Update: it looks as though developers are pushing out a huge number of app updates at the moment, quite possibly to address the issue talked about here – though there's still no official acknowledgement from Apple. Our original story continues below.
There's a new iOS bug doing the rounds, linked to the roll out of iOS 13.5 a few days ago: it prevents certain apps from loading, displaying the message "This app is no longer shared with you. To use it, you must. buy it from the App Store."
As reported by 9to5Mac and others, the bug seems to be affecting a substantial number of users, though it's not clear exactly what fraction of the millions of iPhone and iPad users out there have had problems.
While Apple has yet to weigh in on what's happening, it seems as though the issue is at Apple's end – a blip in the iCloud servers is probably causing some apps to get flagged as unauthorized, though that's just speculation at the moment.
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If that is the case, the silver lining is that Apple should be able to patch up the problematic code without having to roll out another software update. If Apple responds with news that the bug is patched, we'll let you know here.
What's gone wrong – and how to fix it
At this stage it looks unlikely that there's anything wrong with your device or your iCloud account, if you've had the misfortune to see the error message on your iPhone or iPad. The theory that the iCloud Family Sharing service is to blame is one doing the rounds.
If you see the bug showing up on your screen, the best course of action appears to be to uninstall and then reinstall the offending app. That should be enough to reestablish your credentials and get everything working again.
However, with the problem seemingly affecting apps at random, it's a huge inconvenience for anyone who owns one of Apple's expensive portable devices – so a fix would be appreciated sooner rather than later.
Next month we're expecting to hear all about what Apple is planning for iOS 14 when it rolls out later in the year. Let's hope the launch of the next version of Apple's mobile operating system is free from glitches and errors.
