Unable to purchase.

I'm not sure if this is the same with iPhone but there is a 'User' under Root Directory, and within 'User', there's 'Media' and then, there's 'Downloads' but there's no .sqlitedb file extension within.

I think it's time for someone from Apple to review this thread and provide us a fix. I'm happy for the folks that were able to download a third party app to fix the problem. If the downloads folder contains corrupt files, and if deleting the files from that folder and then rebooting fixes the problem, then Apple should provide a way to do this within their operating system. When I went to the provider's page of iexplorer for iPhone my antivirus software blocked the site. Perhaps it was a false positive as I did google it and that was definitely the site. I'm not confortable downloading software that isn't approved by Apple and using it on my brand new iPhone and my iPad.

The error comes & goes for me. The last few times it named an app that I never purchased. It was a free app so I decided to download it. I'll see what the error says next time. I thought that I might be able to delete the contents of the downloads folder in iTunes from within windows (I'm still using WinXP SP3) and then sync my iPad and iPhone but that folder is empty.

I'm very computer savvy when it comes to windows but unfornately I don't know enough about how Apple's file system works at this point. I certainly don't want to be deleting files that may be important so I'd rather leave it alone until a proper fix is provided.

For now I have turned off wifi sync (that was draining the battery of both my iPhone and iPad as they were synching even when not connected to a power source). Fingers crossed that this 'glitch' will remain an annoyance and not cause any further problems as it hasn't affected my purchasing or updates up to this point.

You can also get rit of the corrupt database by restoring the phone and setting it up as a new phone (not from a backup). The reason for iExplorer is that it avoids having to do a complete restore.

Just to update the group...

I have continued to work with Apple support and they are in active communication with me. They have asked me to try several procedures, most or all haven been discussed here. In each case the issue has gone away only to return within a few days.

I'm going to continue to work with them for a while longer since they are making an impressive effort to work with me and keep me updated and respond quickly to my emails. I'm not sure how I got lucky enough to get my case transferred to the "senior" level support personnel but I'm sure glad I did.

If we don't make any progress in another week or so then I will probably try iOS file delete option discussed and then if that doesn't work go with the nuke option and just start over from scratch. I can't even imagine how long it will take to get me devices back to where they should be but I can't keep going along with this bizarre behavior and the side effects mentioned in this thread. I have over 800 apps on each device and over 1000 lifetime "purchases".

I saw some comments that iExplorer may not be safe. I have software tool called PhoneDisk that I got as part of a bundle some time back. I just used it to look around, it seems like it would do the trick and avoid the malware concerns. The link is: http://www.macroplant.com/phonedisk/

Remember I haven't actually used this tool to delete the file but I think it will do the job and is safe from malware.

As always if I get a permanent solution I will post it here.

- KEM

Thanks, I do know the purpose of iExplorer I just wish Apple would include a setting that would essentially do the same thing.

I just noticed something interesting though and in my case, it may be what is causing the problem.

Earlier today my 'downloads' folder (on my computer - WinXP SP3) which is located at:

Documents & settings\user\my documents\my music\iTunes\iTunes Music had several files in it with the extension .sqlitedb. I didn't delete them as I was trying to figure out the process of what was happening during a sync.

As I had another error again today on my iPad, I synced both my iPad and my iPhone to iTunes over wifi, turned off wifi syncing and then closed iTunes. When I went to search for that same 'downloads' folder it was no longer there. I restarted iTunes and the folder was back but this time it was empty. So, that folder is created every time I start iTunes and gets deleted when I close iTunes.

Tonight I checked the app store on my iPad and iPhone and there were a few updates. I updated them without issue. When I opened iTunes (without connecting my iPad or my iPhone) I clicked on the apps tab and downloaded the updates to my computer instead of transferring them through a sync. I closed iTunes and since the downloads were successful no files were in the downloads folder when I restarted iTunes again. I then synced my iPad and iPhone again which went extremely fast. After each sync I checked the downloads folder which remained empty.

I am going to test to see if making sure the downloads folder is empty before syncing my iPad or iPhone solves the problem. If it isn't I will check and manually download any outstanding apps to my computer before syncing and see if that solves the problem.

Sorry for the long explanation and I know this sounds complicated but if updating the apps in iTunes serparately and then syncing solves this issue then I'm fine with that.

Hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the link. Actually Avira was blocking the downloading of iExplorer from the same company but did not stop me from downloading 'phonedisk' ...how odd :/ If my problem continues after I've tested my theory then I will definitely try that program out 🙂

So much for that. I got the error on my iPad this morning before I had synced 😟

The iExplorer technique WORKS!!!!! ( Actually I wanted to use iexplorer to delete the corrupted-cache file before...but I didn't know the path and which file should I delete. )

After I have deleted the .sqlitedb file , the weird error has gone! ( both 'unable to purchase " and " the ghost waiting " file)

I Hope that deleting this file will not damage or cause error on the system of iOS.

iExplorer is very useful program. Once I got the ring tone error...and can't deleting the ringtone ( i created myself) from iphone. I sync and tick out check box of ring tone then ring tone sync....but the ring tone wasn't gone. So I use iExplorer to go to folder of ringtone and manually delete the error files....then I can delete the problem ringtone.

So ....iExplorer is possibly safe tool.

I download about 10 apps already plus simultaneous downloading 3 apps....so far ,no error came back:)

I installed phonedisk but when I open it I get this error: Unable to start the iPhone listener process. This may occur because iTunes is not installed ,/r/n/r/n Error Code: AMDeviceNotificationSubscribe failed with error -402653085. Apple mobile device services is running and iTunes open but still get this error so I guess I'm just out of luck.

So ....iExplorer is possibly safe tool.

iExplorer is made from the same company as Phone Disk so it's safe.

Thanks. I know that & I did unblock that download but got the same error. Seems there must be something amiss in my computer somewhere.

Is the directory listing the same for iPad? There is no media under my iPad but there is one under 'User' directory though. Anyone?

Dear just_jeepin or everybody

Pls show me the step is picture for slove this ploblem "Unable to purchase" because i don't find & understand path to open iExplorer. So this problem is annoying me. Thank you

I'm getting this error too on my ipad, and found this thread by searching google. I haven't read through the whole thread to find a solution if there is one, but really, Apple should be the ones fixing this. 😉

A few days ago the error got really bad. Every second app I would download, just before the password prompt, the error would appear. So I finally decided to download the iExplorer and delete thet file under 'downloads'. So now it's been a couple of days now and haven't recieved any errors, I have downloaded many apps after that process. I'm hoping that has solved the problem. I think everyone should give it ago.

Thanks. Everyone. If the error comes back i will definetly leave a post here.