Updates and downloads are frozen. Now what do I do?

I did all of that like you said. The apps deleted fine. I went into AppStore from the iPad and tried downloading that one app again. It just says "waiting...". (BTW, it doesn't say that I have any pending updates now.) I deleted the App, reset, and then connected the sync cable again and let it sync. The apps in question show up in my iPad Apps section in iTunes, but syncing doesn't bring them over.

BTW, this seems to be a "feature" that started occurring immediately after the iOS 5 update. My Apps had disappeared but would not come over when I synced. I had to get all my Apps back by going into App Store on the IPad and downloading them again from Purchases. So...

I tried going into App Store and downloading the apps from purchases. Result: "waiting....".

Weird, huh? I don't know if this is the same issue or multiple issues.

Thanks for responding.

Ok. I solved the problem of the apps not syncing from my computer by going into iTunes on my computer then: Tom's iPad (under Devices in left pane) -> Apps tab, and checking the Sync Apps checkbox at the top of the app list on the left. Then I checked the apps I wanted and clicked Appy. I guess this must have gotten unchecked during either the iOS or iTunes update, because it was never an issue before then. So forget this little side issue.

Back to the original issue.

On my IPad I went into App Store -> Purchases and chose an app that I left unchecked in the above operation. I still get the "waiting....". It appears that I still cannot download app updates and apps with my iPad.

:::start diatribe:::::

I am not too happy with this iOS 5 update. It has put me throught a LOT of inconvenience, and there was absolutely no warning that there would be a problem. Don't they test these things before they release them? It's not fun to do an update and find all of your apps gone and then have to go through a lot of rigamaroll to get up and running again. And I don't mean testing by tech savy programmers who know how to correct the problems that they create; I mean testing by regular people like me who expect an update to go smoothly without a lot of hitches. Apple needs to be more considerate of its customers and their time.

::::end diatribe::::

Feeling slightly better now, but only slightly.

So just to repeat, I still cannot download apps on my iPad through AppStore -> Purchased, and therefore I very much doubt that AppStore -> Updates directly from my iPad) is going to work either the way things are now.

Message was edited by: BruiserTom

Demo,

Just completed that task. I deleted (or rather closed) all open apps and restarted as you said. Then I went into App Store and tried to download one of my app purchases. That was about 5 minutes ago. It is stuck on "Waiting..." with no progress.

Thanks for your help.

My iPad also was working flawlessly before this update. Therefore, I have no doubt that a future update will evenutally fix the problem. All they have to do is re-fix what this update broke.

:::diatribe time:::

Just to be clear: I don't expect programmers not to make mistakes, and I am confident they can fix what they break. That is an inevitable part of the process they go through. But I expect most of the glaring bugs of an update to be resolved before that update is released. I very much doubt that this is a programmer problem. It is more likely that it is a type-A management problem - pressure from the top to get an update out before it is thoroughly tested and not enough time to complete this "fancy shmancy perfectionistic" part of the process. The problems I see with this iOS 5 update are so glaring that it is hard to see how they got through an honest attempt at testing. It almost seems as if they want us to find the bugs for them. I didn't sign up for that.

:::end:::

Thanks again.

No progress on my problem, and it seems that this thread has whithered on the vine.

There is only one other thing that my pea brain can think of:

I changed my DSL modem and router setup last week for my ISPs combined modem/router device. However, all other Wi-Fi communications on my iPad work fine. It is only the App updates and downloads that don't work. Does this function use different ports from other iPad Wi-Fi communications? Also, my iPhone does not have this problem. What's more, if my memory serves me correctly, the iPad did work with this device before the problem started to occur.

I really would like to get this working again.

A small development since my last post: My wife came home with an iPad2. (I have a regular iPad.) She set it up and is using it with no problem. She did an update through her iPad2 and it worked fine. As I've said before, my iPhone isn't having this problem either.

This problem only exists on my iPad and only when either downloading or updating apps from the App Store. I have tried all of the above suggestions (except the last one). I now think it is highly unlikely that it has anything to do with ports. I can access the App Store, at least it doesn't say that I don't have access like it normally would if I typed in my password incorrectly.

But, of course, it doesn't give any error message when trying to download an app or an app update. It just sits there and says, "waiting....". That's another one of my pet peeves. Good programming practice is to detect that something is not going right, display an error message, and give some kind of clue as to what is happening or not happening. It just doesn't work, and the iPad doesn't seem to realize that there is a problem.

pjl123,

Not sure if this is going to be readable. It looked weird after I posted it.

