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How to Fix Passbook Error in iOS 6

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Earlier today, we told you that many people were having trouble accessing Passbook compatible apps, a section of one of the new features of the  iOS 6, the operating system that Apple released today. It now appears as though there is a simple fix that will allow users to access the App Store and thus, some of the apps that are compatible with Passbook.

Several readers have chimed in with a fix for the Cannot Connect Error that many have been seeing when trying to access the App Store through the Passbook app.

I counted myself as one of them until I used this fix.

Read: How to Use PassBook in iOS 6.

passb

After using the fix, I am now able to access the App Store through Passbook.

It’s extremely simple and it will take only a few minutes of your time. And afterward, you’ll be able to download some of the apps that are compatible with Apple’s new service.

1. First, head to the Settings in your iPhone.

2. Click on General.

3. Next, head to Date and Time which is down the list.

4. Once you’re in there, you’ll want to change Set Automatically to Off.

5. Go to Set Date & Time.

6. Click on Today’s Date. Once you do that, you’ll be given the option to change the date.

7. Move the year one year forward to 2013.

8. This will prevent the error from happening. If you wish to change the date back to the real date, simply set Set Automatically to On and everything will return to normal.

9. Head into Passbook and marvel at the apps.

This fixed the problem for me, at least for now, and I’m now able to access a range of Passbook compatible applications including Fandango, United Airlines and Live Nation.

passbook_overview

Passbook, for those unfamiliar, is a new feature in iOS 6 that allows users to use their iPhone much like a mobile wallet. The feature is not available on the iPad.

Companies will begin to add passes for Passbook and once they do, users will be able to store things like airline tickets and movie passes which can pop up an alert in the Notification Center. Passes in Pasbook also include the option to automatically alert users when it’s time to use them.

Passbook passes are currently not active but users can create their own over at PassSource. This site is not affiliated with Apple in any way so be cautious.

For those that can’t wait, this is certainly a viable option.

iOS 6 is Apple’s new operating system and it comes with over 200 new features for iDevice users. It’s available to iPhone 3GS owners and up, iPad 2 owners and up, and iPod touch fourth generation owners.

Thanks, Paul!

90 Comments

90 Comments

  1. Kenneth T. Levesque

    09/19/2012 at 8:38 pm

    Tried your fix. No help on my iPhone 4.

    • Adam Mills

      09/19/2012 at 9:43 pm

      Hmph. Odd that it works for some people and not others. I’ll dig for another possible solution.

    • Liz

      09/21/2012 at 7:07 pm

      I’ve tried this fix about 20 times on my I-phone 4. It just isnt working. I also called Apple support last night and after 1.5 hours trying to get a fix. They opened a repair ticket and told me they would get back to me. Still havent heard back.

    • John

      09/22/2012 at 10:51 am

      Directions didn’t work on my iPhone 4 either. NOT HAPPY!

    • mace

      09/28/2012 at 3:05 pm

      did not work for my iPhone 4 either :(

  2. jemillex (@jemillex)

    09/19/2012 at 8:48 pm

    cool thanks =)

  3. Karl

    09/19/2012 at 9:31 pm

    Passbook error fix didn’t work on my iPhone 4S.

    • Frustrated

      09/21/2012 at 6:59 pm

      Didn’t work for my 4s either

    • Elaine

      09/23/2012 at 11:02 am

      Didn’t work on mine either

      • Debrah

        07/03/2013 at 7:18 pm

        Got to settings general reset reset all that worked for me

  4. shayne

    09/19/2012 at 9:51 pm

    worked for my 4s

  5. Rod B

    09/19/2012 at 9:58 pm

    Thanks. That worked!

  6. Kyle Martin

    09/19/2012 at 10:09 pm

    If you change the date back right away it doesn’t work, I noticed that you must change the date, download some apps for your passbook and then change it back for it to function correctly.

  7. Cloudpunch

    09/19/2012 at 10:17 pm

    I think people may be changing the settings as the author instructs and then changing back to auto BEFORE going into Passbook to access the store. Change the year, enter Passbook and the store, THEN go back and reset Date and Time back to auto.

