6 Ways to Fix the “Cannot Connect to iTunes Store” Error

There are a lot of people who have an iOS device like iPhone, iPad or an iPod Touch and if you are one of them, then you might have faced certain situations with your device at some point of time. The most common error that everyone faces at least once is the “cannot connect to iTunes store” error and you might feel confused about it if you don’t know how to fix the issue. You don’t need to worry about it anymore as this article will focus on various ways to fix “cannot connect to iTunes store” error on your iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.

There are many reasons why this issue occurs on your iOS device and the most common issues are if you are not connected to the Internet or you are trying to access the App Store while it’s being updated. If you are not aware of the simple ways to fix it, then you will immediately rush to Apple Care to get your device fixed but there is nothing too complicated to take your phone to the customer support. You can simply perform these simple fixes to resolve the iTunes store connect error and if that doesn’t work then you can take it to the store.

Ways to Fix “Cannot Connect to iTunes Store” Error

1. Check Your Internet Connection

The first thing you need to do is check whether your device is in the range of the WiFi router or whether your Internet data pack is active. If you are not getting the Internet connection, then that’s the reason you are unable to connect to the app store.
Make sure that you are in range of the WiFi router or you have an active Internet data pack active on your carrier. If you are getting Internet connection and still getting the error, then try the below methods to fix it.

2. Switch the Network

If you are using WiFi on your device to access the Internet, switch to your 3G and if you are using 3G, then switch to WiFi and see if it works. Most of the time, this little trick works like charm and fixing the issue. Make sure you exit the App Store before switching the network.
If you are using WiFi router to access the App store, then try turning off the router for a few minutes. Turn it on once again and check whether the iTunes store is connecting or not.

3. Date Change Trick

This is one of the most popular and the oldest trick to fix the app store connection issue. There are a lot of people who have tried this trick with success and you too can see if it solves the “can’t connect to iTunes” error on your iPhone.

• Go to Settings > General > Data & Time.
• Now change the Set Automatically option to ON.
• From the multi-task switcher, exit iTunes and the App Store and re-open them.

This should do the trick and fix the issue on your iPhone or iPad. The date change trick has worked for a lot of iOS users, so I am pretty sure it will work for you too!

4. Disable/Enable iTunes Parental Controls

This is another method that has worked for a lot of people facing the connection error. All you have to do is make some changes to the Parental controls and you are all set.

• Launch iTunes and go to Preferences in the top menu.
• Open Parental Controls tab and disable access to iTunes store and allow access to iTunes U.
• Now exit iTunes and relaunch iTunes.
• If iTunes U is opening without any problems, then go to Parental Controls tab again and enable access to iTunes store.
• Once again, close and re-open iTunes.
• You will now be able to connect to the iTunes store without any problem or issues.

5. Troubleshoot Firewall Issue

For Mac Users:

1. There are chances that your firewall settings might be preventing you from connecting to the iTunes store. If that’s the case, then you will have to configure your firewall.
2. Occasionally, connection issues in iTunes and iOS devices are caused by the Keychain issues. You can fix this by resetting your keychain using the Keychain First Aid.
3. If the problem is still not solved, then you need to contact your Internet service provider and make sure that these particular ports and servers are turned on for your network.

For Windows Users:

• If the iTunes Store displays nothing and the screen only displays words “iTunes Store”,then you need to fix the issue by following these steps.
• If you have network connection issues on your Windows, then follow these steps to fix it.
• Configure the Windows Firewall to allow iTunes to access the app store by following these steps for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Disable the proxies on your computer.
• If there are still issues, then contact your Internet service provider and make sure that these ports and servers are turned on for your network.

Host Files may cause iTunes connectivity error:
There are chances that the host files may be the cause of the issue and you can fix it by following these steps to rest the host files back to default.
The above fix doesn’t work for Windows 8!
In order to create a copy of your host files and replace it with the empty host files, you need to follow the below steps properly:

• Go to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC.
• Select the host file. You will now see duplicate of the host files named “Copy of hosts” for Windows XP or “hosts-copy” for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
• Drag and drop the original host files to your desktop.
• Now, right click on the duplicate host file and then select Open. If you are asked to choose a program, then choose Notepad.
• When Notepad opens, choose Edit > Select All.
• Next, choose Edit > Delete and then choose Edit > File Save and then close Notepad.
• Now right-click on the duplicate host file and rename it to “hosts” and click enter.
• Finally restart your computer and try to connect to the iTunes store.

6. Hard Reset / Reboot

If you are still getting the ‘cannot connect to iTunes store’ error even after following all the steps, then you are left with one final option to fix the issue. You need to perform a hard reset of your device.
But before you perform a hard reset, you can reboot your smartphone just to make sure if it fixes the issue. If it doesn’t, then follow the steps to perform a simple hard reset.

• Press and hold the Home and Power button till the iPhone screen goes blank.
• Now when you see the Apple logo, press the Power button only.

Once you have performed the hard reset of your iOS device, you will see that the issues have been fixes and you will now be able to connect to the App store.

So that was the complete article on how you can solve the cannot connect to iTunes store error easily with some simple steps. If you have any queries, then drop your comments below. Also let us know which method worked for you to fix the iTunes connectivity error.

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