Apple Breaks Multiple App Store Account Updates – ‘You can not update this software since you have not owned the major version of this software’

Craig Grannell ()

Apple Breaks Multiple App Store Account Updates – ‘You can not update this software since you have not owned the major version of this software’

A dialog mind-bogglingly bad in explanation and copywriting and it's from Apple. Very sad.


Boom! Apple broke App Store accounts for many users with multiple accounts recently. On checking for updates and clicking the helpful ‘Download All Free Updates’ button, iTunes rather unhelpfully states: ‘You can not update this software since you have not owned the major version of this software’. Whether this is a bug (which we hope) or a change in App Store policy is unknown at this time. However, since writing about the subject on my own blog and Twitter, it’s clear the issue is widespread, and Apple support has yet to supply any kind of insight regarding a fix.

Previously, App Store updates for users/Macs with multiple accounts were awkward in UI terms but at least logical. You signed into an account, selected Applications, checked for updates and then downloaded what was available. If you noticed a number next to Applications after apps had been updated, that meant updates were available in another account. So you’d sign into that one as well and repeat the process.

Now, all available updates for all accounts are displayed at once, but iTunes isn’t intelligent enough to figure out which apps belong to the active account. Therefore, you try to update everything, iTunes realises some apps it’s showing are tied to a different account, and it throws up the appallingly clumsy dialog error ‘You can not update this software since you have not owned the major version of this software’.

At present, the only solution is to click on every single Get Update link individually, dismiss the dialog if it appears, and when you’ve gone through every app, sign into other accounts and repeat the process.

Perhaps Apple’s cracking down on people with multiple accounts in different countries (although most people I know who do this keep a US account for promo codes, since Apple’s still inexplicably restricting them to the US store). That said, I’ve had emails from people stating that they get the same error with multiple accounts from the same store on a single machine. Therefore, this is most likely a pretty big bug that needs squashing, but if so that’s only indicative of how one of Apple’s most important pieces of software needs some serious TLC, as Pete noted on the 4th.

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I currently have a (second-line) support call logged with Apple on this, and will update if I get a response. If you’re also having this issue, please post in the comments.

21 comments »

About the author

Craig Grannell

Craig Grannell is Cult of Mac's designer and an occasional contributor. He also runs iPhoneTiny.com, a Twitter-driven reviews site for iPhone apps and games. Follow Craig on Twitter @CraigGrannell and visit his website, Snub Communications.

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  • Monster

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple decides to makes apps only usable by one account per user.

    Typical greedy controlling apple.

  • Priscilla

    Yeah – happened to me last night and I was peeved to say the least – I have three accounts and it was a PITA before but now… there should be an easy fix for multiple-store account holders, we are after all supporting more commerce….

  • http://web.me.com/marcusrodrigues Marcus Rodrigues

    That is happening to me. I have 3 accounts, US, Brazil and Argentina. Worse of all, there are 2 Apps which I can’t update on neither account.

  • Nathan

    This happened to me last night. I have my default accoutrements which is a gmail, and I hve an old MobileMe account which I canceled, but still update apps with. I had 40 updates, and went through each one individually. Both of my accounts are US too.

  • Sandstorm

    I have the same problem. I hated how iTunes handled this multi account update thing, but this is even worse. :(

    I really regret that I have 2 iTunes accounts. I would like to unify my 2 accounts, but Apple doesn’t allow that too. And I don’t want to cancel any one of them, because I have spent considerable amount of money in each. Sometimes I feel like a total idiot, because I chose to buy my stuff legally and not just jailbreak/torrent.

    It’s maddening, that Apple – company with such cash, talent and ‘it just works’ arrogance, can’t get one of their most important pieces of software right.

  • Don

    I ran into to this yesterday. The solution for me was to update the app(s) from my secondary account from my iPhone (which required just the entry of that account’s password). Luckily, there was just one app on that account that needed updating. Then I sync’ed, and was able to update the balance as normal. Still a little bit of a pain, but doable.

  • http://www.perkiset.org/ perkiset

    I haven’t seen this yet, but does anyone know if it will affect Home Network / Shared libraries? The workaround would clearly be for (the owner) to update and then move the app from the shares again, but what a pain. Worth it, however, in the case of TomTom and such …

  • http://www.snubcommunications.com Craig Grannell

    @perkiset: Shared libraries are unaffected in a general sense (as in the apps still work), but everyone’s affected regarding updating the apps. It’s a real PITA.

