App Store is Apple’s very own apps management platform. It is where you can download new apps to use on your iOS device. It is also where you get updates for your apps. Without the App Store, your iOS experience wouldn’t be that great. Nonetheless, there are a lot of factors that can cause App Store downtimes. When this happens, you wouldn’t be able to update or download apps on your device. Tackled in this post is a post-update issue regarding the App Store that’s not working following the iOS 13 update implementation. Read on to find out what to do if your iPhone iOS 13 won’t connect to the App Store for some reason.
Before moving on, feel free to browse through our troubleshooting pages to find potential solutions to other problems with your other Apple devices. If your iPad is in the list of our supported devices, then you can visit its exclusive troubleshooting page and find the problem that you need help dealing with. You can refer to or use our provided solutions and workarounds if needed. In the case where you’d prefer to get direct assistance from us, simply fill up our iOS issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.
Troubleshooting an iPhone iOS 13 that won’t connect to the App Store
Before troubleshooting, check the App Store server and make sure that it isn’t down. You can view the current status of Apple services including the App Store through Apple’s System Status page. Just visit the Apple Support website to view this information. Also ensure that the date and time settings on your phone are correct. If you haven’t already, set the date and time to automatic. Doing so will prompt your device to use the same date and time information based on your location’s timezone. If everything is good with the App Store server and the date and time settings are correct, then you can go ahead and eliminate software-related variables that prevent your iPhone from connecting to the App Store after the iOS 13 update.
First solution: Restart your iPhone (soft reset).
Restarting the phone is important after installing new apps and firmware updates. Doing so will ensure that all new software changes are properly applied and therefore prevents apps and system services from acting up or encountering errors. It is also a way of dumping junk files including corrupt data that are stored among other cached files in your iPhone’s internal memory. With that said, consider a soft reset as the first potential solution to try on.
The process of restarting or performing a soft reset varies between iPhone models. If you’re using an iPhone 8 or earlier models with a physical Home button, this is how a soft reset is done:
- Press and hold the Power button for a few seconds until the Slide to Power Off label appears.
- Drag the slider to power off your device.
- After 30 seconds, press the Power button to turn it back on.
If you’re using an iphone x or later models, a soft reset is carried out through these steps:
- Press and hold the Top button and either Volume button for a few seconds.
- Release both buttons when the Slide to Power Off label appears.
- Drag the slider to power off your device completely.
- After 30 seconds, press and hold the Top button again until the Apple logo appears.
Wait for your phone to finish rebooting and then connect to your Wi-Fi network to get back online. Remember that your phone must have a stable Internet connection for the App Store to work properly. If your Internet connection is intermittent or slow, chances are that you’ll get disconnected from the Apple Server from time to time. This could eventually result in your iPhone unable to connect to the App Store. To deal with minor Internet problems that caused App Store connection error on your iPhone in iOS 13, proceed to the next solution.
Second solution: Refresh your Internet connection.
One of the common reasons why an iPhone would fail to connect to the App Store is because of an unstable Internet connection. The recent system changes might have flawed your phone’s internet services and thus resulted in some random connectivity issues. And because of that, connection to the App Store server could not be established. This is when you need to refresh your Internet connection. There are many ways to get this done. You can start by restarting your iPhone’s Wi-Fi feature. Just follow these steps:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select Wi-Fi.
- Toggle the Wi-Fi switch to turn the feature OFF for a few seconds and then tap to switch it back on.
You can also use the Wi-Fi control from the control center. Simply pull up the Control Center on your iPhone and then tap the Wi-Fi icon to disable and enable the feature.
Another way to restart your phone’s wireless functions is through the Airplane Mode toggle. Here’s how it’s done:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select Airplane Mode.
- Toggle the switch to turn on Airplane Mode. Doing so disables your iPhone’s wireless radios so as your Wi-Fi internet connection.
- While Airplane Mode is enabled, restart/soft reset your iPhone.
- Then go back to Settings-> Airplane Mode menu.
- Toggle the switch to turn Airplane Mode off again.
Another way to refresh your phone’s internet connection is through a modem/router power cycle. This however can only be done if you’re close to the wireless router or modem. Just follow these steps if you can access your network equipment:
- Press the Power switch/button on your modem or wireless router then press on it until it powers down.
- While it’s turned off, unplug its AC adapter from the power source.
