App Store is the predefined inbuilt application on any iPhone from where the user can search, download, install or update an app on their iPhones. But these days we have been getting reports from several iPhone users that they are not able to connect to the App Store on their iPhones. When they tried launching the App Store, they got an error that said as follows.
Cannot Connect to App Store , Retry
The main reason behind this error causing on any iPhone could be one of the possibilities listed below.
- Poor internet connection
- Date and time settings
- Technical glitches within the iPhone
- Changes are done to the network settings
- VPN connection is established on the iPhone
- Location services are turned off
- Apple ID authentication problem
- Apple server down
In this article, we have managed to get some of the best solutions to fix this issue. Don’t worry if you are also getting the same error on your iPhone. Follow the fixes mentioned below.
Fix 1 – Check the Date & Time settings
Many iPhone users have found that the reason behind this connectivity error on App Store is nothing but the wrong date and time set on their iPhones and they have rectified this error by setting the correct date and time on the iPhone. Let us try this method and see if this helps us.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone first of all.
Step 2: After the Settings app appears, tap on the General option as shown below.
Step 3: Once the General page opens, select the Date & Time option by clicking on it.
Step 4: You can choose the iPhone to set the date & time to the correct value automatically.
Step 5: To do so, enable the Set Automatically option by tapping on its toggle button as shown below.
Step 6: This will set the date and time on your iPhone to the correct values.
Fix 2 – Sign Out Apple ID and Sign in again
If there exists an authentication problem on your current device, you might be getting this error message due to a change in the Apple ID password recently done by you. So we suggest you sign out of your Apple ID and then sign in to your iPhone using the steps below.
Step 1: To do so, first of all, you have to go to the Settings page from the home screen on your iPhone.
Step 2: Then click on the Profile Name at the top of the Settings page as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 3: You have to scroll down the Apple ID page and click on the Sign Out option at the bottom as shown below.
Step 4: After that, you have to enter your Apple ID password and click on the Turn Off option at the top right corner as shown in the below image.
Step 5: Select the Health, Keychain, and Safari toggle button if you want to keep a copy of it, and tap on the Sign Out option.
Step 6: After the data from iCloud got removed, wait for some time and then tap on the Sign in to your iPhone option at the top of the Settings page.
Step 7: Follow the on-screen instructions to sign in again by entering the Apple ID and its password.
Step 8: After you have signed in back using Apple ID, the error message must have got fixed.
Fix 3 – Refresh Network Connectivity via Airplane Mode
If there are any network connectivity issues on any iPhone, it might throw such issues as discussed above in this article. So try refreshing the networks such as Wi-Fi, Cellular data, etc. by using toggling the Airplane Mode option.
Follow the steps below on how to do it.
Step 1: To enable the Airplane mode, first you need to open the Control Centre screen on your iPhone.
Step 2: To do so, swipe the iPhone screen down from the top right side corner.
Step 3: Once the Control Centre screen appears, tap on the Airplane Mode option on the top left side to enable it as shown below.
Step 4: After it gets activated, all the network connectivity on the iPhone gets disconnected.
Step 5: Wait for some time and disable the Airplane Mode by clicking on its icon on the control screen as shown below.
Fix 4 – Force Close App Store and Reopen it
When there is some problem with any app such as the app’s corrupted cache data, you can reinstall it to fix it. But the App Store is an in-built app from Apple so it cannot be reinstalled instead you can force close and reopen it again which will clear all the data cache stored in it in order to refresh it.
Step 1: To force close the App Store, first, you have to open the App Switcher on your iPhone.
Step 2: To do so, swipe from the bottom left corner of the iPhone screen exponentially towards the right side.
Step 3: Once the App Switcher opens, it shows all the applications that are running in the background.
Step 4: Now search for the App Store from the list of applications and swipe it up to force close it.
Step 5: After it gets closed, wait for some time and reopen it by tapping on the App Store icon from the home screen.
Hope now you will not see the error message again.
Fix 5 – Turn On the Location Services setting for App Store
If the location services for the App Store have been turned off, then it would cause such problems on the iPhone. So let us see if this helps by turning it on using the steps explained below.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on the iPhone first.
Step 2: Then scroll down and select the Privacy & Security option by clicking on it.
Step 3: Tap on the Location Services option at the top of the Privacy & Security page as shown in the image below.
Step 4: Now choose the App Store option from the list of apps by clicking on it.
Step 5: Click on While Using the App from the list as shown.
Fix 6 – Reset Network Settings
Many users have found that some changes done to the network settings unknowingly by them have created this error message to which they have reset the network settings on their iPhone which fixed this issue. So let us also try resetting the network settings on the iPhone and see if this works.
NOTE – You might have to re-sign into all the networks like Wi-Fi, VPN, etc. after the reset network settings are complete.
Step 1: Launch the Settings page first on your iPhone.
Step 2: Then go to the General option by tapping on it as shown below.
Step 3: Now choose the Transfer or Reset iPhone option at the bottom of the General page as shown below.
Step 4: Later, select the Reset option by clicking on it.
Step 5: This pops up a context menu on the screen.
Step 6: You need to tap on the Reset Network Settings from the list as shown below.
Step 7: It might ask you to enter your iPhone passcode on the screen for verification purposes.
Step 8: After that, tap on the Reset Network Settings once again on the confirmation window as shown.
This starts to reset the network settings on your iPhone and once done, check whether the problem still persists.
Additional Fixes
Restart your iPhone
Some minor technical glitches/software bugs that are present on any iPhone usually cause such problems as discussed above in the article. So we can try eliminating those bugs by restarting the iPhone once.
To restart your iPhone, you need to open the Settings app and move to the General option and scroll down to its bottom. Now tap on the Shut Down option and follow the onscreen instructions to switch off your iPhone. After that, you have to press and hold together the volume up and power buttons of your iPhone till you see the Apple sign on the screen.
Update your iPhone
When the iPhone is not updated to its latest software, it tends to cause such issues. So we recommend our users that try to update their iPhones once by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It might take some time to load the update available for the iPhone. After that, tap on the Download and install option.
Check Internet connection
Some iPhone users have found that the main cause for this error on the App Store is the internet connection on the iPhone. When the internet connection is very low or unstable on any iPhone, it creates issues like the Cannot Connect to App Store error on App Store, etc.
So try checking your internet connection and refresh it by restarting your router. If the internet signal is still weak, try switching the network to a cellular data network by going to Settings > Mobile Data and enabling the Mobile Data option by tapping on its toggle button.
NOTE – If you have established any VPN connection on your iPhone, please disconnect it and try accessing the App Store again.
Verify if Apple Server is down
If you are not able to connect to App Store or any other services by Apple, there could be a possibility of a problem from the Apple side. Sometimes, the Apple team shuts down their server for numerous reasons like maintenance, overloaded service requests, etc.
If you want to know whether the Apple server is down or not, click here. This will take you to the Apple server status page where you will find the statuses of all services provided by Apple.
If the server is up, it will indicate the green circle beside the service name.