Your favourite artist has just released their new album and you can’t wait to go on to iTunes to purchase it and listen to it from start to finish.
However, when you go to open the app up, you find that it’s refusing to play ball and won’t open up. This is unfortunately a situation that many people face on a regular basis and always at the most annoying time.
In this article, we are going to look at the different reasons why iTunes sometimes doesn’t open and look at the most straightforward ways for you to get the app back up and running.
Why won’t iTunes open?
Generally, iTunes not opening on your device is usually related to an old corrupted iTunes file or an issue with the installation. It can also be caused by a lack of internet connection in some cases too.
Fortunately, you can usually fix iTunes quite easily when it’s not opening by running through the steps below.
On Windows
The most common instance when iTunes refuses to open on Windows is immediately after a new update has taken place.
This can either be a windows update or an iTunes update. If this is the case, then there are few things that we would recommend doing:
- Restart your computer. This will prompt your operating system to complete any outstanding updates.
- Delete iTunes and reinstall the app in its new version to update iTunes.
Another thing that you might want to do if you are still facing issues is to delete the iTunes library. If the library is faulty then the iTunes simply will not not open.
To delete your iTunes library, please follow these steps:
- Head to C:\Users(your PC name)\Music\ iTunes Library
- Right click on the iTunes Music Library.xml and iTunes Library.itl files and select delete.
- Once you’ve deleted the iTunes library, launch the iTunes app again and a new library will be created.
If iTunes still isn’t working on your windows computer after trying these fixes, then get in touch with Apple support, who should be able to assist further.
You can generally have the same issues with other apps on your iPhone – both Apple Music and the iTunes app can have issues.
iTunes won’t open on mobile
The issues around iTunes not opening on a mobile device are less iTunes-specific than the issues surrounding iTunes on windows, but issues all the same.
These problems are more related to apps in general – let’s take a look at the most straightforward ways to fix them:
Hard reset
Performing a hard reset of the iTunes app will remove any bugs that are preventing the app from loading up properly.
There are number of different ways in which you can perform a hard reset:
- Force close the app down. With an iOS device, swipe up on your home screen to bring up a screen showing every app that is currently running on your phone. To force the app to close down, swipe up on it. Now, you’re free to restart iTunes from scratch, hopefully overriding any of the bugs that were preventing it from previously opening.
- Delete the app and reinstall it. Hold down on the iTunes icon on your phone’s home screen, then select ‘remove app’. Now, head to the app store and re-download a new version of the app on to your phone.
- Restart your phone. Only perform this suggestion if the previous two methods don’t work. This is a method that will work if it’s your phone, rather than the app, that is playing up. Press the volume button and power button simultaneously to power down, then power back on again.



You may also want to delete and re-install iTunes on your device too.
Connectivity
Another issue that may be causing the iTunes app to not work on your phone is related to connectivity. You need an internet connection for iTunes to function properly – otherwise, you could end up with an error message upon opening.
You need to make sure your phone’s settings reflect this. If you are wanting to connect via Wi-Fi, then go to Settings and then into Wi-Fi. Here, you need to ensure that there is a tick next to one of your available networks.
If you want to connect via mobile data, then go back to settings but this time select ‘mobile data’.
Please ensure that the bar next to mobile data is slid over to green and that there is a 3G, 4G, or 5G icon on your phone’s header – this will mean that you are connected.
Conclusion
It goes without saying at this point that if you find the iTunes app not loading up properly then you are going to be left feeling incredibly frustrated. This can usually be resolved by making sure there’s not a corrupted iTunes file causing any issues.
We hope that by following all of our suggestions above that you can get it back up and running in no time, regardless of whether you are using the platform on a desktop computer/laptop or a mobile device.