plist parsing errors

I just spent some time with an AppleCare rep about this issue (10:15am Pacific time), and she said she just got an alert notice on her end about the problem. So at least they know about it. I was having the same issues - trying to upgrade to El Capitan, and both plist parsing error and 503 service unavailable error messages.

So hopefully it's just a matter of time.

https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

Looks like iTunes Store "Service may be unavailable for some users"!!

I'm alternately seeing either the "plist parsing error" or "503 service unavailable" whenever I try to login to Apple Store this morning at 9:30-9:45 am Pacific time.

According to Apple Services system status at https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/ , "There are no reported issues at this time."

Well, consider this a report. 🙂

I have tried that. The plist error has now been replaced with "The server gave an error during download. 503 service unavailable" error. I have also been getting error on the App Stores on my iPod Touch and iPad. I believe apple authentication servers are down, since I can browse the whole store and look at things, but just can't verify my password to download or update items.

This pretty much confirms it.

https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

However, it says only some users are affected, so if you are getting the plist error you can try deleting your app store plist files and see if that can help you.

To do so

Quit App Store

Go to

Finder -> Go

Hold down Option key and Library tab in the menu should pop up.

Go to the Library menu item folder and delete the files

com.apple.storeagent.plist

com.apple.appstore.plist

Afterwards, restart your Mac.

If this does not fit your issue, then the problem is on Apple's side and not ours.

Dear MacDegsey:

I had this happen too, yesterday, with same OSX El Capitan 10.11 on my older iMac (vintage 2009) so I contacted support who had me do various troubleshooting, including resetting NVRAM etc. Eventually they told me to reinstall OSX in place, which I did. That fixed it yesterday and it is still updating properly. I asked if this was a 'store' problem or only occurring at my end. and I was told reinstallation generally fixes this kind of error: that something may have gotten garbled in download so this worked.

Today, the identical error message appeared on my 2013 iMac OSX El Capitan 10.11 'plist parsing error' so instead of doing all these fixes, I first checked this forum (lots of others have the error) and then I went to both Apple reporting systems

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/systemstatus/

https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

which both report App Store is down for some users currently.

So I waited half an hour, and went to update my old computer - it worked fine.

On my newer computer, Then I tried updating Tweetbot and it updated! I can see a new time stamp on Tweetbot.app *** of 8:37 a.m.

So this computer seems to be updating and I was successful, without doing any reinstall of El Capitan.

I'll try this out on my old 2010 laptop, but have to go to work now.... 🙂

Try waiting, and if it still doesn't work in a few hours, open a support request with Apple. I hope you don't have to reinstall El Capitan.

It was painless to reinstall, took a couple hours, but that fixed yesterday. YMMV

Regards! Thanks to Apple Support for their help.

Same problem for me.

Same problem here. plist parsing error when trying to download El Capitan. The IOS app store is not working either. It seems fine, but it is impossible to download anything, pressing the "Get" button has it spinning for a few seconds after which it reverts back to "Get" and nothing happens.

I've just successfully installed El Capitan and updated a bunch of apps - including FCPX, Motion, Compressor, iMovie, etc etc - but when trying to update iPhoto I get the above message as well. It's persistent and won't allow me to update. I'm assuming it's a broader issue than my machine, but strange that I've done all the other stuff OK.

I am having the same trouble. Yesterday I updated my iMac and Mac Mini to El Capitan. I did my MacBook Air last week.

Everything went fine and no problems until today.

I am getting the plist paring error or the service unavailable (503) alternately.

Also - when I look at the purchased apps on my iMac I am showing everything with an action of install or download.

These are apps I knew I had prior to El Capitan on the iMac.

Similar issue. After download and install of El Capitan, I tried to update iMovie and keep getting a plist parking error. Additionally I was getting a 503 error when trying to manage some of my account settings.

Don't want to jump to conclusions, but is it possible that El Capitan is not ready for prime time? This would sort of be in keeping with what I see as a trend with Apple in recent years. I used to trust them much more that I do at present.

I am quite sure that the problem is NOT a local one. So please do not try to alter your installation or delete any preference files.

In my opinion the Apple authentication servers are overloaded right now. So every one of you trying to authenticate to download any software will be part of the problem 🙂

1) If you are logged into you Mac App Store account: Do not log out. Logging in will take time and patience and a lot of retries (that will take even more bandwith from the servers)

2) If you really cannot wait: Retry to download as much as possible. You will make it worse for all of us but you might eventually "get through" - like I managed after 2 hours of trying and trying ...

They used to. It seems not to be the case anymore. It gives one pause...People like to say that since SJ it's a different Apple. And while I think that Tim Cook is a decent enough human being, it's not the same. I know that I'll be shouted down for saying this, but I do believe it's true. It's not the same. Apple could, once upon a time, justify the premium (the famous "Apple Tax") on the basis of their products being better built and having far greater longevity than their PC competitors. I'm not sure that's true any longer. And I take no pleasure in saying that. This is just the latest example. When I went from using PC's for 25+ years (I was the first on my block to have one, back in 1985) to make the jump to an iMac, it was a life-changing experience. What this stuff was meant to be, all that I had been missing. This was 2010. It has changed since then. I went from being an absolute convert to someone whose initial enthusiasm has been tempered by what I sense is a changing of the guard at Apple. We'll see. Anyway, I just got an iPhone 6s and love it. And my 2014 Retina iMac continues to delight. I'll shut-up now.

Same problem here.