I've recently had a problem on my Mac where the App Store app would not download or install any updates. It would start downloading and within seconds the progress bar would disappear and the update button would show up again. This continued to happen after restarts and after clearing temporary folders that App Store uses for its downloads.

Like most tools on macOS however, even App Store has an alternative via the Terminal. This one is in the form of the 'softwareupdate' tool. Running it like so will install all updates applicable to the system - 'softwareupdate -i -a'.


There is no progress indicator, it just tells you what it's downloading and installing. It can take a bit of time, depending on the update. It also doesn't automatically restart the Mac if a restart is required. In the end however, the software is updated.



-i