Coolass

Q: Very slow download speed in Apple App Store

Hi

 

Two days ago I try to update my macbook to the new OS X update via wifi, the download speed is very very slow and it takes over 4 to 5 hours to complete, As I have do the same update before on my Imac with ethernet and its very fast, so I think it is my wifi network issue. But today when I try to do the itune update on the imac (with ethernet, not wifi) the download speed is very very slow. And it will stop after downloading a few MB. The slow download speed is not from my ISP as I can download with quick speed in other site, just experience the slow speed in app store.

 

Does anyone knows why the download speed is so slow in Apple App Store and is there any way to fix this?

 

Thanks a lot

Jason

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 2, 2014 7:14 AM

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Q: Very slow download speed in Apple App Store

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  • by 15-year-old Web Developer,

    15-year-old Web Developer 15-year-old Web Developer Mar 2, 2014 7:18 AM in response to Coolass
    Level 2 (205 points)
    Mar 2, 2014 7:18 AM in response to Coolass

    I think the servers are a bit slow, so you can't do anything.

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Mar 2, 2014 8:53 AM in response to Coolass
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Mar 2, 2014 8:53 AM in response to Coolass

    Please read this whole message before doing anything.

    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

    The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

    Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you boot, and again when you log in.

    Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

    Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.

    The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

    Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

    After testing, reboot as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

  • by jim_pcmtv,

    jim_pcmtv jim_pcmtv Apr 2, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 2, 2014 1:24 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I am having this problem on a brand new Mac Pro. 

     

    I just did this test, booting into Safe Mode, and the download speed jumped back up to normal (before, I was getting literally a trickle download of like single digit kb/sec while trying to install Final Cut X).

     

    Rebooting after booting into safe mode now, and my download speeds are back up to normal (or at least expected speeds).

     

    Did the Safe Boot clear out something, or disable some 3rd party software? I have a 10Gb Thunderbolt NIC from Small-tree which required drivers to be installed that were apparently not signed sufficiently for the OS security services until after a reboot.  The card works fine and does connect to my internal network at 10Gb.

     

    Is there anything special about booting into Safe Boot mode that changes something?

  • by Dah•veed,

    Dah•veed Dah•veed Apr 2, 2014 3:53 PM in response to jim_pcmtv
    Level 7 (34,780 points)
    Mac App Store
    Apr 2, 2014 3:53 PM in response to jim_pcmtv

    Safe Mode does 2 things of which I am aware, it disables 3rd party software for that SM boot and it does a disk repair of the boot drive.

  • by coolbloke1324,

    coolbloke1324 coolbloke1324 Jul 14, 2014 10:23 AM in response to Coolass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2014 10:23 AM in response to Coolass

    I can confirm a solution that works but it may not be available to all.

     

    I was on holiday in Thailand and on a slower but perfectly acceptable connection at around ~10Mbps. My download in the mac app store was deadly slow... like insanely crazy slow, estimating 5 days to download 5 gig (OSX dev preview of Yosemite).

     

    I happen to have my own VPN set up so I can access UK-based stuff when I'm abroad like BBC iPlayer etc so I connected via my VPN and restarted the app store download and went from around 1.5k per second to just over 1MB per second. It would appear that either there is location-based throttling going on or the endpoint in Thailand is really terrible.

     

    The solution it would seem is to get access to a VPN and download that way! My personal opinion would be to get a VPN in the UK or US if possible, depending on where you already reside. VPNs can be found for free by googling.

     

    Enjoy!

     

    Rob Evans

    CEO & Lead Developer

    Irrelon Software Limited

  • by MorrisSoak,

    MorrisSoak MorrisSoak Jul 25, 2014 5:11 PM in response to coolbloke1324
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 25, 2014 5:11 PM in response to coolbloke1324

    I am in almost the identical situation, trying to download the beta version of Yosemite for testing purposes from the Australian App Store.  I am in Indonesia at the moment and like you am using a VPN which makes me appear to be in Melbourne Australia.  This usually provides download speeds of 1-2 Mb/sec but this download is giving an estimated download time of 5 days.  I can fully understand that there would be a large demand for this file but I have observed this to be a consistent problem for a number of my friends here with the App store.  It doesn't seem to matter which store they use both UK and USA stores are equally slow on different connections ie. WiFi / cable.  A friend of mine tried to do an online OSX Mavericks system restore after a crash and eventually gave up due to the time required.  So I'm a bit puzzled, the only thing I haven't tried is changing to the Indonesian App store due to the limited number of times one can do that.  It's about the only thing left to try but I have my doubts.

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy Jul 25, 2014 5:24 PM in response to Coolass
    Level 4 (1,195 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 25, 2014 5:24 PM in response to Coolass

    When my download speed from Apple updates slows down - I will pause the update, Disconnect from the internet and just Shut down - Next day speed will be back.

