Some Mac users have reported technical issues once they update their OS to the High Sierra Update. To be precise, their App Store feature is not working as it should or at least, as it did before the update. Usually when an app releases its update, it is directly indicated in the App Store, but in this case, you get the update and when you proceed to download it, you get a pop-up showing “No Update Available”. Sometimes, the main culprit could be a ghost update.
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Sep 27, 2018 With that said however, the Mojave Update should still appear in the main page of the App Store App. MacOS Mojave on the Mac App Store. It's not technically a software update, so will not show up as such, it is an OS upgrade and needs to be specifically downloaded from the App Store's main page. One of the very very unique cases, In one device, install build version(1.0.1) & is already showing the update for the app in the Updates section. So we have updated the app. App store supposes to update the app to the latest version available that is (1.0.4) version, but no. App store installs some intermediate version (1.0.3). Oct 15, 2018 2 If macOS app Store Updates Continue Not Showing Up. 2.1 Check app Store Purchases; 2.2 Try the Manual Method; 2.3 Check Featured; 3 Download and Install a Combo Update. 3.1 Update Your Mac With a Combo Update; 4 Use Terminal for Checking macOS app Store Updates. 4.1 Find Out What Your app Store Thinks You Need; 5 Take Finder for a Spin. Oct 28, 2016 Hi all, My 2011 MacBook Pro is having an update issue. It's running 10.12 and in my app store app it shows I have 7 updates. When I click the tab it doesn't show any update button or which apps need updates. I tried reseting nvram and nothing changed. The hardware has not been changed either. May 11, 2020 Tips to Fix iOS Update Not Showing Up. When the update officially rolls out and you still do not see it on your device, then this is a real issue there. Fortunately, there are several ways to troubleshoot the problem and get the update to show up on your device. Here is how you fix the iOS update not showing up on your iPhone/iPad using various.
Mac OS 10.13 High Sierra Update Features
Apple has wowed its loyal subject, once again, by introducing a new OS update. Beyond the newly enforced automatic security checks on EFI firmware being done each week, this new OS update, the macOS 10.13 High Sierra, comes with cool new features. They include:
Improvements to the Safari Browser – Imagine a browser that stops ad-tracking and auto-playing video media and a broader Spotlight Search in the Mail App. Moreover, when composing emails, the Mail App allows split viewing of the screen and uses over 30% less disk space.
The Photos app has not been left behind in the macOS 10.13 High Sierra update. It has been imbued upon, better sorting tool to boot, accompanied by a new themes courtesy neural networks, and improved Apple devices syncing. Editing in the photos App have been improved as well, the user now has an easier time enhancing the quality of their photos and applying filters without being adept in Photoshop.
One of the major changes is the file system, Mac has ditched the 30-year old HFS, for the new and improved Apple File System (APFS). APFS supports native encryption and fast metadata operations. It is also a 64-bit file system, that makes your Mac run faster, be more secure and transparent. Apple has also announced that they will discontinue most of Mac’s 32-bit apps in the later macOS High Sierra versions.
The High Sierra update also brings HEVC (H.265) video compression to the Mac, enabling video files compression that streams at higher resolutions. Furthermore, with any Mac that can run the new OS and with a dedicated graphics card installed through Thunderbolt 3, you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in Virtual Reality.
What to Do when High Sierra Update Notification is not Showing on Mac App Store?
Your update may not be showing possibly due to old cache files mishandled during the upgrade and this is an easy problem to fix.
1Shut Down and Restart Your MacBook
This is often the first action to any issues with an Apple device. Before attempting any troubleshooting protocols or tech mysticism, it is recommended that you shut down the system first. Wait a few minutes and reboot the system. It is possible that the increased load to the processor immediately after the update may trigger its misbehavior. Once you restart your machine, the App Store will start recognizing the apps that need updating and those that are up to date.
Remember, do not restart the system, shut it down and give your processor and OS a fresh start.
2Change App Store Settings
If restarting your Mac doesn’t work, your next recourse should be the App Store Settings. You’ll have to change some of them and try to solve the issue.
The first stage is to launch “System Preference” and from there, open “App Store”. On the “automatically check for updates” option, toggle it on as well as all the options therein.
The first stage is to launch “System Preference” and from there, open “App Store”. On the “automatically check for updates” option, toggle it on as well as all the options therein.
Your system will then begin searching actively for any app updated including the system updates and they will also be downloaded and installed automatically, as soon as you turn all these options on.
You can also check the “app is updated automatically”, and close the App Store app and re-launch it after a few seconds. It will display the message: “Mac app store says no updates available”.
Click on Check Now after a few minutes and do either of the following to see if this fix has worked or not.
- Check internet connection.
- Check App Store Purchases.
