How can I restore missing top icons and access purchases in App Store on High Sierra iMac?

I spoke to Apple Support for about an hour, and they couldn't get it working at all. They sent me a link to make a formal complaint/request, which I filled in? Is there another way of telling them? Still not working on High Sierra (or wasn't when I checked two days ago, will check again tonight). If you know another way of telling Apple, please do let me know. Thanks

I've been having this same problem on my 2 Macs. They're both running 10.13.6. I even tried booting from an old (> 1 year) backup and had the same problem. Spent a couple hours with Apple support online to no avail. Tried safe booting and creating a new user. No success. HELP!

I just saw another thread where it appears there are known issues with the App Store for older versions of macOS 10.14 Mojave & earlier. One post mentioned that the issue may now be fixed or partially fixed and may have had to do with expired certificates.

If you are able to access the App Store again, then I highly recommend you download any apps you want to retain access and archive them by using Disk Utility to put them into a read-only DMG archive (you may first need to place the app into a separate folder in order for Disk Utility to create a DMG from the folder). Then make sure you keep this DMG on the system so it is also stored in your system backups.

Apple doesn't care much about older systems. Apple has let access to the online macOS installers through Internet Recovery Mode degrade to the point it may remain in a broken state for months at a time. AFAIK, Apple already dropped access to the App Store for people running macOS 10.10 and earlier some years ago. It is inevitable by Apple's past actions that macOS High Sierra will lose access to the App Store at some point. I think the only reason there is still access is because Apple is still supporting the hardware (2018 models) for some Macs capable of running macOS High Sierra.

Assuming the link was to file Feedback: Feedback - macOS - Apple, then you did everything you can. You will not get a reply or even an acknowledgement, but Apple reads all Feedback they receive.

Acting upon it is a different story, but it is encouraging they spent so much time trying to help you. Considering that High Sierra is decidedly outdated at this point, I would have expected a cursory "old / outdated / no longer supported / buy a new Mac" response. The fact they appeared to be interested is a faint light of hope, dim though it may be.

Thanks for contacting them. Feedback may get their attention if you were to phrase your request in a manner such that you are seriously eager to give Apple your money, but an inoperative App Store is preventing you from doing that.

And the App Store is still working on El Capitan... 🤷🏻‍♂️

I tried it with my vanilla 10.12 system and app store does indeed display the icons, while my vanilla 10.13 does not. Even though the latter shows 1 update available, no icons are present. Go figure....

It seems that way. As of today only the HS version of the App Store is not working. All other systems are working ok.

Not sure about Sierra but El Cap is still working.

Can't say I'm terribly motivated to get it working again though.

Still not working for me on High Sierra. (Just keeping this thread active.)

Thanks for keeping us updated.

Still working even on El Cap:

Wish I had something useful to suggest, other than contacting Apple. I'd insist despite the blowoff response you are likely to get. If it's working here, why isn't it working for others?

I'm still not getting the top icons but noticed some of the applications on the page show there's an update. However, when I click on the update button the progress wheel spins for as long as I let it. There are no displayed errors and nothing is downloaded. The updated version is listed as 10.13-compatible.

Just curious, are you in the United States?

I realize it's probably not helpful to you but the US App Store is working for me in the US, and it worked in at least two other countries since posting my earlier replies.

These are similarly aged Macs running High Sierra.

Normally I would suggest contacting Apple but they are not likely to be interested in older Macs or older operating systems. You might try it though; maybe you'll get lucky.

However I have one older HDD where's Yosemite and tried to boot from it and there was App Store working, but wasn't able to log in because of not working 2FA, ...

I might be able to help with that very limited subject. Presumably, you can receive 2FA codes on a different device, correct? When you attempt to log in on that Mac, do you receive a 2FA code on those other devices?

It still doesn't work for me on either computer, and I tried it with a vanilla 10.13.5 from another disk. Interestingly enough, it notified me of an available (security) update but still showed none of the expected top icons.

Thanks, but it still doesn't explain the fact the MAS still works on El Capitan.

"A back end change to the Mac App Store appears to have shut out users of macOS Sierra and older versions, blocking not just purchases, but also downloads of software already bought."

The mystery remains.

Definitely get rid of "Sophos" though. Nothing new about that.