GENIUS TIPS
Howard Oakley solves all your Mac hardware, software and iOS and iPadOS issues
Q How do I go about updating App Store apps reliably? by ANTON PASCAL
A These problems are widespread. Some advocate killing processes that might be involved, but it’s better to adopt a more systematic approach. Updates may appear days after they’ve been available. When you open the App Store app, select Updates and press ç+R to force it to refresh and offer any delayed updates now.
Rather than updating all available at once, try one at a time. In most cases, they download fairly quickly until their progress indicator reaches the 10 or 11 o’clock position, then pause for many minutes or even hours. Be patient: most should eventually complete, and you can start another updating in the meantime. If they don’t complete, quit the App Store, open it again after an hour or so and repeat the process.
Other useful checks are that your Mac is properly signed in using Apple ID, in its pane, and that there are no known problems with the App Store service identified on Apple’s System Status page at bit.ly/mac365sysstat.
If you have multiple Macs to update, run the Content Caching Server (in the Sharing pane) on one to minimise downloads. If you still can’t make any progress, contact Apple Support as it may well be a server problem.