If you have unwillingly logged out from the App Store with your apple id, no new updates will be installed on your Mac. However, you can still log in to your system with your login credentials and proceed normally with the updates.
3Check Update with Terminal – Force Update
Using Terminal should be the last resort and shouldn’t be attempted carelessly. Always use precaution when working with Terminal. Ensure you have administrator privileges, i.e., admin passwords to effectively execute commands. To check update with the terminal is also considered a force update and should be done in the following way:
From the terminal, execute the following command “sudo softwareupdate –ia”. A message “Finding Available Software”, will be displayed once you execute the command. All the updates should appear on the screen and to install them, type the following command “Sudo softwareupdate – -install – -all”.
If your system is still unresponsive, one last course of action should be typing the command “defaults read com.apple.appstore” and execute it. This command should unmask the issue behind update not showing in App Store.
4Clean Cache of App Store with Finder
Now for this fix, we’ll employ the use of ‘Finder’. Launch Finder and simultaneously press command + shift + G keys.
Alternatively, you can open “Go Menu” and select “Go to Folder”. Then type the following command '~/Library/Caches/'. Go to the filename “com.apple.appstore” and delete it from the folder.
Go back to the top and open 'Go Menu' > 'Go to Folder' but this time, type /private/var/folders and locate “com.apple.appstore” in all the folders and subfolders, then delete it.
Restart your Mac, and hopefully, the issue will be resolved.
Summary
The MacOS High Sierra is an update for the Apple Macintosh, and it boasts incredible new features as well as boosting the overall processor speed of your machine. The update itself is not lacking in issues that the Mac community have experienced and created forums on. In this article, there are four ways to troubleshoot “Update not showing on App Store” highlighted for you to exploit. The terminal fix is to be left for advanced users and shouldn’t be trifled with.
After updating to the latest version of macOS, some readers report problems with their macOS app store updates page. Apparently, the app store shows needed updates, but when clicking on the updates icon, it tells you “No Updates Available.”
But the app store badge continues to show needed updates. So there seems to be a disconnect between the app store badge and the app store updates page. And it’s rather infuriating!
Luckily, we have a couple of fixes that seem to do the trick for this macOS app store updates issue!
First of all, problems like this often occur in the hours and days following the release of a new macOS update. These requests to update inundate Apple Servers.
And often, the servers just can’t keep up. Consequently, your computer shows a disconnect between what is actually needing updates versus what is already updated.
In this case, your applications are up to date, but the badge is indicating updates are needed still appears. These are called ghost updates.
Alternatively, for some unknown reason, your software does indeed need updating, but the app store is not making those updates available for download even though it shows a badge indicating updates are needed.
So your app store shows you have some updates. But when you click the tab, it doesn’t show any update button or even indicates which apps need updates. Another disconnect! Ugh…
If your issues are that the app store is blank (nada, nothing), then check out this post.
So let’s get to it!
Contents
- 2 If macOS app Store Updates Continue Not Showing Up
- 3 Download and Install a Combo Update
- 4 Use Terminal for Checking macOS app Store Updates
- 5 Take Finder for a Spin
- 6 Summary
The First Rule of Apple’s Thumb–Try a Restart
Before you spend a lot of time trying to fix your macOS app store updates issue, let’s shut down and then power back up.
Sometimes, performing this simple action resets the app store, so it recognizes what needs updates and what is currently up-to-date.
So give this one a try and shut down then power back up.
Best practice is to fully shut down and NOT restart
Why? Well, a shutdown powers down your computer almost entirely and only starts the operating system again when you press the power button.
A shutdown dumps everything and boots from an entirely zeroed state. All processes are released and reinitiated from scratch. If there is anything residual in any cache, it’s overwritten when you power back on.
On the other hand, a restart simply ends your session in macOS and then reloads the operating system. Restarts clear some caches such as processor hard drive and memory.
So that’s the short version on why we recommend shutting down versus restarting in this particular case.
If macOS app Store Updates Continue Not Showing Up
So if shutting down did nothing for you, and you continue to see badges indicating updates are needed, take a look at your System Preferences for the app store.
Go to System Preferences and select the app store, turn on Automatically check for updates and checkmark ON all the options.
This includes download, install app updates, install macOS updates, and install system.
Once selected, click on the button “Check Now.” See if making changes to your System Prefs makes a difference and solves your issues.
Check app Store Purchases
If changing the System Prefs didn’t work for you, let’s check your app store for Purchased.
With the app store open, select the Purchased icon. You may need to sign in with your Apple ID and password to view all your previous purchases.
Often going to the “Purchases” tab reveals that you’re logged out of the store somehow.
And it asks you to log in again. Once you do that, you’ll be able to download updates.
