Installing software from the Mac App Shop commonly only take few clicks. But what happens when something goes wrong?

Whether apps fail to download, you get errors while purchasing apps, or even come across a blank App Store page, we'll show you how to solve common Mac App Store issues.

one. Missing App Shop Purchases

Apps you purchase from the Mac App Shop collect in the Purchased section. The apps link with your Apple ID, which means that if you ain multiple Mac computers, you tin install your apps on all of them. The apps are ever available to update, and you can reinstall them whenever you want.

The purchases folio listing all apps in chronological order. You can open up or install them right from this page, but sometimes you'll notice they've gone missing. Various reasons can cause this:

  • Apple has removed the app because it'southward outdated or doesn't adhere to app review guidelines.
  • The developer is no longer interested in selling the app.
  • The App Shop may automatically hide an app that you don't install for a long fourth dimension or has compatibility bug.

When an app gets hidden, you'll no longer see information technology on the Purchased screen, and you won't get update notifications for it. Just you can still view these subconscious apps with a flake of digging.

Open the App Store, and click Store > View My Business relationship. Sign in to view your account information. And then on the Account Data page, coil downwardly to the Hidden Items section and click Manage.

account-information-page-of-the-app-store

At present click the Unhide button for each app you want to show over again.

With this fix, you lot'll be able to restore all the missing apps. Just note that if the app is non available, and then clicking on that app volition not do anything. Check the developer'southward website or social media pages to run across if the developer is withal active.

manage-hidden-purchases-in-the-app-store

2. Apps Incorrectly Evidence Up as Installed

The Mac App Store has all the information about your Apple ID. It knows which account you're using, and tracks your awarding ownership. Sometimes, you lot might encounter an upshot where the App Store falsely reports that a item app is installed, and therefore won't allow yous download information technology.

Yous might also meet the misleading message You accept updates bachelor for other accounts, even if you employ one Apple tree ID. This type of error can happen for various reasons.

Reason ane: Problem With the Cache Folder

In this case, you must clear the cache folder manually to fix the issue. Before you proceed with these steps, ensure that you've backed up your Mac.

Quit the Mac App Shop with the Cmd + Q shortcut. Open Terminal and type the post-obit command:

          open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/        

Printing Enter and the com.apple.appstore folder will open in Finder. Delete the contents of this folder. Relaunch the Mac App Store. Notation that this is a system cache and temporary binder. Do not delete any files or folders hither other than this directory.

delete-the-app-store-cache-folder

If you're facing constant verification errors or incorrect download condition problems, utilize this method to fix the problem.

Reason 2: Beta Apps on Other Drives

This type of problem occurs when you install a beta version of macOS on another partition or external drive. Apps yous install on it get indexed by Spotlight. The index that the system creates will brand the App Store think that a duplicate copy of the app exists on some other drive. It'll pass up to download or update the app on the primary partition.

Fixing this issue is elementary; you must delete the duplicate copy of the app and rebuild the Spotlight index.

Open the Apple Menu and select System Preferences. Choose the Spotlight entry and switch to the Privacy tab.

Click the Plus tab at the bottom of the list. A new Finder window volition pop open. Add Macintosh Hd (or whatsoever you named it) to this list and shut the Organization Preferences window. I'd also recommend to log out of your account and sign in again. The indexing volition terminate for this drive.

rebuild-spotlight-index

Now go back to the Privacy tab and click the Minus sign to remove the Macintosh Hd drive. Close the Organisation Preferences window. The organization will begin to reindex everything on the disk drive, which volition take some time.

Reason 3: App Updates on Other User Accounts

If you employ a shared calculator with another user account, then you might confront a similar problem. Apps you install on other accounts should not pose a trouble. Simply if you delete the user account, the App Shop will not know that y'all have washed so and will encounter similar problems.

To prepare this event, follow the steps in the to a higher place section to rebuild the Spotlight index.

iii. App Updates or Downloads Are Stuck

The App Shop provides regular updates to both system and third-party apps. In some cases, the download doesn't complete and might hang in the heart of the procedure. You might run into a familiar Waiting or Installing---Calculating message only beneath the download progress bar.

To approach this problem, nosotros'll look at what happens behind the scenes.