     

    I do the updates at night - as in my area all the utilities are working on lines during the day.

     

    Shutting down for the day or time ends all jobs and cuts down on wear and tear on my mac.  It is a personal choice & is probably why I don't have as many problems as those who only put it in sleep are reporting.

     

    Weather can also cause slow downs - along with fires - etc. 

  • by ylexus,

    ylexus ylexus Oct 21, 2014 1:36 PM in response to Coolass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 1:36 PM in response to Coolass

    For me a reboot worked. Surely there are a lot of App Store download servers and if one is slow for some reason re-connecting may connect you to another server and you're back in business.

  • by gabrsafwat,Helpful

    gabrsafwat gabrsafwat Nov 2, 2014 11:26 PM in response to Coolass
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 2, 2014 11:26 PM in response to Coolass

    Hello,

    I had the same issue and here is what I did to fix it:

     

    1. Quit the Mac App Store with Command + Option + Q

    2. Open Keychain Access from Applications > Utilities

    3. Go to Keychain Access > Preferences > Certificates

    4. Set ‘Certificate Revocation List (CRL)’ to ‘Off’

    5. Quit Keychain Access

    6. Relaunch the Mac App Store and you should be set

     

    I did that and it really worked as fast as it used to be

  • by i-develop,Helpful

    i-develop i-develop Sep 20, 2015 10:16 PM in response to gabrsafwat
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 20, 2015 10:16 PM in response to gabrsafwat

    Had the same issue, and this is what I did to fix it :

    1. Quit the App store
    2. Open Activity Monitor and quite these processes :
    • storeaccountd
    • storeassetd
    • storedownloadd
    • storeinapp

     

    Restart the App Store. That's all

  • by Le Duc Anh,

    Le Duc Anh Le Duc Anh Oct 23, 2015 11:35 PM in response to i-develop
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2015 11:35 PM in response to i-develop

    tks a lot . this help me <3

  • by iGROOVER,

    iGROOVER iGROOVER Feb 1, 2016 11:42 PM in response to Coolass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2016 11:42 PM in response to Coolass

    I had the same problem ,

    Fixed it from a 4 day download to 35 min

    Go into activity Monitor

    and quit storagent

    this will stop the current download but when you restart the the down again it has calculated  35 min instead of 4 days

    hope it works for others

  • by Steven Rodenburg,

    Steven Rodenburg Steven Rodenburg May 29, 2016 8:17 AM in response to iGROOVER
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 29, 2016 8:17 AM in response to iGROOVER

    Sorry iGroover, i-develop etc. etc.  all of this killing processes and not doing certificate revocation checks has nothing to do with it and does not solve the problem.

     

    The problem lies at Apple's side, not on the Mac's of their customers. It has nothing to do with my ISP or anyone else. Forget location (i'm in Europe). It has nothing to do with you.

     

    Apple, currently, at the moment that I write this post, are actively throttling downloads. No more, no less. Don't make to much of it and don't fix problems YOU don't have...

     

    On my MBP and iMac I am trying to download the El-Capitan installer because i want to make an USB-Stick installer. On each machine, the download starts at full wire-speed (20 MB/s) and always, after about 10 seconds, drops to less than 0.7 KB/s.

     

    About 10 seconds full speed, then the abrupt slowdown. At least it has been like that **today**. It says nothing on how it would have been 12 hours ago, or how it will be 12 hours in the future.

     

    At the moment, I can repeat this over and over again. At the moment of writing, Apple is throttling and larger downloads, that do not fit in that, roughly 10 second window, get shafted. It is as simple as that.

    No amount of killing processes etc. etc. etc. etc. can fix this as the problem is not on our machines. Period.

     

    At other times, I can download large updates etc. etc. from the App Mac Store completely at full speed. This varies greatly and depends on the load on Apple's servers at that point.

     

    It has been like this for years.

     

    This **** happens on all my Apple Devices, regardless of iOS, OS-X, does not matter. Downloads can be fast, slow or mega-slow (like now) and we can do nothing about it.

  • by nightsd01,

    nightsd01 nightsd01 Sep 21, 2016 10:14 AM in response to Coolass
    Level 1 (134 points)
    Sep 21, 2016 10:14 AM in response to Coolass

    Dear Apple,

     

    This question was posed two years ago, but could have easily been written today. The Mac App store is even worse than it was back then. It is still riddled with the SAME bugs, plus a bunch of exciting new bugs.

     

    Great job, Apple. You're still having problems figuring out a simple download system that many companies figured out how to do well decades ago. Great job.

     

    I have a fiber optic internet connection, and I've spent hours trying to download Sierra on several machines, and even on several networks. Since your mac app store is so thoroughly useless, you should REALLY give people the ability to download Sierra directly from your web servers instead of having to go through your stupid and pointless Mac app store.