How to Fix the “Cannot Connect to iTunes Store” Error

At times, your iPhone/iPad/iPod doesn’t connect to iTunes, App Store or the Game Center. A ‘Cannot Connect to iTunes Store’ error shows up when you try to open iTunes.

While most of the time this is due to internet issues or if you’re trying to access the App Store when it’s being updated, you can try to fix the problem on your iPhone/iPad too through the steps outlined below.

#1: Disable/Enable iTunes Parental Controls:

This method has worked like a charm for many iOS users. We were so skeptical about this solutions but it help many readers to connect to iTunes store. Here you go:

• Launch iTunes → Go to Preferences from top menu.
• Go to Parental Control tab → Disable access to iTunes Store and allow access to iTunes U
• Now quite iTunes. Re-launch iTunes and if it sends you directly to iTunes U without any problem, then go back to Parental Control and enable access to iTunes Store.
• Quite iTunes and open it again. You should now connect to the iTunes Store without any problem.

#2: Check Your Internet Connctivity:

• Make sure you are in range of WI-FI router or base station.
• Must ensure that the devices such as PC are able to connect to WI-FI. And more importantly, they are able to access internet.
• Try resetting WI-FI router again—Simply turn it off and then turn it on.

#3: Restart Network / Switch Wifi-3G:

One of the simplest reasons why your iPhone/iPad/iPod won’t connect to iTunes or App Store is because of a network issue. If the Wi-fi signal is weak, there’s a strong chance iTunes store won’t open.

One way of finding out is to turn off your network and restart it.

• Switch to 3G
• Exit App Store/iTunes app (from the multi-tasking switcher)
• Open iTunes/App Store again.

If you are on 3G and this doesn’t fix, you might have to switch to Wi-fi and check it out.

#4: The Date-change Workaround:

This trick has been around for quite a while. Although this was supposed to work only initially, there are a few users who report that this method appears to work find even now:

• Go to Settings → General → Data & Time
• Now, change the Set Automatically to ON
• Exit iTunes and App Store (multi-task switcher) and re-open them.

#5: Software Update:

• It is important to check out if your device (running iOS 8 or later) is up to date or not.Settings—General—Software Update.
• Also make sure that your version of Mac OS X is up to date.
• Must make sure iTunes and Safari are updated to their latest version.

#6: Troubleshoot Firewall Issue:

How to troubleshoot issue on Mac:

1. If you have firewall, your settings may be causing plenty issues and not letting you to connect to iTunes. Therefore, you need to configure your firewall.
2. At times, connection issues occur due to keychain issues. Hence, you may require to reset keychain.
3. If it is still not done, you should contact your internet service provider and enable ports and servers over your network.

How to troubleshoot issues on Windows:

• In case iTunes Store is empty and displays nothing but message iTunes Store, you need tofollow these steps to fix the issues.
• Follow these steps to troubleshoot iTunes Store connectivity in Windows
• Now, you will need to configure Windows firewall to let iTunes access iTunes Store. To do so—follow these steps— for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
• Disable proxies if they are because cause a lot of issues.
• If not done yet, contact your internet service provider and enable these ports and serversover your network.

Host Files May Cause Issue:

The hosts file may be causing the issues and blocking the iTunes Store. Follow this Microsoft’s Article to reset the hosts defaults for you.

This Fixit hasn’t been enabled to work for Windows 8. In order to create a copy of your hosts file and replace it with an empty hosts file, you need to follow these instructions:

1. You can get the hosts file at: C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32DRIVERSETC.
2. Click the hosts file. There will now be a duplicate of the hosts file “Copy of hosts” (Windows XP) or “hosts-copy”
3. Now you need to drag the original hosts file to your desktop.
4. Right-click the duplicate file and select Open. Now, you should be prompted to choose the program which you wish to use in order to open this file. Double-click Notepad.
5. When Notepad opens, select Edit > Select All.
6. Select Edit > Delete.
7. Select File > Save.
8. Close Notepad.
9. Right-click on the duplicate file, and select Rename.
10. Type “hosts” (without any quotation marks) and press Enter.
11. Now you have restart your computer again and try to connect to the iTunes Store.

#7: Reboot:

If you get the ‘Cannot Connect to iTunes Store’ error even after all these steps, may be something is stuck up hard. A simple hard-reset should usually fix the error but you can also opt to reboot your iPhone just to be sure. To Hard-reset: press the home and power button till the iPhone screen goes blank. Now press the power button only till you see the Apple logo.