Unable to update bundled iMove/iPhoto/GarageBand?

OK Lion has been reinstalled and, as suspected, iLife is now missing from my SSD. I've followed Apples instructions and logged in to the App Store and just as expected iLife was in my purchased tab waiting to be "Accepted".

Here's where it all goes a little bit pear shaped.

On clicking Accept, I was informed that the three apps had been "associated" with my account and would be available for download from the Purchased section. Guess what? They aren't there *sigh*.

So all that time wasted just to be no further forward.

Thank god for Time Machine.

I have just the same issue on a Macbook Air delivered yesterday. Thanks to everyone who has posted to say what they've tried.

I contacted Mac App Store Customer Support about this issue. They are extremely polite but unable to resolve the problem.

The advice was to log out of the app store, go to the updates page, log in and then click the "Accept" button. For me, and others, the Accept button does not appear.

The final email from them directed me to ring up.

"Hi Peter,

XXXX here again from the iTunes Store. I see that you are still receiving the same error message. Please accept my sincere apologies for any frustration this has caused..

If you require more assistance, you may wish to call our AppleCare technical support team. A technical Advisor will be able to tell you about Apple's complimentary and fee-based support options as well as assist you in determining what option might be most helpful in this case. To find the appropriate phone number, please visit:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html

Hopefully this will take care of everything for you. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you so much for all your patience and understanding.

Have a great day, Peter.

Sincerely,

XXXX.

Add me to the list:

iPhoto installed with the bundled iLife included with my system.

System Information - Applications lists iPhoto 9.1.1 my installed version

Software Update indicates everything is up-to-date

iPhoto is telling me to update and provides a button to activate 'Software Update'

I tried downloading the manual update package for the 9.1.5 update - that update declares that it must have iPhoto version 9.1 or greater installed.

Yes. it's there - - but the software updaters refuse to recognize it.

Tim

Well, I've managed to update one of the iLife apps at any rate.

I figured that seeing as though the problem seemed to be that the apps were somehow partially associated with my Apple ID, enough at any rate for the App Store to tell me there are updates then not allow me to purchase them, that I would try a purchase of one of the Apps on another machine running Lion (fresh install, iLife nowhere to be seen)....I reckoned the App Store wouldn't allow me to purchase it. I was wrong lol.

So I've paid for iPhoto *sigh*

At least it let me update it on the MacBook Air though :s

You can now transfer that version of iPhoto to any other Macs that you have over your LAN, with a direct connection with either an Ethernet or a FireWire cable, as well as copy it to a DVD, USB stick or an ext HDD.

MacBook Air 2011 with the same issue here, I called up

AppleCare, and the agent put me on hold for an hour as

he called up 4 different people in iTunes and Applecare ...

trying to find an authoritative answer.

His final response was that they expect the normal Software

Update service for Lion to handle updates for the bundled

Apps, not the App Store, and that I should keep trying

Software Update every day ... and eventually I'll see the

updates for iLife 11. This would actually be a smart way

for Apple to go, we'll see if it actually happens.

I have had the same problem and none of the suggestions detailed above worked. The senior advisor I spoke to today told me to move the applications to the trash and start from scratch. After removing the apps, shutting down and restarting the computer I went to the appstore where it now said that I had to purchase the apps (previously the app store had shown the iLife apps as "Installed"). I explained this to the advisor and he said if I was charged for the purchase I could call him directly and he would see to it that the purchase price was refunded. Well the apps work, the updates no longer show since the apps I "purchased" were the most recent release. I checked my credit card and it shows a pending charge for these apps so if the charge goes through I will attempt to get the refund. My concern is whether this will happen everytime a bundled application needs to be updated.

I would not recommend deleting these apps without someone from Apple support authorizing it beforehand. I just wanted to share my experience with this problem.

Same issues here, the german iTunes support is completly clueless...

Posted this in the other thread, but this one seems to be more active:

I'm also experiencing the same problem with a Macbook Air 11" bought last Friday.

Just got off the phone with AppleCare and spoke with 2nd tier support - nice guy but no real solution as yet.

They basically gave me two options:

- Wipe the computer and reinstall Lion

- Escalate to iTunes/App Store support (which is email only)

After spending the weekend installing and transferring everything to this Macbook, I wasn't going to go with the first option. I just don't really have the time to do all that again just because 3 apps won't update.

Hopefully the iTunes guys will solve the problem and email me soon.

I actually tried the option of wiping the computer and reinstalling Lion with the help of a senior tech support person. It took about 90 minutes (or at least that's how much time it said it would take before I went to sleep). When I returned to my computer the iLife apps now appeared under the "purchases" tab and prompted me to "accept" them. When I accepted the apps there was another error message about the apps already having been purchased and installed on the computer. The apps then completely disappeared from the purchases tab and I was back to square one; unable to update through appstore or software update. It was after this experience that I called again and the tech support just had me delete and reinstall the apps by purchasing them with the promise of a credit if I was charged. FYI - I was charged and I will call the tech support person tomorrow when he is in and see how easy it is to get this promised refund.

Hi Hal,

Just a quick question. In your post you referred several times to the "purchases" tab. This Apple KB article also refers to the same "purchases" button.

Is that a typo on your behalf and you're actually referring to the "Purchased" tab? I ask because it's something I've seen posted several times in this thread and I wonder if we are, in fact, talking about the same tab or am I missing a button on the App Store.

Usually I would just assume it's a typo, but seeing it on both the Apple KB article and this thread has made me paranoid that I'm missing something obvious...

I mean the purchased tab. Sorry for the confusion!

I had the same problem and it was resolved by Apple today. I wasn't sure which support link to use, but the one for 'account' issues got the results. The representative sent me redemption codes for the three products. I was told to delete what was installed (I used AppZapper) and then use the redemption codes. It worked as expected. The apps are installed, show up in my list of purchased apps, and the bogus 'updates' are no more.

Same problem here, new macbook air. Have been emailing the mac app store back and forth with no solution so far, keep telling me to check software updates which shows nothing.