Try the Manual Method
Look closely at your purchased apps and see if you can update the apps from there. This is considered the manual update method.
So, unfortunately, updating apps via purchased page is done one at a time, but this strategy updates any app that truly needs one.
Try updating just one app via the App Store Purchased page.
Some readers report that after manually updating one app, the remaining apps populate as normal in Updates window. Go figure!
Check Featured
Similar to your purchased apps, with app store open select the Featured icon. Then locate your apps on this Featured page.
Check and see if any of your apps have an update button underneath them. If so, update these apps from there.
You may discover that after updating one app from the Featured page that any remaining apps needing updates show up in the Updates window as normal. If so, update from that window.
Download and Install a Combo Update
A combo update contains all of the changes since the original release of a major macOS or OS X version. Combo updates often fix problems with previous updates because they are full versions of the software, not just updates (called deltas.)
Combo updates actually replace most of your operating software with a fresh version. But they do not overwrite or remove any of your user’s data and information.
Update Your Mac With a Combo Update
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To locate the combo update for your Mac, visit Apple’s Support website and type in the Search Bar the word Combo Update followed by the macOS or OS X version you want.
Then in the search results, locate the download for that combo update for the version you want.
So, for example, you want the combo update for macOS High Sierra
- In the search bar, type combo update macOS High Sierra
- Then scan the search results for download macOS High Sierra Combo Update
- Tap or click to open that result
- Select the Download button and follow all on-screen instructions to save the update and install it
Mac Software Updates In Order
Alternatively, take a look at Apple’s Downloads page and locate the combo update there.
Use Terminal for Checking macOS app Store Updates
The terminal is not for the faint of heart but the courageous.
So, use this method with caution and only if you feel comfortable. And remember that all terminal commands require administrator privileges and you must know and enter your admin password.
Open a terminal window and try the following command in the terminal to download and install updates available for your mac.
This command downloads and installs all available updates.
The caret does not move at all as you type and is not replaced by “*” per character of your password. Don’t worry when you don’t see it move; it’s totally normal. You get a message “Finding available software.”
After a few moments or minutes, a message appears letting you know what software has updates available.
Finding available software Software Update found the following new or updated software:
If Terminal locates any software updates, the following command updates all available updates
Find Out What Your app Store Thinks You Need
Terminal also helps to uncover what the app store THINKS needs updating.
So if you are still stuck with your macOS app store updates not showing up, let’s try another terminal command.
Take Finder for a Spin
Finder is our friend, so let’s ask it to help us out on this one by clearing the app store cache. Just remember to backup before you delete any files.
Delete App Store Cache
Update Mac Software
- Go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
- Type in ~/Library/Caches/
- Find the folder com.apple.appstore
- Delete this folder (com.apple.appstore)
- Again, go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
- Type in /private/var/folders
- Open each of these folders and each subfolder until you find the folder com.apple.appstore
- Delete this folder
- Restart your Mac
Delete App Store Preferences
- Go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
- Type in ~/Library/Preferences/com
- Find the file com.apple.appstore.plist
- Delete this file (com.apple.appstore.plist)
- Again, go to Finder and press ⌘ + Shift + G or select the Go menu and choose Go To Folder
- Type in ~/Library/Preferences/com
- Find the file com.apple.storeagent.plist
- Delete this file (com.apple.storeagent.plist)
- If you do not have this file move to step 7
- Restart your Mac
Summary
When your app store gets a little gaga, it drives us really, really bonkers! Hopefully one of our methods helped you update your apps or removed your ghost updates so that all is well in your macOS world.
And no more annoying badges prompting you to look just one more time at the app store Updates page.
We love to update our software as soon as an upgrade is available. But sometimes it pays to wait a few days or weeks before updating, so all the kinks are worked out and connecting to Apple Servers when demand is down (usually a week or so after an update is released.)
Spending time troubleshooting does reap some rewards–you certainly get to know a few things about your Mac.
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But time is money and troubleshooting requires patience. So next time you, think before you jump on the update immediately bandwagon.
Decide beforehand, so you’re prepared if things happen…
And of course, always alwaysbackup before you do any major update to your iOS, preferably following our 2X2 rule (2 local and 2 remote backups.)
And lastly, if you discovered some other ways to deal with these issues, keep us in the loop and share in the comments. We love to share and learn from you all.
For most of her professional life, Amanda Elizabeth (Liz for short) trained all sorts of folks on how to use media as a tool to tell their own unique stories. She knows a thing or two about teaching others and creating how-to guides!
Her clients include Edutopia, Scribe Video Center, Third Path Institute, Bracket, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Big Picture Alliance.
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Elizabeth received her Master of Fine Arts degree in media making from Temple University, where she also taught undergrads as an adjunct faculty member in their department of Film and Media Arts.