Delete the Cache Folder

When the download begins, the App Store creates many temporary files in the cache folder. They include a Spotlight metadata file, incomplete installer file, and a PLIST file with details of the app y'all're downloading.

In the first stride, you must articulate the App Store enshroud binder equally mentioned to a higher place. Quit the Mac App Store, then open a Terminal window and blazon the following control:

          open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/        

Printing Enter and the com.apple.appstore folder volition open in Finder. Delete everything inside. Side by side, you must delete the user com.apple.appstore binder. To do so, go to

          ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore        

and delete all the files in the fsCachedData binder.

delete-the-user-app-store-cache-folder

Delete the Contents of the Updates Binder

When an app download completes, the packet moves from a temporary enshroud folder to

          MacintoshHD/Library/Updates        

If an app gets stuck during the installation or gets corrupted for some reason, then clear the contents of this folder. Otherwise, skip this pace.

delete-the-contents-of-the-update-folder

Kill the Culprit App Store Processes

Afterward deleting the contents of the enshroud folder, you'll adjacent need to kill the culprit processes from the Activity Monitor. This will ensure that when you re-download the update, the processes will not hang again.

Open the Action Monitor and set its view to All Processes. Type in store to search for App Store related processes, and force-quit all of these daemon processes:

  • storedownloadd: Handles downloads of apps found in the App Store.
  • storeinstalld: Covers app installation and their updates.
  • storeassetd: Handles all the resources and linguistic communication files of the App Store.
  • storeaccountd: In charge of authentication, and acts as a bridge with your Apple ID account.

Practice not open the App Store yet, because in that location's ane more step to prepare this problem.

kill-the-culprit-store-processes-in-activity-monitor

Delete the Preference File

Become to Finder and press Cmd + Shift + M to open the Get to Folder box. Go to the following folder:

          ~/Library/Preferences        

Here, delete the following files:

  • com.apple.appstore.plist
  • com.apple.storeagent.plist

Now go to

          ~/Library/Cookies        

And delete this file:

  • com.apple tree.appstore.binarycookies

Once you delete all the preference files, choose Apple Menu > Shut Down. So press the power button to first your Mac again and the trouble should be gone.

four. Blank App Shop Page

Ane of the almost notorious problems of the Mac App Store is when it displays the fault bulletin Cannot connect to the App Store. This has multiple causes, but you tin solve them.

Outset, you must check your internet connectedness. Open Apple Carte > Arrangement Preferences. Choose the Network item and ensure that there is a green icon next to the network in the left sidebar. If there's a ruddy icon next to the network, and so your internet connection is downward.

check-the-internet-connection Mac

Sometime the effect may not be a problem on your end. Check out Apple's System Status Folio. Hither, you can encounter information nearly the status of Apple's services, such as iCloud, the App Shop, and more.

If a detail service has a red icon adjacent to information technology, then it's down.

apple-service-status-page

Should y'all even so see the fault message even with green lights, cull Store > Logout and quit the App Store. Relaunch the app and sign in once more.

v. Errors While Purchasing Apps

Rarely, you might encounter a peculiar Nosotros could not complete your buy: Unknown Error message when buying apps. This trouble occurs when you lot update macOS or use multiple Apple IDs.

Open up both the App Store and iTunes, and ensure that you utilize aforementioned Apple tree IDs in both of the apps. If you utilize two separate Apple tree ID, so log out of the apps, quit them, and sign in again with a single Apple ID.

If yous even so run across the same mistake message, then you might have an issue with the iTunes Terms and Weather. When y'all do a significant update of macOS, Apple wants you to accept the weather condition again. In this instance, quit the apps, accept the new Terms and Conditions, and relaunch them. You lot may need to reboot to prompt the credence dialog.

Don't Forget to Score Big App Shop Discounts

Over these years, Apple tree has tended to ignore the Mac App Shop. It's slow and suffers from many bugs and stability problems. Troubleshooting errors is hard because when the App Store has bug, information technology doesn't crash---information technology only refuses to work.

With the launch of macOS Mojave, the App Shop will get a huge upgrade. We don't know whether this volition fe out these common errors or not.

After yous prepare your App Store problems, don't forget that you can salvage coin on apps from the store. Take a look at these methods to observe Mac and iPhone App Store discounts.

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