the users here:

Hi everyone,

Just got off the phone with my Senior Advisor contact at Apple Support. ...His superiors told him that the Gigafiles (?) team confirmed this is a server-side issue, not a client-side one, so going as far as a factory reset of your device is pointless...
 

kurisub

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2005
51
64
La Mesa,CA
Here's something odd. Someone on Twitter mentioned that since this problem started he wasn't seeing App Store notification badges. I've never seen a notification badge on the App Store since installing iOS 13.1. I haven't had them since iOS 12. I'm not sure if it's related since I also have this problem on an iOS 12 device, but it's odd. I'll have to go check my iPhone 5s and see if it has a badge on the App Store.

Also I called back into Apple about the missed call and spoke to a senior advisor who said the notes indicated I had a call scheduled for 4 PM. I hung up and waited for the call back. It never came.

Do you have automatic app updates set to on? I didn't see them when I decided to turn that on when this problem started. If you set it back off, you should see the badge notifications again. That's how it showed up on my iPhone at least.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
Hi everyone,

Just got off the phone with my Senior Advisor contact at Apple Support. He confirmed that Apple is aware of the issue and is working on it. (And people at Apple are monitoring this forum as well as the "official" ones.) His superiors told him that the Gigafiles (?) team confirmed this is a server-side issue, not a client-side one, so going as far as a factory reset of your device is pointless. The only thing we can do is wait, or, if we're desperate, offload/delete apps and reinstall the new versions (even though they'll still mistakenly show up in the "update" list).

So... progress, I guess?

Which team is you Senior Advisor on, the iTunes or iOS team?

I’ve spoken to three different Senior advisors on the iOS side and none of them seem to know anything about this issue. The only thing I was told is I need to talk to iTunes support.

Speaking to a non-senior iTunes support person, I was told I need to speak to iOS support. An iOS senior advisor then tried to get me in touch with an iTunes senior advisor, but the wait time was very long and she said she’d call me back. That was 90 minutes ago and so far nothing.

On a side note Gigafiles, is Apple’s file upload system. I don’t think there is a “Gigafiles team”, unless the person meant they looked at your files from Gigafiles. No offense, but I’d like to get confirmation from more than one person that Apple is working on this. Preferably I’d like to be told personally as every person I’ve spoken to is unaware of this issue.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
So the Senior Advisor called me back. She said she spoke to a few different iTunes support people, including a senior advisor and they all said they couldn’t do any if it it’s not a billing issue, so she’s escalating the ticket to iOS engineering again (as iOS senior advisors can’t submit to iTunes engineering). They also submitted it under the correct Apple ID this time. I also sent links to this thread, along with a few Twitter threads and ones at the Apple Discussions board. I’m scheduled to hear back on Thursday. Hopefully I’ll get the same response that tweedledivo got.
 

tweedledivo

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2019
7
4
Which team is you Senior Advisor on, the iTunes or iOS team?

He's on the iOS team -- iTunes billing never came up in our conversations.

And he's just as stumped by my successful Amazon app update as the rest of us.

IMG_6523.jpg

Gonna try updating to 13.2.3 later tonight but I'm not holding my breath for any breakthroughs.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
He's on the iOS team -- iTunes billing never came up in our conversations.

And he's just as stumped by my successful Amazon app update as the rest of us.

View attachment 877956

Gonna try updating to 13.2.3 later tonight but I'm not holding my breath for any breakthroughs.

Odd since engineerings response to my iOS advisor was for me to contact iTunes billing. I’m hoping that was a misunderstanding based on submitting the wrong Apple ID.

iOS 13.2.3 didn’t make any difference for me, not that I expected it to considering I have an iPhone 5S on iOS 12.4.3 having the same problem.
 

schmegs

macrumors member
Nov 9, 2007
49
19
Burbank, CA
I talked to an iOS senior support person on Thursday (after talking to iTunes support at bit-- they couldn't help, but figured that if iOS support could get one of my devices working, the rest would fall in line). Happening on my iPhone, iPad, Macbook, iMac, and 2 AppleTVs. All on the latest OS releases, except for the iMac, which is still on Mojave. Same problem with all of them. And, since I'm an app harder, I'm up to 160 updates waiting on my iPhone...

I used Testflight to do a test purchase of Guardian, I think, a few months back. Testflight apps still update.

Have a separate iCloud and legacy iTunes store account (where all my app purchases are from).

Amazon will not update on my phone.

Waiting for a follow-up call back (originally scheduled for today), but since the issue still persists, I don't really expect one at the moment.

I seem to remember this happening a few years back, and it was fixed in a few days. Seems longer this time, but maybe I'm just more impatient
 

root_alpine

macrumors newbie
Nov 18, 2019
3
0
hi everyone, is it fixes with latest Fw (13.2.3) released today?
I'm on 13.3 beta 2 public released.
Thank you!
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
I wish Apple support would get the story they are telling people straight. They told one person it’s a known issue, told me i need to talk to iTunes media support and told someone else to wipe all 5 of his devices.
This was all around the same time.

I’m still concerned that nearly everyone who has reported this on Twitter and here save a few have tested using TestFlight and logged into the Sandbox account. That’s a disproportionate number of people.

So is it Apple's applications server issue?

Considering it happened all the sudden and it’s affecting various devices including iOS (12 and 13), MacOs and tvOS, that’s the most likely conclusion.
 
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root_alpine

macrumors newbie
Nov 18, 2019
3
0
I wish Apple support would get the story they are telling people straight. They told one person it’s a known issue, told me i need to talk to iTunes media support and told someone else to wipe all 5 of his devices.
This was all around the same time.

I’m still concerned that nearly everyone who has reported this on Twitter and here save a few have tested using TestFlight and logged into the Sandbox account. That’s a disproportionate number of people.



Considering it happened all the sudden and it’s affecting various devices including iOS (12 and 13), MacOs and tvOS, that’s the most likely conclusion.
Tried to delete some applicationswhich stuck in updates notification then reinstall it -> working fine
But still stucking in updates with another apps & can not update! Did you try to remove another devices or account then update it again? I'm not try it!
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,182
621
Tried to delete some applicationswhich stuck in updates notification then reinstall it -> working fine
But still stucking in updates with another apps & can not update! Did you try to remove another devices or account then update it again? I'm not try it!

Deleting or offloading and reinstalling apps does work. Only updating does not.

Things people have tried that do NOT fix the problem include:

1. Signing out of iTunes and back in.
2. Resetting settings.
3. Resetting network settings.
4. Erasing phone and restoring backup.
5. Erasing phone and setting up as new. -
Basically there is nothing anyone can do to fix this problem short of switching to a different Apple ID, which isn’t really an option if you’ve purchased apps.
 

AlecEdworthy

macrumors 6502
May 1, 2007
415
129
Leicestershire, UK
Just adding my voice to the mix. Three devices here, iPhone XR (13.2.3), iPad mini 5 (13.2.2, will be .3 soon) and iPhone SE (13.2) all affected in the same way. Spoke to Apple, told to remove all VPNs and Profiles, reset Network Settings (thanks, now none of my devices know any of my WPA2 networks!) and erase and set up anew my iPad (PITA to come back from) all of course to no avail. Fingers crossed Apple come up with a solution soon ?
 
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