  • http://www.jabucnjak.hr Davor Pasaric

    Yup, the same problem here. The thing is that we are forced to register in Croatia (1st account) and then we can’t access a lot of software that is US App Store only. Then, we have to make a 2nd account… and now it’s broken.

  • C. Wallace

    I just updated Itunes at their suggestion and when I started iTunes and tried to update some apps all at one download I received the message “you can not update….” I only use iTunes on one machine. So, they have screwed me up also. I can update each app individually. Hope they clear this sillyness up soon.

  • Daniel R

    I have the same issue, and it gets me angry and upset at Apple’s approach of policing and parenting its customers. May as well become the Microsoft moment for Apple… My workaround was to do the updates on the iPhone itself, while being connected to my wireless network, and then it seems to work, at least for those apps that are installed on your iPhone. This at least beat’s the single update approach for those apps that are on your phone.
    The Apple store at the Palisades Mall/NY was for once extremely unhelpful, and their “solution” was to call the Apple Care support line.

  • T. Rangler

    I too have the same problem. I’m using two different accounts and now I can’t update my app’s, both on my iPhone and in iTunes.

    Apple please do something about this very soon.

  • Harry

    Don’t buy Apple products. Problem solved!

  • Athanasios

    Ok so this has happened to me but on my phone!! Deal with tech support now on this. Apps that i have bought on my account but asking for my wife’s password to update, via iphone. No problems if i do it all on itunes. My wife is the account holder through AT&T and i have my own log in. THis just started about 2 weeks ago for me. Stuff i have bought more than a year ago and it is asking for her login info!

    Waiting for Authorization tech now. (3rd tech support on this)

  • Rich

    Having this issue but on my iPhone update. Tries to update based on japan account but the origional is USA account. Any help?

  • Q8bit

    Yes. It’s happend today and i hope they will solve it.
    Cuz all users have more than one apple acount.
    First was on iPod and the user still have this acount.
    Second after that he/she wants to buy An iPhone and need for seperatd acount
    i really hope to fix it, all users have applications and they won’t to loss it.
    Thanks

  • http://twitter.com/tedbox Ted Box

    hey Craig, you posted this almost a year ago! Have you got an update? Was there a resolution? Did Apple fix the nonsense?

  • http://www.theboxzone.com/ shipping boxes

    Some updates require a system restart. Starting with Mac OS X 10.5, updates that require a reboot log out the user prior to installation and automatically restart the computer when complete; in earlier versions, the updates are installed, but critical files are not replaced until the next system startup.

  • http://profiles.google.com/laurelms Laurel Smith

    Is there an update for this? I would really like to know. Our family is having this issue since my kids’ have recently gotten their own apple id accounts, but apps they downloaded using my account won’t update without this issue. They are bummed, and I want them off my account!

  • https://me.yahoo.com/a/xEZSXuASx_Nuv5.bIisxlFPHyTaxC5rfyw--#0c4a4 Foren

    Here we are, almost July 2011 and this is not fixed.

    The multiple-accounts problem is disgraceful at this point, and it’s only going to get worse with the discontinuation of MobileMe. Why? Because Apple leads you to believe that your iTunes/App Store ID has to be an E-mail address. NOT TRUE. But as people change their E-mail addresses (which they do, which is why E-mail addresses should never be used as log-in IDs), they’re going to assume that they need to set up a new account with a current E-mail address.

    After that, iTunes will forever erroneously tell you that you have app updates and then claim there aren’t any updates. Apparently you’re supposed to write down every account you’ve ever had with iTunes and try each one, looking for updates. And that doesn’t even address the endless parade of “new agreement” dialog boxes you’ll get when the agreements change, or when your credit card expires.

    This is what happens when you try to manage all the data on a handheld Unix computer with a jukebox application.  And a dog-crap jukebox application at that.

  • Benjamin Crocker

    I’ve just recently had the opposite problem (found this page while looking for a solution).

    I have one account, just one, and now I can’t update anything because I keep getting told I need to log in with my “other account” that the app was purchased with.