iTunes, An unknown error occurred (502)

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually login automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

Back up all data.

As a test, please move the iTunes library folder from the Music folder (or wherever you keep it in your home folder) to the Desktop. If you've moved the library folder to another volume, unmount the volume.

Quit and relaunch the application. It may prompt you to create a new library, or to select an existing one. Create a new one and test.

After testing, quit again and put the original library back where it was, replacing the test library. Post your results.

I could torment you with more requests for information, but I'm fairly sure that this is a problem at Apple's end, not at your end, and that you will either have to contact Apple for a resolution or just wait for it to blow over. I've seen a few other similar reports lately. You could try signing out of the iTunes Store, Music, all that stuff, and then signing back in, but I wouldn't expect any change.

I have just had exactly the same problem.

Purchased an album with 50 tracks. 48 downloaded no problem. 2 would not download and I got the (502) error message.

This happened across all my Apple devices, including iMac, Macbook Air and iPhone.

Solved the problem by turning on my iPhone's hotspot and connecting the computers to that (rather than my home wifi network) and then trying to download again.

This time the two additional tracks downloaded.

I'm guessing that there must be some security feature on my home network (I am using an Airport Extreme) which prevented the download. What is bizarre is that the other 48 tracks downloaded fine.

Suggestion - try connecting to another network.

Regards,

Richard

I had this problem on a Sam Smith album, it was Track 5 I'm not the only one. Have tried for 2 days and have tried everything suggested in the forum but to no avail. Decided to turn off wireless and make a direct connection via cable to router, still did not work. Then I went to Youtube with the intention to download the missing track from there. I began by just playing the track and watching the video on Youtube, I then decided to try downloading from the ITunes store one last time whilst watching and listening to it on Youtube, and what do you know bingo! ITunes download the track to my ITunes folder at the very same time. Whether this was a pure coincidence and the problem had fixed itself or Apple had fixed the problem I will never know but it worked for me and the track is now playing without any problems, it's worth a try. Good luck and I hope you get the problem sorted.

regards

Steve

Hi,

I have had a similar problem since yesterday, where the Spotify iOS app will not download on 3 different iPhones and also on my laptop via iTunes, I get the 502 Bad Gateway error. Tried without my WiFi but can only get GPRS in my area so that didn't work either. All other apps I tried, downloaded fine.

Hopefully, Apple will sort this issue out soon.

Had the "502" error pop up in iTunes while trying to update Spotify and Freedom apps, could not update same apps via the iPad or iPhone also. Tried deleting and then re-downloading again, but still failed - switch from my home network (adsl2+) to iPhones 3G but still no good. All this time was speaking to Apple tech support, we came to the conclusion it was not at my end but could not identify what was happening, tech even spoke to accounts to check if my Apple ID was ok - all fine.

We agreed to a call back a day later (Friday 25th 8.00pm BST) to enable tech support time to discuss issue internally - but guess what, tried download at 10.00am that morning and all went fine, in fact the speed was very fast. Tech Support still not sure what had gone wrong, I confirmed that nothing had changed at my end so concluded it was Apple network not accepting the request for update/download of said apps for some reason or the developers for the apps having some how caused an issue on the update release!

While the two apps above would not initially download I did try others and all went fine, and Beats streamed ok and Podcasts kept updating - only advice is if anyone has similar issues give it a couple of days and see it it resolves itself!

This is a generic network error. I've been getting 403, then 502 errors when I enable my caching server (OS X Mountain Lion Server.) None of the Macs on my local network will work. Doesn't matter what OS it is. I have 10.8, 10.9 and 10.11 machines and none will download iTunes App Store updates, or initiate purchases. However, if I use any of my iOS devices on the LAN, while connected to Wi-Fi, there's no problem buying or downloading updates. Also, if I turn off my caching server, and lose the resulting caching benefits, I can download without problem. Oddly, my caching service increments as I download new items, it just won't let any devices use that data.

When I called Apple, I went through 6 techs before being hung up on. None had any idea what was the problem, so I think the problem here is one of a few things:

1. Apple has quietly deprecated another back-end service (Mountain Lion caching service)

2. There's a transient network problem...why most problems seem to resolve themselves after a period of time

3. (Most likely) There's something inherent in my setup that's recently (6 months ago) failed. If I take any of my Macs to another location, I have no problems doing the same things.