- Apple released iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5 to the public last week, but users have already discovered two bugs that seem to have something to do with app certificates.
- First, iOS 13.5 users were running into an error that made some apps inaccessible. The only way to get the app back up and running was to delete it or offload it and reinstall it.
- Second, iOS 13.5 users were being asked to install dozens of app updates that they had already installed, and it seems likely that these two issues are related.
Last Wednesday, Apple released the final versions of iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5 to the public. The updates contained the Exposure Notification API that developers can use to create contact tracing apps for the novel coronavirus as well as a simplified unlock process for Face ID for users wearing face masks.
iOS 13.5 was the first major public software release for the iPhone since March, but it wouldn’t be a software launch without a hiccup or two. MacRumors reported last Friday that some iOS users were experiencing a bug which made it impossible to open certain apps. The following error message began appearing on the screen for affected users: “This app is no longer shared with you.” Now, a potentially related bug is rearing its ugly head.
On Sunday, several iOS users took to the MacRumors forums to report that anywhere between 10 or 15 to hundreds of pending app updates were showing up on the App Store. This wouldn’t have been noteworthy on its own, but many of those updates were for the same version number of the app as the one that was already installed on their devices. In other words, Apple appeared to be reissuing updates for apps regardless of whether or not the user had already downloaded and installed those updates, but without providing any explanation.
As of Monday morning, Apple has yet to provide any updates on either of these issues, but MacRumors suspects that they might be related. If the “no longer shared” error had something to do with expired certificates, it might have been necessary for Apple to reissue the latest software updates to restore or refresh the certificates.
If you run into the sharing error and an update from the App Store doesn’t fix it, there is another way to get access to your app without losing any of your data or settings. Head to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and scroll down until you find the problematic app. Tap on it and then tap the Offload App button. You can then reinstall the app and pick up right where you left off. As long as you don’t run into the error on dozens of apps, it’s a fairly simple process and it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to get everything back to normal.
Again, we’ve yet to hear anything from Apple about the “no longer shared” error or the bug that is forcing some users to re-update dozens or even hundreds of apps, but we’ll update this post if we do.
