How to Fix iPhone App Store Not Download on iOS 18/17

The iPhone App Store currently offering hundreds of thousands of apps for iOS users to download. iOS users download and update their apps in the App Store every day, errors are inevitable. After getting the new iOS 18, users are reporting kinds of iOS update issues like iPhone stuck on the Apple Logo, iOS 18 update taking too long, or iOS 18 update not showing up, etc. Recently we received messages from some iPhone users who asked us “why is my iPhone not downloading apps after the iOS 18 update?”. To help him or more people who meet the same issue address this problem, we collect 11 easy ways in this guide for you to solve it.

11 Ways to Fix “Why Is My iPhone Not Downloading Apps” Issue

1. Connect to Wi-Fi

The first and the easiest way is to check whether you have stable and fast internet work for the app download.

2. Restart App

Besides the internet issue, you can also try to restart the app on your iPhone to fix this problem. If you have an iPhone 6s or later, you can firmly press the app from the Home screen. Then you might see options to Resume Download, Pause Download, or Cancel Download. If the app download is stopped,  then you can tap Resume Download. If it’s stuck, tap Pause Download, then firmly press the app again and tap Resume Download.

3. Restart Your iPhone

If you see the app on your screen get into dim or have white lines on it, just like the picture shows below, you can try to restart your iPhone, then go to the App Store and re-download the app.

4. Quit And Restart App Store

Sometimes, the app might work improperly due to some unknown reasons, in this situation, you need to quit and restart it to have a try. You can quit and restart the App Store by tapping the Home button twice, and you will get a preview of the apps you used recently. Just swipe up to close the App Store.

5. Sign Out App Store

It is an easy way to solve this issue by signing out and signing back in the App Store. You can go to your Settings > Tap iTunes & App Store > Apple ID > Sign Out > Sign In.

6. Clear App Store Cache

The fourth method is to clear the cache in your App Store. When you first launch the App Store, you can tap 10 times on any of the navigation buttons at the bottom(Featured, Explored, Top Charts, Update, Search). In this way, you can clear all cache stored in your App Store. After doing this, your App Store will be forced to re-download the Apps.

7. Free up Some Storage Space on Your iPhone/iPad

Not enough storage space can also lead to the failure of downloading or updating apps. To solve this problem, you can go to delete some useless data or files on your iPhone and go to try and see if it works.

8.  Update Your Device to the Latest Version

There are many fixes involved in the new iOS, therefore, you can go to update your device to the latest version to address this problem.

9. Ensure the Restrictions Is Off

Restrictions are often used by people to disable certain features of the iPhone/iPad. One of these features is the ability to download apps. Therefore, if your iPhone App Store fails to update or download, just go to check if your Restrictions are turned off.

If your iOS version is older than iOS 12:

1. Tap Settings > General > Restrictions > Enter your passcode.

2. Check the Installing Apps menu. If the slider is set to off/white, which means the updating apps is blocked. You can drag the slider to on/green to restore the updating feature.

If your iOS version is iOS 12 and above, you can find the Restriction by:

1. Go to the Settings > Scroll down and find the Screen Time.

2. Turn on the Screen Time > Tap the Continue. (If you are the first time to turn on Restriction, then you need to set a new Restriction passcode. Having no idea how to set the passcode, this guide will help you)

3. Next, tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on.

10. Reset All Settings or Erase All Contents and Settings

Now that you come to the last method, that means all the methods mentioned above are not working for you. This is the last but makes you lose something method. When it comes to the iOS problem, we often post this solution.

Reset All Settings

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone/iPad, find out the General.

2. Tap Reset > Reset All Settings.

3. Enter your passcode a > Tap Reset All Settings to confirm your action.

Erase All Content and Settings

Before erasing all contents and settings, something should be noted is that this way will cause you to lose everything on your iPhone. Therefore, before erasing all content and settings, you are required to back up your iPhone to iTunes or iCloud.

1. Go to the Settings, find General.

2. Tap Reset > Choose Erase All Content and Settings.

3. Enter your passcode > Tap Erase iPhone or Erase iPad to confirm your action.

11. Ask for the help of Apple

If you’ve tried all of these steps and still cannot update or download your app, you need to appeal to Apple. But they are busy very much, you need to make an appointment before you go to the Apple store.

The Bottom Line

After reading the instruction of the 11 methods on how to fix the “why is my iPhone not downloading apps” issue, you might have found a suitable way to address the App Store updating and downloading problem. If you have a better method than the above methods we mentioned, you can leave your methods in the comment section to share with us.