Since iOS had its iTunes vasectomy, upgrades have been a pretty painless experience. Until today, that is. My new black iPhone 5 was waiting for me when I arrived back from Berlin so I couldn’t wait to start the now-familiar installation and restore process. When it came to downloading the apps, however, I was met with continued denials of access to the iTunes store. After entering the Apple ID half a dozen times I decided to reset the phone and start again.
Frustratingly the same thing happened on the next installation: “Cannot access iTunes store”. I was determined not to go back to iTunes cable sync, so decided to fiddle around a bit more. It was then I noticed one app was showing the glimmering of a blue progress bar, although there was no movement. I gave the app a prod with my finger and, lo and behold, it started downloading. I then went through every app with a little prod of the forefinger and, one by one, they came to life. Bear in mind this was despite the refusal to accept my Apple ID and password, so I wasn’t officially connected. Let’s call it an immaculate connection.
Eventually after about ninety minutes I had all the apps downloaded and installation was complete. It was anything but automatic and certainly not seamless. This is a mystery and something of a disappointment. In case you are wondering, it was nothing to do with the download speed of my network, which is 120 MB/s and working at full tilt. It could have been overload at Apple, but I am not convinced. It will be interesting to hear if others have had similar problems.
by Mike Evans, 24 September 2012