Image Credit: Apple

Follow these troubleshooting steps if you’re seeing a “cannot connect” message on Apple Music, iTunes or one of Apple’s other services.

If Apple Music, iTunes or any other service like the App Store, Game Center, Apple Books, Apple Fitness+, Apple TV or Apple News, is showing “cannot connect”, won’t load anything, stops while downloading content or shows one of the following message, try the steps below.

  • “Cannot connect to the iTunes Store. An unknown error has occurred.”
  • “We could not complete your iTunes Store request. The iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”
  • “Could not connect to the iTunes Store. Make sure your network connection is active and try again.”
  • “We could not complete your iTunes Store request. The network connection could not be established. There was an error in the iTunes Store. Please try again later.”

Step One – Is Apple Music down?

Is anyone else experiencing the same issue? Check the status page for an outage in your country or region.

Step Two – Are you connected to the internet?

Make sure you device is connected to the internet by checking your browser. If nothing loads, try another device on the same network. If there’s still nothing, restart your Wi-Fi router. After five or ten minutes, check again. If you’re still struggling on both devices, you’ll need to contact your internet provider. If only one device won’t connect to the internet, follow Apple’s troubleshooting steps for connecting on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, Apple TV or Mac. For non-Apple devices, refer to the user manual or follow the manufacturer’s online steps.

If you’re on a celluar service on your iPhone or iPad, make sure celluar data is turned on for the app you’re using. Head to the Settings app, then tap Cellular/Mobile Data, then make sure the switch next to the app you’re using is turned on.

Step Three – Is your software up-to-date?

Make sure you’re using the latest verion of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS or iTunes on Windows.

Step Four – Is the correct date and time set?

The date and time need to be set to the correct time zone:

  • On your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch: Open the Settings app. Tap General, then tap Date & Time. Get more help with date and time.
  • On your Mac: Open System Preferences, then choose Date & Time.
  • On your Apple TV: Go to Settings > General > Date and Time.

If you’re still having trouble connecting, find more steps here or get in touch with Apple Support here.

Regardless of Apple Music or iTunes’ connection, you can get your own music on Apple Music and iTunes for free. Click here to learn more.