Now we are getting somewhere. That WAS helpful. At first when you said "iTunes" I thought, "Oh, no, this guy hasn't even read the problem. There is no iTunes on my iPad. iTunes is on my computer, and I know the problem isn't there."

But you sure sounded like you knew what you were talking about, so I went looking. I clicked on the App Store icon and looked around. No problem there. Then I thought about the "Music" icon. Wasn't that named iTunes before the update or was it iPod? I don't remember.

Lo, and behold! I clicked on Music, then on Store. There was a red cirlce with a number 5 siting on top of Downloads. I went in there and paused those downloads. I went back out of all of that and looked at the App whose update was previously frozen. It was sitting there completed.

I went to Purchases and chose an old App that I had not yet downloaded. It downloaded with no problem.

But I still had those downloads that were stuck, and there was no way to abort them; I could only pause or restart.. Drawing on previous advice from Demo, I double clicked the Home button, closed Music and iTunes, and did a two button restart thingy. (It might have helped that downloads were set on pause.) When I restart I went into iTunes (oh, found an icon for that, btw, that I hadn't previously seen...duh!) and restarted one of the downloads. It downloaded. So I took them one by one. They have all downloaded, except for two downloads having to do with the Economist Magazine.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM (I think)

I have an App for the Economist Magazine. They evidently have done a complete app replacement rather than an update. I think I no longer have the app that these issues are trying to download to. Could that be the problem? The downloads in question are called "Syria's Crisis" and "Babbage: November 16...". So I guess you would consider them documents that are somehow linked to a defunct app. I'm just speculating.

So now the question is: How do I get rid of these two stuck downloads.? Keeping them paused will probably solve my original problem, but I would like to clear them out.

Thanks guys for your help. pjl123 - Correct answer. Demo - Helpful answer (qutting App Store and restarting)

Message was edited by: BruiserTom because the formatting shows up completely weird.

pjl123,

I got a weirdly formatted message after posting this. Hopefully this will fix it.

Now we are getting somewhere. That WAS helpful. At first when you said "iTunes" I thought, "Oh, no, this guy hasn't even read the problem. There is no iTunes on my iPad. iTunes is on my computer, and I know the problem isn't there."

But you sure sounded like you knew what you were talking about, so I went looking. I clicked on the App Store icon and looked around. No problem there. Then I thought about the "Music" icon. Wasn't that named iTunes before the update or was it iPod? I don't remember.

Lo, and behold! I clicked on Music, then on Store. There was a red cirlce with a number 5 siting on top of Downloads. I went in there and paused those downloads. I went back out of all of that and looked at the App whose update was previously frozen. It was sitting there completed.

I went to Purchases and chose an old App that I had not yet downloaded. It downloaded with no problem.

But I still had those downloads that were stuck, and there was no way to abort them; I could only pause or restart.. Drawing on previous advice from Demo, I double clicked the Home button, closed Music and iTunes, and did a two button restart thingy. (It might have helped that downloads were set on pause.) When I restart I went into iTunes (oh, found an icon for that, btw, that I hadn't previously seen...duh!) and restarted one of the downloads. It downloaded. So I took them one by one. They have all downloaded, except for two downloads having to do with the Economist Magazine.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM (I think)

I have an App for the Economist Magazine. They evidently have done a complete app replacement rather than an update. I think I no longer have the app that these issues are trying to download to. Could that be the problem? The downloads in question are called "Syria's Crisis" and "Babbage: November 16...". So I guess you would consider them documents that are somehow linked to a defunct app. I'm just speculating.

So now the question is: How do I get rid of these two stuck downloads.? Keeping them paused will probably solve my original problem, but I would like to clear them out.

Thanks guys for your help. pjl123 - Correct answer. Demo - Helpful answer (qutting App Store and restarting)

TA DA!

I have finally found the solution to deleting the stalled downloads.

It's on this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3281

The part that pertains to my problem says (added emphasis is mine):

"If a podcast is not downloading, it may be due to the server that hosts the podcast, or because there is an issue with your current Internet connection. Deleting the podcast from Downloads may help solve the issue. To delete a podcast that is downloading or waiting to download, tap Downloads, swipe left or right over the podcast, then tap Delete. "

Again, thanks to you guys for the help. I hope that I wasn't too dense to see the answer earlier if it was presented. (I can't believe I missed seeing iTunes on my iPad, but I have always accessed iTunes through my laptop.)

I think now all of my issues are resolved.