Unable to download item please try again later

When I first commented on this several months ago, I mentioned the problem was occurring on my iPad 5th gen but not my iPhone SE. This is still true. Both devices are on iOS 15.1, so I have to think this issue has more to do with apps (or a certain app) than the operating system. My non-techie opinion is still worth about 2¢.

I have not heard of this happening on an iPad. It hasn't happened on mine. I think this is an iPhone issue, not iPad but I could be mistaken. I simply have not experienced on an iPad, but my phone is another story.

None taken. Ive just had my phone do this for months and never on my iPad to date. But at this point I am convinced it is a major software issue deep inside Apple's OS. Also my iPad's are wifi only, so maybe that is the 'why'. Either way, Apple needs to flush this bug once and for all. I mean they wrote the OS code!

to my understanding the issue has been going on since 2015 or so. My phone never did this until last month. I was sure it was a digital booklet i had downloaded around that time, but theres no clear way on how to remove it.

I'm going to buy myself a Galaxy. I'm done with apple.

Now the question remains, should I get an s9 or s10?

I’ve been lurking for months hoping to see a solution for this and I’m sure there are more like me who didn’t bother to create a user account for the forums. I’ve been dealing with this issue for months.

I’ve had this problem, too. It started about a month ago when I rented a movie off iTunes and tried to download it. There was a problem with the download, but I was able to watch (stream) the movie the next day.

It began happening to me a month ago too, after i bought an album. I thought it had something to do with the digital booklet included, but im not sure.

QUESTION: Has anyone transferred all their data to a new phone and still got the message on the new one?

Like the rest of users, I have tried just about everything I can think of on my iphone x. The only thing I have not tried is resetting the phone. This "notification" just freezes the phone, until you select either "done" or "retry" so you cannot turn on airplane mode, as one person suggested. I do suspect this is to do with a particular game app and I did report the issue to their customer support team who insisted it was an iphone issue rather than an issue with the app. I find hard to believe that there isn't a fix out there.

This problem Apple does not want to address this Nor even acknowledge it because they want to hide it and suppress it because they’re trying to sell half 1,000,000,000 new iphone 13s and if this gets out people won’t buy them.

Maybe. I'm guessing it's a software issue unless there is something they aren't saying about it. Usually with software flaws they simply roll the solution into an update which I would guess they would do here. Or simply roll out an update where your phone doesn't prompt an error that says it's unable to download an item.

That makes sense (I’ve got an XS, running iOS 15.x) .. it’s just frustrating that the team handling this scenario opted to rely on a generic unhelpful error message rather than one that would help people understand the actual issue and therefore more likely be able to troubleshoot and resolve. “Unable to download {media-type}, {media-name}…” … as in “Unable to download movie, The Rise and Fall of Apple…” or “Unable to download app, FaceTime…” or “Unable to download song, Disconnect…”

Well I'm about to get a new iPhone simply due to the fact I could use the write off and I'm not prepared to go to Samsung and open that can of worms. However if this issue pops up on the new phone I plan on calling Apple daily under my new warranty until it's resolved in full.

I’ve been having the same issue as well, but mine started approximately 12/21/2021. I have a 12 Pro 256GB & an11 Pro Max 256GB but it’s only happening on the 11 Pro Max.

I’ve done everything possible I could think of(very knowledgeable with iPhones) but with no results. I have plenty of storage on both the phone and iCloud. So storage space is no issue…. Also, I haven’t downloaded anything within the last two weeks… very odd and annoying.

I can now say that the problem has vanished with a new phone. I got a 13 and it disappeared on the new phone. Not the reason I got a new iPhone, but figure I would add this in here. If it pops up again, I will be promptly filing a warranty repair request with Apple and they can keep sending a new phone until it's resolved. But for now, I am free of this issue with a brand new phone.

For months now, I haven’t seen anyone else mention having the problem with an iPad, as I do. I’ve ordered a new one (the old one has a busted screen) so it’ll be interesting to see if I can finally leave this thread. My iPhone has never once shown the dreaded message.