    • Javier

      09/20/2012 at 4:28 pm

      Still doesn’t work for me ):

    • Thanatos

      09/21/2012 at 6:44 pm

      Failed for me either way I did it, but it wasn’t necessary for my daughter. Both have iPod Touch, mine is 8Gb her’s is 32Gb.

    • Charlie (@youneedashave)

      09/22/2012 at 1:09 am

      Nope I tried to access passbook before setting it back to automatic. It just won’t work for some people.

    • John Groves

      09/27/2012 at 9:28 am

      Thank you. That worked. Had tried other suggested solutions. Your comments made it fly.

  8. nick v

    09/19/2012 at 10:50 pm

    it works, but then deactivates my facebook, imessage, etc.

  9. Mariana

    09/19/2012 at 11:06 pm

    Worked for me on my 4s

  10. Monique

    09/20/2012 at 12:12 am

    Are they suppose to appear on separate apps or in passbook once you can download them? Hope that makes sense.

  11. Liam

    09/20/2012 at 12:42 am

    Hi. Try quitting the application from multitasking then try!!! :)

    • Steve Wedd

      09/22/2012 at 4:13 am

      Nope sorry

  12. bridget

    09/20/2012 at 2:04 am

    i have the Iphone 4s and it worked for me but that sucks that we cant have the real date on our phones if we want to use Passbook. Hopefully apple will fix this error and we can use it the way it was meant to be used.

  13. Trina

    09/20/2012 at 2:11 am

    Thank you, it woked for my 4s

  14. Jim

    09/20/2012 at 3:49 am

    I changed the year to 2013, reviewed the app, and then changed the year back to auto (2012) and the app still works.(4s)

  15. M

    09/20/2012 at 4:09 am

    It worked on my 4S…
    There is only the Lufthansa app available at the moment though, at least in the UK.

  16. angelus

    09/20/2012 at 4:34 am

    worked fine! om my iphone 4s thx

  17. AppleB

    09/20/2012 at 5:43 am

    worked on the 4s

  18. Herbert Tyler

    09/20/2012 at 6:09 am

    The fix worked on my 4S. Thanks!

  19. KKB

    09/20/2012 at 6:10 am

    I tried a couple of ways but I’m still getting the error on my 4S.

    I tried changing the year to 2013, entered passbook, clicked on App Store button, got the error.

    I changed my year back 2012, quit everything in multitask, changed the year to 2013, entered passbook, still getting the error.

    I hope apple releases an official fix soon. This is frustrating!

    • Ann

      09/22/2012 at 4:49 am

      Same here. Tried quitting all in multitask and powering down and then following the instructions again and still not working. Argh

  20. Erica Buteau

    09/20/2012 at 6:18 am

    Worked on my 4s thank you!

  21. Michelle Loan

    09/20/2012 at 7:26 am

    How do you get the apps into the Passbook app? Changing the date did fix the problem & it showed all the apps that can be used in Passbook but it doesn’t show how to transfer them. Also after I was able to connect to the App store I changed the date back to “set automatically” & still no “error message”, so thank you very much for the fix:) Maybe none of it will work “officially” until tomorrow? Thanks again…..

  22. Jenny

    09/20/2012 at 7:31 am

    Worked perfectly…THANK YOU!!!!!

  23. Pascal

    09/20/2012 at 7:54 am

    Just used the United Airlines app to get my boarding pass and saw an [Add to Passbook] button right underneath the boarding group. when you tap it, the boarding pass is added to Passbook. I’ll wait for the actual boarding to see if my boarding pass shows up on the lock screen when need to board, later today…

  24. Brandon

    09/20/2012 at 10:49 am

    Thanks for the help. I was starting to wonder if I would be able to use my passbook or not. I also find it interesting that the fix you posted does not work for some. Thumbs up from me!

  25. Aluisio Affonso

    09/20/2012 at 11:06 am

    Many thanks from Brazil! Your post solved the problem.

    AA

  26. Andy Moore

    09/20/2012 at 11:59 am

    Worked fine on my iphone 4
    Thanks

  27. rave

    09/20/2012 at 12:00 pm

    its not a solution, i will wait for apple’s fix. and its not working with most of the phone.

  28. eebee

    09/20/2012 at 12:47 pm

    Still not working on my 4 :(

  29. Liza

    09/20/2012 at 1:35 pm

    Didn’t work for my 4S, tried all the suggestions :/

  30. BKE

    09/20/2012 at 1:42 pm

    it worked for my iphone 4 thank youuuu!!

