Ask To Buy Notifications Not Sending

[mnsportsgeek]

Anyone else not getting ask to buy notifications when your kid requests to download an app?

I’ve restarted devices. Doesn't resolve it. Hasn’t worked all day. Worked fine the last time I tried.

 

[Niamhnpaul]

I was getting ask to buy notifications on my phone yesterday but today they’re only going to an iPad that’s rarely used - I cannot seem to fix this

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I was getting ask to buy notifications on my phone yesterday but today they’re only going to an iPad that’s rarely used - I cannot seem to fix this

I called Apple support and they said it's a known issue but didn't give me anything more. Told me to call back later after I've screen recorded me trying it again. Fat chance of that. I guess I'll wait for the next update.

 

[Itinj24]

Same issue here. Thanks for posting an update. I’m gonna call them too just so they get more complaints about it.

 

[Vlad Soare]

I've had this happen occasionally. Sometimes they aren't sent at all, other times they're only sent to one device - annoyingly, precisely the one that I don't happen to have at hand.
Sometimes restarting the device that doesn't get the notification solves the problem. Other times it just starts working again of its own accord. In any case, it only happens rarely. Not often enough to be more than a mild, occasional annoyance.

 

[Fixxtr]

Yesterday, my child's ask to buy request came via iMessage instead of a notification, and there is no button to approve/disapprove. I tried again but same message came again, I can only tap on the Appstore icon to go to app and buy for my account, but can't approve it for child's account.

Last time I approved app request at 25th December via notification without an issue and not settings has been changed. I called Apple support but call dropped as usual and they don't call back, as usual

 

[Itinj24]

I contacted Apple Support about this last night. They installed a profile on my iPhone and collected some logs for the engineers. Hopefully this will get fixed soon. I can’t remember when was the last time this worked for me but it broke with either 16.1.1 or .1.2.

Don’t know if it matters or not but I made it clear that this is affecting paid for apps and in app purchases on the App Store which is affecting Apple’s bottom line.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

I contacted Apple Support about this last night. They installed a profile on my iPhone and collected some logs for the engineers. Hopefully this will get fixed soon. I can’t remember when was the last time this worked for me but it broke with either 16.1.1 or .1.2.

Don’t know if it matters or not but I made it clear that this is affecting paid for apps and in app purchases on the App Store which is affecting Apple’s bottom line.

I sent them some logs too. At least they know about it.

A workaround I found is that if you search your kids name in spotlight (not the contacts app) the ask to buy notifications will be there. And you can approve/deny in the absence of a notification.

 

[Itinj24]

I sent them some logs too. At least they know about it.

A workaround I found is that if you search your kids name in spotlight (not the contacts app) the ask to buy notifications will be there. And you can approve/deny in the absence of a notification.

No kidding. I gotta try that. I also saw on Reddit that changing everyone’s device name in the Settings>General>About>Name fixes it too. The Apple support rep actually had me try this but only with my device so it didn’t work. I only found out about changing everyone’s name after. Didn’t try it yet though. This post just reminded me about it.

 

[Itinj24]

I sent them some logs too. At least they know about it.

A workaround I found is that if you search your kids name in spotlight (not the contacts app) the ask to buy notifications will be there. And you can approve/deny in the absence of a notification.

The workaround you posted works! Great job!

 

[Vlad Soare]

A workaround I found is that if you search your kids name in spotlight (not the contacts app) the ask to buy notifications will be there. And you can approve/deny in the absence of a notification.

That's good to know. Thank you!

I said above that it only happens rarely. Not anymore. Now I don't get any notifications for my little daughter anymore, and it's been like this for about a week already. It stopped working altogether. Strangely, this only happens for her, not for her sisters. Her sisters' notifications still arrive as expected.
Restarting her phone, as well as my phone and my computer, which previously used to fix the issue, didn't change anything this time.
I had to go to the family settings, disable the ask to buy feature for her account, wait for her to install the app, then enable it again. Really annoying.

Not receiving the notification wouldn't be a major problem if I could still see it somewhere (e.g. in a 'pending actions' menu in the App Store app, or something like that). Your workaround seems to be just what I need. I'll try it next time. Thanks! 🍺

 

[Fixxtr]

I still cannot have any buttons to approve ask to buy request via iMessage. However today I looked at my wife's phone and saw that it has action buttons to approve for same ask to buy requests.

 

[Fixxtr]

Issue fixed for me on iOS 16.3

 

[Itinj24]

Issue fixed for me on iOS 16.3

That’s good. There’s still hope I guess. 16.3 didn’t fix for me though.