Very slow downloading of any applications from the App Store

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.

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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.

Definitely Apple side issue.

Bet they don't distribute the apps from each continent servers but from a centralized one, so top isp speeds will NEVER be hit abroad.

Im never getting above 10% my ISP speed from the appstore... had to check from router's web, since this OS refuses giving you info. Everything else flies at max speed available.

TJF@DENVER wrote:

yup ... this is not a VPN or any other non-apple software/hardware/connectivity issue ... this is completely iApple ...

Then why aren’t there millions of complaints from the 1 BILLION iPhone users? There is a problem with your phone, your router, or your network connection. My app store downloads take a few seconds over my gigabit FIOS connection. And I get a dozen or more app updates a day among my 300 apps.

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

Not necessarily true. Apple can easily throttle throughput on their end. I have gigabit speed through my ISP but also notice the abysmal speed of App Store downloads.

Hi.

For me everything is downloaded from App Store super slow on WI-FI, but immediately on LTE.

So it is definitely an Apple bug because the WI-FI connection works fine in all other cases.

Unless you are privy to Apple’s computing infrastructure and policies, I don’t see how you have the authority or expertise to make such a claim. Your experience doesn’t dictate every user’s experience any more than my experience does. There are many variables at play, as my 35 years in professional IT have taught me.

It’s unfortunate for others here who are experiencing this issue that instead of receiving helpful feedback they instead get trolled.

I am an IT professional. And well qualified to troubleshoot this. I'm experiencing this issue as well. Which is what lead me to read this. I'm seeing this at every location if try to download at. There's plenty of bandwidth available.

I have the same issue as rellaax. I do not have any VPN profiles installed. 3 days ago I could down load my updates and new apps very quick (310mbps) then now even with the same speed the apps take a lot longer to down load (227mb took 30 minutes…) I have the space on my phone and no issues watching YouTube / Netflix. It really does appear to be an issue with Apple App Store downloading.

ah ... success ...

same issue for me ... 2 Macs ... one was great on the AppStore/Updates, the other painfully slow ...

went into settings ... searched for DNS ... within the DNS tab, the SEARCH DOMAIN had my old router ... highlighted and deleted it ... it then defaulted into my current router ... saved ... rebooted ... AppStore/Apple Updates now work at regular speeds ...

HTH someone else ...

DiegoKS wrote:

Definitely Apple side issue.

Bet they don't distribute the apps from each continent servers but from a centralized one, so top isp speeds will NEVER be hit abroad.

WRONG. They distribute using a worldwide 3rd party network distribution provider (Akamai). And they have several distributed server sites for their own servers, including Ireland, Australia, Japan and China.