Why is Apple App Store Going Down? Here’s What We Know

Apple fans hitting error messages while refreshing the online store today can relax. There is no cyberattack, no mystery hardware shortage and no surprise product drop waiting in the wings.

Apple has once again taken its global online store offline in phases across regions, following a tradition as predictable as the Black Friday rush itself. The temporary blackout, which began earlier in Australia and New Zealand, is part of Apple’s annual preparation for its Black Friday gift card promotion. There are no hidden announcements coming, just routine housekeeping.

As confirmed by Apple’s status page and long time trackers at MacRumors, this shutdown happens every year ahead of the shopping weekend. The store first went down around 3:00 AM PT (3:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time) before reappearing with the promotion ready to roll.

By mid morning in the United States, outages had spread through the United Kingdom and Europe, with the United States and Canada expected to follow after 9:00 AM PT (09:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time). The official promotion will run from today, i.e., November 28 through December 1 in select countries, offering Apple gift cards worth between 25 and 200 dollars in the United States depending on the device: A MacBook Pro, for example, comes with a 200 dollar card.

The ritual has existed since at least 2015 and rarely signals anything more dramatic than housekeeping. MacRumors even reminded readers that the outage never relates to new product launches. Apple uses gift cards as a softer incentive rather than discounting hardware directly, a move that keeps its premium brand intact. Shoppers often find deeper cuts from retailers like Amazon or Best Buy during Black Friday, sometimes trimming 10 to 20 percent off without the wait.

For Pakistan, the impact is mild. Unfortunately for Apple users in the country, Apple does not include Pakistan in its official gift card promotion. Which is why most shoppers here rely on resellers such as iStore, Daraz or local electronics markets.

The brief downtime may affect anyone checking international pricing or placing global orders, but local sales events will likely offer better value once December arrives. In the end, the outage is simply Apple’s way of setting the stage for its biggest sales weekend, keeping anticipation high without straying from its tightly controlled ecosystem.