Very slow downloading of any applications from the App Store

Аналогічно і для мене, вимкнув приватне реле і нормалізувалась швидкість завантаження.

I deleted the VPN profiles on my iPhone and iPad and that has restored my app update speeds on both devices.

As you apparently posted without reading ANY of the 4 pages of this thread, you might find it enlightening to do so.

As a start: Do you use VPN? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile.

Sixjumps wrote:

This worked!!

VPN, among other problems it can create, always slows your internet connection to about 1/4 of the speed you are paying for from your ISP.

My issue has been resolved.

In my case, it was indeed My Internet Service Provider's error. They fixed it, and now its back working normal.

Thank You for guiding me to the right direction..🙏🏻

Thanks Aliens, was having the same problem. Enabling Private Relay and restarting the download worked.

I've been facing a similar issue for at least the past 6 months or more. All app store downloads, be it on my iPhone 14 Pro, 2017 MBP 15", 2023 Mac mini or one of those recent iPads, they are very very.. very slow! I have a 400Mbps connection, and all downloads are generally okay and match the speed of my internet except for from the App store. I'm not sure if its the VPN, since I've had them installed in my systems for the last 4+ years. This issue is a recent development. However, I must point out that on my iPhone, as soon as I switch off the wifi and it connects to my 4G / 5G, the download becomes lightning fast immediately. So not sure what is the fault here. I hope Apple can give an explanation soon, as it is starting to get really annoying especially for use on macs where I cannot switch to my cellular network.

Never happened in my entire list of Galaxy devices.

600 MB/s downloading from any other device.... 400 kbps from Iphone 15 PM.

in fact it NEVER downloaded a thing from the appstore at full available network speed.

Im quite sure is an optimization issue as 99% of people do not care if an app downloads slowly, but I care and check from another app how fast things are going, and are going at said speeds. SLOW

The culprit was found when I finished downloading a game from the appstore (around 1 Gb in 8 minutes) Entering the game and dowloading the remaining 30 GB! Takes less than 4 minutes. All in the same device, same network.

Intentionally slow app store servers for _optimization_

The download speed depends completely on your internet connection speed; looking at your Wi-Fi icon it shows less than perfect signal strength. What can also slow it down is if you are using VPN (or even have a VPN profile installed, even if you are not using it), or if you installed any worthless security apps or apps that claim they will make your phone faster or clean it up.

This has been ongoing for me for the past month as well. Each Apple device I use (iPhone 11Pro Max, iPad Pro 12.9", 16" MBP, and 14" MBP) is bafflingly slow downloading updates from Apple—not from Adobe, not from MS, not from any vendor or client with whom I exchange large files—only software updates from Apple.

To illustrate, the 17.4.1 update on my iPad and 14.4.1 on 14" MBP have never been completed, no matter the time of day I try or how long I allow them to run. And this is across days of allowing them to try. All apps with software updates by MS and Adobe during that time have proceeded as expected, quickly, without undue pause or delay.

Re-configuring TCP and DNS and even rebooting all devices have not changed this. A few minutes ago, Adobe updated 3 apps in the CC in 10 minutes. Before that, Apple could not download a Pages update more than a MB or two after 15 minutes. After trying repeatedly over three days, the MBP stated 4 days for the 14.4.1 update. A Surface Pro 2 updated its OS and apps after 2 months offline in about an hour, using the same WiFi and settings.

Recap:

Multiple Apple devices cannot update Apple software despite hours/days of attempts.

Adobe and Microsoft updates of apps and OS all proceed without issue, on Apple and MS devices.

Apple and MS devices on the same network are experiencing vastly different outcomes, despite a stable network and 250+Mbps DL speed.

My next step will be to take a device or two to a wholly different location and attempt to download the recommended Apple updates, but the evidence thus far indicates a significant issue at Apple, not the ISP or devices.

EDIT: I should also note that updates to Parallels and the resident VM OSs and apps all proceeded as expected.

