Unable to purchase.

Did you check to see what happens after the database file is recreated? Does it have the same info in it? I'd bet that this is essentially a cache file since Apple maintains all of one's purchase history on their servers. My hypothesis was that the issue came from a discrepancy between two different Apple IDs, since the problem started happening to me not long after I temporarily logged into the store on my phone with my second ID.

I have the same problem with my iPad 2.

Yesterday when I updated apps, App Store told me that I need agree the new Terms of Service (Why? iTunes 10.6 released? But I used Wi-Fi to update.), I agreed and I got the error message: "Unable to Purchase".

Maybe the issue caused by the new Terms of Service?

Add me to the list. And can I just say that any "solution" that requires me to plug my phone into a computer is worthless, because with the advent of iOS 5 my iPhone and iPad are supposed to be PC free.

Out of curiousity did the sqldb file repopulate (grow in size) or did any of the downloaded folders come back over the course of that month?

Despite my post above, I decided to chance it and wipe out the Downloads folder (except for the manifest file) on my iPad 2 after hitting the problem again (the stuck waiting apps are why) and while the sqldb file was recreated, none of the folders were.

Actually when I pulled the sqldb file, it was pretty much empty except for some generic data about the different store apps I opened which would explain the lack of folders. There were no listed download or asset entries at all after buying (free) a book and also having a song automatically downloaded (synced with free purchase on iTunes for Windows). If it is a cache file/folder, it's not automatically pulling in the data from the App, iTunes and iBooks stores

I didn't actually download or updated any apps yet, so maybe that's why, but my old sqldb file had three iTunes store songs listed in it. I wonder if the file is related to automated downloads? I have Books and Music enabled, but have Apps disabled for that.

I think the media/downloads folder was repurposed for iOS 5 though as it sounds like it used to simply be a staging area for downloads based on this post.

I haven't done the "fix" on my iPhone as it seems to have stopped (at least temporarily) giving me the error.

I'm not sure what causes it actually, but I can tell you I've never logged in with a different id, nor used WiFi sync, nor did any of the other things people have reported might cause the problem. For me it started on my iPad 2 when I tried to download an app via 3G that was too big to download a free app (i.e. failed). On my iPhone 4S it started when I mistyped my password when "buying" a free app over WiFi (i.e. failed).

In both cases it was triggered by a failure to download a purchased app, even both failures were expected and I later downloaded both apps successfully.

If removing the sqldb file actually fixes things then my guess would be that the sqldb file contains apps that failed to download (so the device knows to try again later for automated downloads). If the file gets corrupt such that the "failed" purchase gets associated with a different app (since the file uses indexes not names), then that could explain things. For example, on my iPad when ever I get the message telling me that it was "unable to purchase" a specific app, iBooks would go into waiting. It's as if it's trying to download that app on top of iBooks or something. Maybe the problem happens if there's a mismatch between syncing via PC and downloading directly, I don't know.

The sqldb file doesn't only contain failed downloads though since mine contained over 200 download entries (including things I've since deleted) and around 300 asset files. It also shows a list of successfully download apps.

If there is a bug that causes the indexes in sqldb file to get corrupted, then my guess is that at some point in the future it will happen again.

I actually filed a bug report with Apple. Since I pulled and saved the sqldb files off both my iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, I'll just attach those to the bug report.

Hey, I have used iExplorer to solve this issue.

But you know, I feel so bad. I never plug my iPad 2 into any Mac or PC (except I got my iPad first day), and no problem with buying/updating apps through Wi-Fi until yesterday. I'm not sure whether the new Term of Service is a bug, very coincidentally I got the error message.

Hope Apple fixes this issue soon.

I get this every once in a while too, usually force quitting the App Store then relaunchign fixes it.

After deleted/renamed the file, can you update the apps (not buying) through Wi-Fi?

Same problem here.

I've downloaded free app from the app store and then after opening it, I realized to delete it.

But since that, anytime I download or buy another app, I get "Unable to Purchase" message, which appears randomly. After tapping "Ok", app is being downloaded but on the home screen appears another (I think my last purchased) app in the queue and nothing happens. So I must reboot my device.

I was trying to reboot device, to install and delete previous purchased applications, to sync device with itunes, sign out and sign it in to my itunes acc but problem persists. I dont want to delete my backup and so on, so this is really annoying.

Happend to me on iPad 2, iOS 5.0.1 and even after updating to 5.1.

I'll be glad if Apple would solve this problem.

P.S.: sry for my bad English.

I have been able to update over Wifi and iTunes synch after deleting the file. With all the speculation here my conclusion is that it is a bad database file that is causing this. Deleting it causes a new file to be created which seems to fix the problem. At least this has been my experience.

jas0nyan wrote:

After deleted/renamed the file, can you update the apps (not buying) through Wi-Fi?

Yes, I was able to update apps via Wifi on my iPad 2 after clearing out e downloads are.

On a possibly related note, I found a lost m4v file in the Purchases folder for a TV show I had deleted about a month ago. I noticed it because it was named with letters as opposed to numbers like all other purchases. I downloaded the show again and it created a new entry in the Purchases (and a temporary folder in Downloads which went away on completion). When I deleted the show, only the new entry went away, not the lost entry. I removed that one manually using iExplorer and reclaimed some disk space on my iPad 2. So apparently files can get lost on iOS devices and waste disk space.

I'm not sure if the Downloads and Purchases folder's get backed up though as they are basically cache areas for media and media isn't part of the backup data, it gets synced/downloaded afterwards. As such, doing a restore from backup should fix this problem, but doesn't from what I've read.

Add me to this list with this same error on both my iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. What is the consensus for a resolution?

I get the same problem. Will try the logout / login procedure

I backed up my iPad (to the cloud) and then restored it from the backup. Also synced with iTunes. Haven't had problems since (I'm a bit superstitious so hope I'm not jinxing things by writing this!).

Finally after seeing the message for a month this seems to have worked for me.

1) When your device shows the grouping of apps and tries to download them, before pressing an App which closes them all, make a mental note of whatever the first App in that group is.

2) Now go into the App store and locate that first App in the group (you should note that the App in question is not available in your previous purchases) so just re-load that App. That solved the problem for me.

Hope it works.