Itunes app freezing/crashing on iphone/ipad after iOS 5.1.1

It sounds like you are experiencing the same issues as a growing thread here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3943101?answerId=18378242022#18378242022

The general consensus seems to be it's a server issue with Apple and not iOS5.1.1 at device level as I originally thought - but I have exactly the same problem with both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

I'd wait before doing a restore as it's just going to take your time up and probably not solve the problem.

To go a little Jedi here - I suggest patience on this one 🙂

Exact same problem. At first I thought it was just the Nerdist podcast but I can't download anything - music, podcasts, nothing - freezes everytime. Ever since update

Twice still no luck :(

I have this exact problem as well. Nerdist and Comedy Bang Bang. For some reason I was able to download a Giant Bombcast episode, but that's about it. I hope this gets fixed soon. Or we figure out a way to work around it.

Same problem here. For me it is only Nerdist; the other 10 podcasts I get on a regular basis have all been working. I have gone to Nerdist in the iTunes app on iPhone at least 20 times and every time it "crashes" when I can see the "FREE" buttons but can't hit the buttons. Sometimes the button graphic doesn't load and it's just the word "FREE" in white text with no button graphic around it. SOMEONE IS TRYING TO DESTROY CHRIS HARDWICK, alert the Avengers.

I've been doing some tests and I might have some information that's useful, but I haven't resolved the issue.

1. For me, it preceded 5.1.1

2. I've been able to purchase content on iTunes store, but I have had trouble with respect to podcasts, as described in this thread and also here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3943101?answerId=18378242022#18378242022. In particular, I have been able to download podcasts directly from the iTunes store (whether through 'search' or through 'get more episodes'). The only exception has been This American Life, which only makes one episode available. I therefore think that the problem especially concerns podcasts with lots of episodes, as noted by other users.

Re: iTunes Store slow on iPad3. The issue also affects my iPad, but the test described below were done on my iPhone (4S, 5.1.1.).

4. I first noticed the problem with respect to the podcast Football Weekly (which does have a lot of episodes available) about a month ago. Image of the frozen screen attached.

Tests:

- I backed up and then did a restore on my iPhone.

- I set up the iPhone as 'new'. I did not select either of the 'Automatically sync' options and selected *not* to activate iCloud and *not* to activate Siri.

- I set up mail but installed *no* third party apps.

- The problem had gone away: I could access podcasts and download from both iTunes app search and from 'get more episodes' from the podcast listing in the Music app.

- I slowly starting restoring things to my iPhone and then tested again.

- The problem resurfaced only after I had restored Music to the iPhone by selecting sync for Genius playlists. I don't normally sync these, by the way. I just wanted to dump a lot of music onto the iPhone. The sync resulted in 2700+ tracks being copied to the iPhone.

- Note that the problem materialised *as soon as* the Music sync initiated, when less than a hundred tracks had actually been copied. However, it persisted after the sync was done.

Conclusions:

- There is definitely something wrong with the iTunes app.

- It seems to concern podcasts with lots of episodes on phones that have substantially large music libraries.

- The problem does note require that there actually be a lot of music on the iPhone, but already materialises as soon as the iPhone is engaged in a sync that *would result in a large music library*.

- The problem does not have to do with iCloud or iTunes Match (I don't have this).

- The problem does not have to do with third party apps (no third party apps were installed on the phone after setting up as 'new'.

- In short: This is a completely Apple-internal problem having to do with large music libraries and the iTunes app (perhaps specifically podcasts).

@ignatiusjreilly - I'm the guy who started the other thread you reference.

I agree with your conclusions thus far, it appears to be an issue only for users with large libraries. iTunes Match affects this insofar as it makes one's iTune library appear to be much larger, even if one has not downloaded many tracks to the local device.

Example: if I turn iTunes Match OFF and log out/log in to the Store, things work properly again. My local Music Library on my iPhone 4S is usually a few hundred tracks.

If I then turn iTunes Match back ON, my "virtual" library expands to over 18,000 tracks. I need not download any of them for this problem to appear.

Hence I would guess this to be a problem with the music database maintained on each device, not the number of local tracks. Just my hunch.

I have recorded the problem and posted it on youtube here is link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw-o87MCN6s

if you are having same problem please comment, let apple know this is big problem. well not that big but an inconvience.

Yes, I get that same problem, too... **waves hand, "... these are not the podcasts you seek." *** Good luck!

Really well done, excellent & methodic debugging skills. Programmer by any chance? I recognize a kindred mutant...

PS: I'm not just trolling the board, I'm having a problem with Get More Episodes, and it only occurred subesequent to 5.1.1. My guess is that there is a new embedded default setting of which we aren't aware.

I have the same issues on my iPad (gen 3), but not on my iPhone 4. Both are configured for iCloud, both running 5.1.1. My iPad does exactly what esolo's video shows. I have 14K song in iCloud with iTunes Match.

It seems to be a problem on podcasts with lots of available episodes. It seems to be trying to load the list. When I try to interact with the iTunes app, it locks up.

It works! I don't know what happened, but I just downloaded three Nerdist podcasts using the iTunes app on my iPhone (4S, 5.1.1). It was slightly slow loading the Nerdist "page" within the iTunes app, but I was able to download three different podcasts with no trouble at all.