  31. BKE

    09/20/2012 at 1:52 pm

    how do you place the apps in your passbook/??

  32. Carrie

    09/20/2012 at 2:24 pm

    Worked like a charm for my iPhone 4. Thanks :)

  33. Polly

    09/20/2012 at 3:10 pm

    Nope only app you can see is the Lufthansa one

  34. charlie

    09/20/2012 at 3:41 pm

    Didn’t work for my phone either.

  35. Chris A

    09/20/2012 at 5:14 pm

    Totally worked for my iPhone 4. You’re a genius! Can’t wait to use this on my next Lufthansa flight… oh and at Sephora…

  36. Des

    09/20/2012 at 5:28 pm

    It worked thanks

  37. Cindy

    09/20/2012 at 6:32 pm

    Didn’t work on my 4, my passbook screen is locked on the Walgreens card,,, dint know what to do

  38. Cindy

    09/20/2012 at 6:42 pm

    How do you get to the main menu in PassBook, each time I enter the app it goes straight to my Walgreens card, with no visible way to exit

  39. Sok

    09/20/2012 at 6:57 pm

    I had the same error with the date change. However, I accidentally changed it to 2015 and accessed passport then it worked. Afterwards I set time back to auto and all was working fine.

  40. Cindy

    09/20/2012 at 7:13 pm

    Don’t know how anyone else feels, but nothing with this IOS6 update has benefited my IPhone 4, seems to me my phone is having a slower harder time working.

    • John smith

      09/22/2012 at 2:02 am

      Completely agree
      Only thing that worked and that is actually helpful was the redesign of settings

  41. Julie

    09/20/2012 at 11:24 pm

    Worked on my 4s perfectly. Thanks :))

  42. Shyam

    09/20/2012 at 11:47 pm

    It worked for me… mine is 4S

  43. Bad-Air

    09/21/2012 at 4:37 am

    Worked for me on my 4!

  44. Jenny Jayne

    09/21/2012 at 7:19 am

    I’ve tried all the suggestions and it’s not working yet….super frustrated…

  45. Anastacia

    09/21/2012 at 8:52 am

    It worked for my 4s, Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

  46. John O'Brien

    09/21/2012 at 10:43 am

    on my 4s, going back to 2013 didn’t work. tried multiple ways (stopping app from multitask list, etc) – but then changed back to 2015 and it worked… finally.

  47. Missy

    09/21/2012 at 12:18 pm

    How do we get apps to appear in passbook? I have Fandango and Walgreens apps downloaded but no way to get them into passbook and they aren’t automatically showing up.

  48. meravfine

    09/21/2012 at 12:26 pm

    bummer, wont work on my 4…anyone else with a 4 have a better solution?

  49. brett

    09/21/2012 at 12:53 pm

    i have the iphone 4. i tried that date change and it allowed me to connect but now the passbook app is on home screen, if i click the passbook app it opens and says on the bottom click for the app store. it seems as if i cant get any passbooks added intot he app. i have the united app and walgreens app but they are separate apps not linking up to the passbook app….i am not sure how to fix this and why this has made my phone have more problems than before.

  50. Andrew

    09/21/2012 at 1:34 pm

    It simply makes no sense that they put out a passbook app – that doesn’t have any actual use at this time. I have tickets with TicketMaster – they didn’t show up in Passbook.

    I did the update as noted here and it’s still useless – I would have expected more from Apple.

  51. Paul

    09/21/2012 at 3:53 pm

    It’s ridiculous. By changing the date in your phone to access Passbook, by default you then mess up the functionality of Passbook. One of it’s main features is to notify you of a pending ticket. If the date is set one year off into the future then that would never work. Like the new maps app. Epic FAIL…

  52. Candi Hayes

    09/21/2012 at 4:46 pm

    The fix doesn’t work for me either. I’ve tried it several times. Do I need to delete Apps like Fandango and Delta and reload them? It is so frustrating! Thank you for your help.

