Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

grundy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 8, 2012
2
0
I keep getting this odd "Unable to Purchase" error. The error references Readability, but I have had this happen before. The error alert seems to pop up whenever I do something in the app store that requires a password.

An alert will pop up saying "Unable to Purchase. Readability and 2 other items could not be purchased at this time. Please try again later."

This error has been popping up for a few weeks now. I have also noticed that I will occasionally catch a little status bar on the Readability app like it is trying to update or install itself. I feel like the app was somehow caught in the middle of some sort of iCloud update, and it is always redownloading itself for some reason. The odd thing is that the app works perfectly fine. This alert is really annoying though. You will start entering your password in the app store, and then it will pop up right in the middle and cut you off.

Has anybody seen this before? Do you have any idea what might be going on, and how to fix it?
 
This is a known issue. The reason for the error is because the database gets corrupted. It's also easily fixed. I found the way to fix it from the Apple forums somewhere and made a tutorial so I hope it helps you. I don't take credit for the fix.. just the tutorial. This isn't an official fix by Apple but just about everyone that has tried it has had the problem resolved. There's also a thread here on MacRumors from memory that gives this same fix.

http://www.blog.gleff.com/2012/03/app-store-unable-to-purchase-fix/

What you basically do is rename or delete the database file.. The database automatically gets re-created without corruption and you don't lose any apps, updates, functionality and most importantly, you don't have to any wipes or erasing of anything.

Leave a comment on the blog if it helps you.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.