How to stop "Purchase of this item is not currently available." message to stop popping up on iPhone X?

I had the same problem with my new iPhone X yesterday, restoring from my previous iPhone 7. never saw this message before in any previous iPhone upgrades from 5, 6. 7, or my wife’s 8, but this time the same message was repeatedly popping up about every minute, across any screen, during any task.

I BELIEVE THE PROBLEM IS BECOMING CLEARLY DEFINED AND SOLVABLE, BUT WILL NEED A SOFTWARE UPDATE FROM APPLE, AND MORE THOUGHT ABOUT HOW TO FOLLOWUP WITH THE 64BIT APP ISSUE.

My new iPhone X was still in the process of restoring images and apps after 24hours, and the pop up message was constant from yesterday afternoon. I researched a number of online resources mid afternoon with no luck (not here though) and then Verizon, which passed me to APPLE Support. Two and a half hours later, and two case numbers, the recommended APPLE solution was to force a reset to factory settings then start the transfer over again from iPhone 7 to iPhone X. I replied that I would see if the restore completed overnight and then call the APPLE STORE SUPPORT line 1-800-275-2273 back this morning, for the next steps.

After ending my phone call I began researching possible APPLE online support resources and saw that my same question had been asked and a couple of solutions offered in the follow up discussion. Since it was more then 30 hours since my upgrade had started and I had checked all my image files and apps, I followed the suggestion made below to STOP RESTORE in the iCloud BACKUP and the pop up message immediately stopped. Nothing sees to be missing from my new iPhone X files, apps, or function.

Thinking about it afterward, it seems that this issue was caused by a convergence of factors transferring from 32 to 64 bit operating systems by APPLE, but no screening tool to check existing apps in earlier iPhone versions to be sure they would transfer successfully to the iPhone X. There was no context in the pop up message to guide anyone to think about an app as the problem. APPLE should think about a software update to stop trying to restore a failed app download after a few (3?) attempts and place it in an error file for future reference. We learned this with Microsoft upgrades years ago, and now APPLE is facing a huge problem with 32 bit apps and customers wait for their iPhone X’s in the coming months. Some kind of screening app to check installed versions prior to upgrade, and sharing this problem/solution with the many APPLE and carrier tech support staff as a near term solution or alternatve may also be helpful. Perhaps APPLE could use email, txt msg, or Facebook to get a quick message out to concerned parties now and save a lot to customer and tech time on this issue.

It's trying to re-download one of your Apps that has not been updated to be a 64bit app. Because the backup include whatever app it is, the message is saying that it is trying to download it and it can't.

The only way I can think of you being able to identify it would be to compare your Home screens to the Home screens on the iPhone 6 (if you still have it) to see if you can identify what is missing.

Then, delete it from the iPhone 6 and do another backup. Erase the iPhone X and then restore it to the new backup.

You can also contact iTunes Support to see if they have any other solutions: iTunes Support WorldWide

Best of luck,

GB

I was also having this issue and noticed one of my apps had an iCloud symbol with a down arrow. Next to it. Deleted that one and the pop up went away. Thanks for the other suggestions that pointed me in this direction

Hersco wrote:

There is a way to identify non-64-bit apps on an IPhone running iOS 10 before upgrading to iOS 11. In Settings/General/About click on Applications. If you have any 32/bit apps, they will be listed and you can go back to your home screen and delete them.

Even after removing those apps, I still got the error message. While stopping restoration from my backup got the error message to stop with no apparent other problems, I never did find out what other app from my previous iPhone was causing the issue.

Right, as I stated, the 32bit vs. 64bit was a possibility. But the message simply means that the app has been pulled from the store for updating. There is no way to know what the update that is being done actually is. And, as one poster in this thread indicated, you can go to your Purchased list and see if you can find any apps that have an iCloud icon next to it. That may help to find out what is causing the issue.

Cheers,

GB

Same here. Found two apps that needed updating. Didn't really use either one. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Walshjam.

OK, that sounds like a plan. It may be that it is just being updated for some other reason. It also may stop at any time. As soon as the update is completed, it will be put back in the Store and will download. But no telling how long that may be.

Best of luck!

GB

rstephen2 wrote:

Thinking about it afterward, it seems that this issue was caused by a convergence of factors transferring from 32 to 64 bit operating systems by APPLE, but no screening tool to check existing apps in earlier iPhone versions to be sure they would transfer successfully to the iPhone X. There was no context in the pop up message to guide anyone to think about an app as the problem. APPLE should think about a software update to stop trying to restore a failed app download after a few (3?) attempts and place it in an error file for future reference. We learned this with Microsoft upgrades years ago, and now APPLE is facing a huge problem with 32 bit apps and customers wait for their iPhone X’s in the coming months.

Just some things to be aware of:

There is no way to screen the backup because no one has access to it but you. It is encrypted for good reason, and Apple would not have any way to alter it.

There is context in the message. It's telling you that the App Developer has pulled the app to upgrade it. No one actually knows what they are upgrading. The 32bit vs. 64bit was just a guess. But it could have been for some other reason. The message is telling you all that Apple knows.

This is a user to user forum, so you comments would be better placed as feedback to Apple. Here's where you can send feedback: Product Feedback - Apple

Thanks for your thoughtful post 🙂

Cheers,

GB

YAY!!! Glad that resolved the issue 🙂

Thanks for posting back with your solution. I'm sure it will be a help to others in future!

Cheers,

GB

Thank you. The pop is annoying. Where do we stop the restore please?

How did you find them?

One of the challenges with this pop up is it does not identify which app is causing the problem. It is most annoying to have repeatedly popping up