  53. saschiesmum

    09/21/2012 at 5:20 pm

    absolutely did NOT work.. and I tried this 12 times before I gave up and called apple.. whom I am still on hold to speak to someone.. hell I even set the day up that it was 3 years 6 months in the future and it still did NOT work not just the 1 year that you were suggesting

  54. Leckyau

    09/21/2012 at 5:59 pm

    Never worked on my two 4s

  55. Mark Komrad M.D.

    09/21/2012 at 9:00 pm

    Tried all combinations of the fix ideas in this thread. Nothing worked on my 4S

  56. Robin K Bareng, MD

    09/21/2012 at 10:04 pm

    iPhone 5, doesn’t work.

  57. Raymond Benjamin Mandarino

    09/21/2012 at 10:12 pm

    Unfortunately this did not work on my Ipod Touch 4th Gen.

  58. Charlie (@youneedashave)

    09/22/2012 at 1:11 am

    Tried this fix on an iphone 4, still wouldn’t work, so went back to automatic and gave up.

  59. Desi

    09/22/2012 at 4:40 am

    It didn’t work for me at first so I toggled back and fourth between changing the date ahead and passbook and changing the date to automatic and passbook, finally the last time while date and time was on automatic it got rid of the “cannot connect” error. Now here’s the new issue, it’s stuck on “loading” it looks like its trying to do something but not. Any ideas?

  60. suboh

    09/22/2012 at 7:24 am

    This didn’t work for my iPhone 5. However, rather than give me a “Cannot connect…” error, it just loads the App Store indefinitely.

  61. Bradley

    09/22/2012 at 8:34 am

    I thinks it’s safe to say that iOS 6 sucks.. No YouTube app.. Maps aren’t accurate with town placement and names.. Passbook is a fail..

  62. Debbie

    09/22/2012 at 8:43 am

    I have the 4s, didn’t work for me. :(

  63. Jim

    09/22/2012 at 9:33 am

    I’ve tried the suggested fix(s) multiple time too… Still get the error. Also, has anyone else seen the same error when they try the App Store app? I get the “cannot connect to iTunes Store” message, but if I click any of the bottom tabs it connects. Passbook is useless so far!

  64. Cathy

    09/22/2012 at 10:47 am

    The date change “fix” is not working on my iPhone 5. I am not happy.

    • RC

      09/23/2012 at 12:46 am

      As crazy as this sounds, change the date to 2024. I have an iPhone 5 and the 2013 didn’t work. I changed it to 2024 and it works fine. DON”T FORGET to change the date back and go back and turn on your iMessage and Facetime; changing the date turns off both of these. Good luck!

      • Leah

        09/23/2012 at 9:56 am

        Thanks so much! This worked for me! I just had to change the date back before I could download anything.

  65. George Grazier

    09/23/2012 at 7:01 am

    changing to 2013 didn’t work but changing to 2024 did..thanks

  66. Rich

    09/23/2012 at 7:18 am

    I have a 3gs and I tried setting the date forward a year but it didn’t work. However when I set the date back one year it allowed me to connect to the App Store. I was able to start (waiting) the downloads I needed, but had to go back in and change the year back for the download to finish.

  67. Terry

    09/23/2012 at 10:56 am

    Did not work on my 4s when I changed the year to 2013, but did work when I changed the year to 2014.

  68. Marty

    09/23/2012 at 5:52 pm

    It doesn’t work for me. I went to apple store today and ask the people who works there. They have no idea this is happening . I ask them why passbook works properly on the new iphone 5 and not my 4s and many others? Finally,one of them came back with a lame exuse. He told me that I just have to wait. Note: iMessage turns of after you changed the date. Be sure go back to message setting and turn your iMessage back on.

  69. Paul

    09/24/2012 at 5:39 pm

    Does not work for my iphone 4s

  70. Nidia Figueroa

    09/29/2012 at 10:01 am

    Worked fine for me! Thanks!

  71. Sy

    10/06/2012 at 5:42 am

    It works on my 4s. Thanks

    • jhghjgjhg

      10/13/2012 at 9:19 pm

      it didnt work for mine );

  72. jhghjgjhg

    10/13/2012 at 9:18 pm

    it did not work for iphone 4s

  73. Asdfghjkl

    11/14/2012 at 10:23 pm

    Passbook doesn’t work for me. It’s a waste of space on the iPhone basically

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