Yes, my iOS is up to date. I've waited a few months for not 1, but 2!, iOS updates in the hopes that it would fix the problem, but no luck.
Somehow my phone got corrupted when I changed my Apple ID email on Apple's website (via my Macbook Pro) and then when I went to my phone to update my email address there, too (i.e. by logging out and re-logging in on my iPhone using the new Apple ID), it would no longer work in the app store. I cannot restore from a backup either as the backup contains the corruption, too (confirmed by Apple support... see next paragraph).
I'm really disappointed.
I finally got ahold of Apple Support, and after wasting TWO HOURS on live chat when they made me repeat all the steps I'd already done, their conclusion was that my best option is to wipe my phone and start from scratch. They also said I could wait for the next update and hope I'll luck out and that'll fix the issue... but given that the previous 2 updates did NOT fix the problem, I'm not holding my breath.
And sure, if I wipe my phone and start over, that fixes the problem going forward, BUT...
... it means I have to manually input all my contacts again
...manually install all 68 of my apps one-by-one
...manually, one-by-one log into all the apps that require a username/password to use
...manually restore my Notes via re-writing them
...manually re-do dozens of two-factor authentications on my Google authenticator app, etc. (I have to log into each site, turn off two-factor, enter the code to confirm, verify via email also in some cases... then repeat the entire process to turn 2-factor back on for all those dozens of websites).
All of the above will easily take me an entire day.
It's a shame Apple's quality control is in the toilet now. I'm seriously thinking of bailing on Apple, and replacing all my Apple products with some other brand. It's a shame because when I first started using Apple, I LOVED their products... but they aren't as good anymore. :(
It's shocking to me that Apple's servers can't reliably handle an email address update without screwing up your phone so bad that you need to reset it to factory settings to fix it.
P.S. If anyone from Apple is reading this... your live chat support is lousy. They don't pay attention, and the result is they waste your customers' time. Here are several examples...
Support: Can you provide me with the apple device we are working with today?
Me: It's in the chat log that you just read over. But I'll say it again. It's an iPhone 8
Support: Were you able to erase your iPhone? When you erase it did you restore from the iCloud backup?
Me: re: Restore from icloud.... NO... If you read it [the chat] again, you'll see that I restored it from a backup on my computer.
And yes, I was able to restore my iPhone to factory settings, as I wrote in the chat. [...which he claimed to have read... but apparently he lied since he keeps asking me for stuff that I already said]
Support: We want to see if there is an issue with your iCloud backup
Me: ... And again, it was NOT an iCloud backup. It was a backup on my computer
