Unable to download item please try again later

I had this issue and finally solved it for my phone, it was my Amazon Prime app trying to download a video which was no longer available

Only thing that worked was iMazing.

You are correct everything else is utter nonsense. Apple should just fix the issue once and for all!

To resolve this issue for one of my apps (Kindle Reader), I had to delete the app and re-install it. That seemed to work. Good luck.

bmwood Said:

"Unable to download item please try again later: I’m not trying to download anything that’s the problem. Just randomly occurs whenever it feels like. Literally no rhyme or reason. I can’t pin any patterns or reasons why the phone would be displaying this message"

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Close all the Apps:

Tap the Home Button, and swipe your finger to the top. The app will close.

I’m having the exact same issue for months. I tried downloading everything, resetting everything, wiped the phone. Talked to Apple support. They suggested a complete wipe using a computer. I did this 3 times and tried starting from an iCloud backup and it still came back. Then I tried it and didn’t use a backup and just had the stock apps on there and then signed into my Apple account and manually added all apps and media and still this pop up comes every time I start my phone and randomly as well. I’m thinking this has something to do with my iCloud account and not the phone itself or iOS. When I started the phone fresh after a wipe and before signing into my account, the pop up never showed up, only after signing in. There should be a way on apples end to clear or reset whatever queue my Apple ID is looking to for downloads I would think?

*** Some of you may have missed my answer in this thread so I am reposting My Solution.

I opened a trouble ticket with Apple support, it was escalated and they could not solve the issue so they sent me a new iPhone. Same model, 11 Pro Max, perfect match, problem is 100% solved.

Just saying, if you bought your iPhone through Apple this is the answer and, yes, I was out of warranty.

I also started getting this error after deleting the free U2 album Apple forces on us. From what apple support has told me is if you delete it, it will repeatedly try to re-download and somehow say unable to download even though it puts the songs back on your iTunes. So per apple support, if you delete U2 you’re cursed with the unable to download message forever until you get a new phone because they have no resolution for it at this time.

I believe this is what originally caused it for me as well. Shortly after buying an album from iTunes which featured a digital booklet, the message began appearing. Finally about 6 weeks ago I followed the suggestion of using iMazing and deleting the specific files the OP pointed out and the pop up message is gone for me!

i opened ITunes on my PC today and it was asking me to sign back in. Since then, I haven’t seen that message pop-up on my XR. Hoping it’s a good sign. Will report back if I find different.

Try going to iTunes Store/More…/Purchased/Music/Recent Purchases/Download All.

It turned the words from blue to grey even though no songs downloaded. Will reply if it was the key!

When the pop-up appeared I use Siri to turn on the airplane mode.

i’ve been went to the pop out and touched done.

then went back and turn the airplane mode off.

We’ll see what happens now

You can use Siri to turn on airplane mode when you get the dialogue box

I tried getting rid of any apps that I wasn’t using. I went to the apple store to see my downloads nothing there was stuck. I wiped out and restored my phone. I have closed and opened all apps I have rebooted the phone. I notice it ALWAY pops up when I first turn on the phone or after rebooting. It also pops up on music or photos. It also pops up when I am trying to read email. I am ready to quit apple over this crap

Hello ~ Sorry that you are having this issue ….try a forced restart and try signing out of your Apple ID and back in . See if those suggestions help:

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

~Katana-San~

Hello,

Several folks, including myself, have been assigned an Apple case manager. Before getting to this step, I did the restore to factory settings along with numerous other things. Don't do it. It does nothing. Apple has performed enhanced logging on several of us where they basically record the processes happening behind the scenes on your phone so they can capture the 'Unable to Download Item' message. There is still no solution though. I really do hope they are able to figure this out. Maybe a future iOS update will fix it, but who knows. Unfortunately, we have to live with it for the time being.