- After 30 seconds, plug it back in and power it on again.
- Wait until the light indicators on your network equipment, especially for Wi-Fi become stable.
Reconnect your iPhone to your Wi-Fi network and then retry loading the App Store again.
Third solution: Forget Wi-Fi network then connect to a different network.
If the previous method doesn’t work, try to forget the Wi-Fi network you’re using and then set it up again. This should help if the problem is attributed to a corrupted Wi-Fi network in use. Just refer to these steps:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Tap Wi-Fi and make sure that the Wi-Fi switch is turned on.
- Select your Wi-Fi network in the list of available networks.
- Then tap the information “i” icon next to the name of your Wi-Fi network (SSID).
- Tap the option to Forget This Network.
- If prompted, confirm that you’d want to forget the network.
The selected Wi-Fi network will then be deleted. If you see any other Wi-Fi networks in the list, forget them all too so that none of them would cause conflicts to your Wi-Fi network.
After forgetting all saved Wi-Fi networks, reboot your iPhone to clear its network cache. Then head back to Settings-> Wi-Fi menu, to set up and reconnect to your Wi-Fi network as new.
Once you’re connected, launch the App Store to see if it’s working already.
ALSO READ: How to fix your iPhone 8 that cannot make or receive calls in iOS 13, phone bug
Fourth solution: Disable restrictions to fix your iPhone iOS 13 that won’t connect to App Store.
The iOS feature called Content & Privacy Restrictions can also be the possible reason as to why your device can’t access or connect to the App Store in iOS 13. Thus, check and manage this feature on your iPhone as well. Here’s how to get there:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select Screen Time.
- Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Toggle the switch to disable the feature.
You can also keep restrictions enabled but make sure that the App Store is listed among other Allowed apps.
Fifth solution: Sign out of and back into your App Store account.
Account-related issues, like when your App Store login has expired or login session timeout can also be the underlying cause of the problem. This is possible especially if the recent update automatically logged you out from your accounts. To fix the problem, try logging out and back into your App Store account with these steps:
- From your Home screen, tap on Settings.
- Select iTunes & App Store.
- Select your Apple ID on the upper side of the screen.
- Then tap Sign Out, if prompted to proceed.
After signing out, sign back into the App Store/iTunes using the correct Apple ID and password.
Sixth solution: Check and manage your phone’s internal memory.
If the problem only occurs when attempting to download or update apps through the App Store, it’s possible that insufficient memory is to blame. This is usually the case if your iPhone is already running low on storage. That said, check your phone’s current memory status and free up some space, if needed. Here’s how:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Tap iPhone Storage.
If the available storage is less than 1 gigabyte, it denotes that your phone’s internal memory is shrinking and that you need to free up space to allocate new files including app updates. You can delete old and unwanted contents or move some of your personal files to iCloud or iTunes. Then try to see if that solves the App Store problem in iOS 13.
ALSO READ: How to fix iOS 13 slow internet browsing problem on your iPhone 8, websites loading very slowly
Seventh solution: Reset all settings on your iPhone.
If the recent iOS update overrides your current settings, chances are that the recent overrides had caused conflicts and eventually ruined your phone’s network and/or system functions. To clear this out, reset all settings to restore default preferences and options without deleting any saved data on the internal memory. Simply follow these steps:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Scroll to and tap General.
- Tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Reset all settings.
- Enter your passcode if prompted to proceed.
- Tap to confirm that you want to reset all settings on your device.
Your device should reboot by itself when the reset is finished and then loads up the default values. To use necessary features that are disabled by default, you need to re-enable them first.
Still having the same problem on your iPhone iOS 13 that won’t connect to App Store?
You may opt to troubleshoot further and carry out an iOS restore if none of the previous method is able to fix the problem. This will erase everything from your device and thereby allows you to set up your App Store account as new. Should you wish to continue, you can try a factory reset to erase and restore factory defaults on your iPhone. And if that still fails, performing an iOS restore either through recovery mode or DFU mode will be your next option.
If all else failed, report the problem to Apple Support for further assistance. The problem may not be rectifiable on your end, especially if the main server is having trouble. Just let them know exactly how you ended up having trouble connecting to the App Store and what you’ve done on your end so far, in an attempt to solve the problem. Should this be found to be inflicted by an iOS 13 App Store bug, that should prompt Apple to develop a fix patch.
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