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Cannot Update App Message Occurs for 2 of My Apps

My iPhone 6 has more than 100 apps. I've been updating them successfully for years. I have not created a new Apple ID nor have I changed the Apple ID information on my phone. Out of nowhere, two apps that I've had for years and have successfully updated in the past now report "Cannot Update App". "<app name> cannot be updated because it was refunded or purchased with a different Apple ID. The stated condition for why the apps cannot be updated is not true for this or any other apps on my phone.


Does anyone no why this happens? And, more importantly, at the moment, how to resolve it. I would try deleting and reinstalling them, but I'm pausing because the two apps are very important to me and I'm concerned about losing data or having to install and reconfigure them. If it's the only way, of course, I'll go through the pain. Any thoughts? Thanks.

iPhone 6

Posted on Jul 22, 2020 10:13 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 23, 2020 10:00 AM

Check your purchases history.


Purchase History Review.  


If the apps show there, contact iTunes Support for assistance. See the Apple Support articles below for contact information.   


iTunes Support – world wide 


Apple Support schedule phone call       


If necessary, try Twitter


https://twitter.com/AppleSupport.          People have posted it may take an hour or more to get a response.

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6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 23, 2020 10:00 AM in response to TM650

Check your purchases history.


Purchase History Review.  


If the apps show there, contact iTunes Support for assistance. See the Apple Support articles below for contact information.   


iTunes Support – world wide 


Apple Support schedule phone call       


If necessary, try Twitter


https://twitter.com/AppleSupport.          People have posted it may take an hour or more to get a response.

Jul 22, 2020 10:31 PM in response to TM650

See these can't-update/download possibilities. They are the only documented explanations I know of for your problem. I know that several of these possibilities don't seem likely in your case.

 

'Your account has been disabled in the App Store and iTunes' https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208856. This link says: "There might be a problem with the payment method that you have on file. When you see the message, don't try to edit any of your account information. Insteadcontact Apple Support for help.”

 

Try using the Apple recommended support link above first. But, this site is down/not fully functional very often. Use the support options I give below if necessary.

 

You can use Apple Support Twitter https://twitter.com/AppleSupport There may be an hour or so wait.

 

And, if necessary, go here to contact iTunes worldwide support via text or chat https://support.apple.com/choose-country-region/itunes After choosing your country, see the heading, Tell us how we can help.

__________

 

If you can’t download or update apps on your iPhone or other Apple device https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207165

__________

 

If you can't connect to the App Store, iTunes Store, or other Apple services https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201400. There have been quite a few Apple server connection problems lately. Among other things, in the above document, see Check Apple’s System Status page. You can check there to see if the needed server is available when you need to use one.

 

Also, below are the alert messages given in the document. But, receiving others is a possibility. Use the steps in the above document if you see one of these error messages or a somewhat similar message.

 

·      "Cannot connect to the iTunes Store. An unknown error has occurred."

·      "We could not complete your iTunes Store request. The iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

·      "Could not connect to the iTunes Store. Make sure your network connection is active and try again."

·      "We could not complete your iTunes Store request. The network connection could not be established. There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later."

__________

 

What to do when the Mac App Store shows a different Apple ID for software updates https://www.macworld.com/article/3267709/mac-app-store-apple-id.html. This document refers to a prior owner (use the discussion in it this is your situation), but is also applies to cases where a current owner's old Apple ID is the problem. The discussion below relates to the second possibility. 

 

Basically, If an app is purchased/downloaded using one Apple ID, then you can't update it with a second Apple ID. The app is inextricably linked to the first Apple ID. You'll have to delete if from the first Apple ID and purchase/download it again with the second Apple ID unless you set up family sharing (see below).

 

You can set up family sharing between the IDs to share purchases made with them. See:

 

Family Sharing  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201060

 

Set up Family Sharing https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201088

Jul 24, 2020 3:54 AM in response to donv_the_ghost

Thanks for the information. Just for clarification, the apps are "free"; this is not an issue related to charging against my account or any related problem. As you indicated, Getsupport.Apple.com was not available. So, I've sent a request to iTunes Worldwide Support. Will see if they have any suggestions.


I suspect that I will need to delete and reinstall/reconfigure the apps. But, it would be very helpful to understand how the two apps became un-updateable, particularly, when none of the other apps are having this problem.


On another note, I'm surprised there is not a view on the iPhone (or in iOS) that shows all resident apps and their corresponding Apple ID. For people that are experiencing problems because of varying Apple IDs, this view should prove very helpful.

Cannot Update App Message Occurs for 2 of My Apps

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