Sasamafrass wrote:

Ummm never had a problem with my VPN before. Everything ran perfectly. My problem now is after the 2 updates in May 2024! Every app loads at dialup speed, if they load at all! Basically unwatchable/useless ever since.

Have you TRIED deleting your VPN? Below will be a very long explanation of why you can have a VPN problem now when you never had one before. But try first to see.

=============================

VPN frequently creates more problems than it solves. But one important fact is that when you install VPN it configures itself to the specific hardware, iOS version and network that the phone uses. If any of those change it can break the VPN. So any time you change any of these you may need to delete the VPN app and profile, restart your phone then add them back (if you still want to use VPN) so it can configure itself to the new environment.

Here's Apple's advice on VPN→

Check VPN (Virtual Private Network) and third-party software to help resolve network connectivity issues - Apple Support

Something to think about→Don't use VPN - GITHUB

Here's Brian Krebs on VPN security (or lack thereof)→Why your VPN may not be as secure as it claims

There are two legitimate purposes for using VPN:

• To allow access to a private network such as a school or business when you are not on site. 
• To allow access outside of a country with a repressive government that has restricted Internet access. (This has suddenly become more important)

Any other use is risky, and can lead to problems like the one discussed in this thread. VPN disguises your location by making you appear to be somewhere else in the world. But you usually can’t control that “somewhere else”, and if it is in a location that an app isn’t approved for the app won’t work. Plus the fact that the provider of the VPN knows everything about you and your location, as well as what sites you access through the VPN. So you are totally dependent on the VPN provider’s honesty. As a start, if the VPN is free, DON’T USE IT. The provider has to make money somehow, and if you aren’t paying them then they are selling your private data to make money. 

But even those that charge can’t necessarily be trusted. For example, a few years ago Avast was caught selling user browsing data. They claim they have stopped doing so, however, they lied 🤥→ FTC Order Will Ban Avast from Selling Browsing Data for Advertising Purposes

You don’t really need VPN when using public Wi-Fi, because all communications between your device and the servers it accesses are end-to-end encrypted.

If you want VPN for privacy about the sites you visit, that’s not a good choice as discussed; instead you should download and use the TOR browser.

The other use for VPN is to “steal” content that is not available in your area. I leave this question to your personal ethics.

With iOS 15.2 and later for iOS/iPadOS and MacOS Monterey 12.2 and later Apple now has iCloud+ Private Relay, which is not VPN, but provides a safer browsing environment than VPN, and it doesn't spy on you→About iCloud Private Relay - Apple Support

I faced the same issue in my home, with my mac and my iphone.

when I went to office, everything went smoothly.

At home in the middle of the download, I switched my wireless network to a MiFi device (different ISP) and everything finished downloading in seconds.

I don’t know what is the issue, but just switching mi wifi to a different network solved the issue for me.

I’ll match your 35 years with my 50 years as an engineer and computer scientist. Neither of our experience is worth a darn on issues like this.

Yes, there are many variables, and the least likely is Apple’s content servers and distributed download servers, which can handle millions of downloads of operating systems an hour. My last iOS update download to my computer, of 8 GB, took well under a minute. The more likely reasons for throttling are on the user’s network, their antivirus and firewalls, their Wi-Fi speeds, their internet connection speeds, whether they use VPN (which cuts download speeds by a factor of 4), and many other factors, none of them on Apple’s side.

I experienced the same thing, despite my internet speed of 300Mbps apps download at 50-110mbps only, and If I pause the download and run a speed test it shows up as 290Mbps, I'm using iPhone 15, I reset my phone thought it has some issue but it's still the same. I am not using any VPN, I sat beside the router with wifi6 (speedtest shows 300Mbps so understand that its a wifi or isp issue).

Downloads are definitely slower and have been for a couple months. It’s not my devices (all new, plenty of space), WiFi, ISP, iOS or anything else on my end. I have that all dialed in with gig speeds and solid WiFi. I am seeing a lot of updates failing and I have to select the update again and it again fails. It happens when I select one app or all updates most every time. Whether it's throttling or capacity or even something regional, Apple needs to address this.