Unable to purchase.

Yea I had a ton of folders with weird number combinations. I just deleted them all and haven't experienced any problems

same problem!!!😢

No, don't delete the folders...it's normal that they're there. You just need to delete the "downloads.28.sqlitedb" file to fix the problem.

Dave_Beaudoin wrote:

I too have the same problem and I've loaded Diskaid and went to the download directory and deleted the downloads.28.sqlitedb file which was 320k and now is 80k. The one thing I do see that I find strange is there are over 100 folders with numbers as names in the same Download directory and I have no idea if I should delete these folders or not.

is anyone else seeing lots of folders with numbers

tdowling wrote:

No, don't delete the folders...it's normal that they're there. You just need to delete the "downloads.28.sqlitedb" file to fix the problem.

Dave_Beaudoin wrote:

I too have the same problem and I've loaded Diskaid and went to the download directory and deleted the downloads.28.sqlitedb file which was 320k and now is 80k. The one thing I do see that I find strange is there are over 100 folders with numbers as names in the same Download directory and I have no idea if I should delete these folders or not.

is anyone else seeing lots of folders with numbers

@tdowling: The folders in the Downloads folder are normal only if you are currently downloading or updating apps. If you are not downloading/updating apps, there should not be any folders in the Downloads folder.

The strange folders (folder names are numbers) are temporary data used by iOS to keep track of downloads/updates that are in progress. After the download/update has run it's course, those folders are deleted.

I currently only have two files in the Downloads folder. The Manifest file and the sqlitedb file. To make sure I understood what was going on in the Downloads folder, after I initiated an update on my iPhone, I went into iFile (My iPhone is currently jailbroken and iFile is an app you can get through Cydia that lets you access the folders in your iDevice) and looked in the Downloads folder.

Sure enough, a new temporary folder appeared (seemably random numbers for a name) with a couple of files inside it. The folder stuck around while the update was taking place. After the update finished, the folder was removed and I was left with the Downloads folder containing those same two files.

The folders being left behind in the Downloads folder is caused by the SQLITEDB file being corrupted. iOS doesn't know it needs to remove the folders after updates since the DB file can't tell iOS what the name of the folder is associated with the download/update that just finished.

Several people have deleted these folders with no problems showing up afterword. So long as they make sure that they are not downloading or updating apps before they delete the folders. I myself have been running perfectly ever since I deleted the SQLITEDB and all the folders in the Downloads folder.

Is the manifest file specific to ios 4? I have an iPad 2 and iPod touch 4th gen both running iOS 5 and neither of them have a manifest file in the downloads folder

The Manifest file seems to be specific to the iPad, apparently, regardless of iOS used. I see the Manifest list on my other iPad(1), which is running iOS 5.1, so I know it exists outside of iOS4.0.

I had accidentally deleted it on the iPad2 trying out the iExplorer trick above, but have not experienced any negative effects, SO FAR. However, as I and others suggest, do not to delete it! Just in case.

I did remove every single of those blue folders with numbers (I had hundreds). My deleted sqlitedb file went from 1.30 MB to 80 kb on reboot. I haven't had any download problems since the procedure, and my newer downloads are noticeably faster.

As VesperDEM writes above me, the blue folders should only be there if you're currently downloading an app. Absent that, you can/should delete them.

The Manifest file is not specific to iPad only. I have one on my iPhone. There are some that think it's baggage left over from iOS 4.x and that iOS 5.x doesn't create the file so if you have a device that has never had iOS 4.x on it, it might not have a Manifest file too.

Im back with some new experiences.

Ive tried this and it works for me. But its not permanent thing.

So every time I want to download new app or book or whatever, I just go to settings/store, tap to my apple id, tap view apple id, write my password, then go to app store and get what I want. And voila!... no error messages or ghost apps with infinite download time in the background.

It dosent solve this problem in its full size though, but at least, it helps you to get rid of this annoying messages.

same with me.

Anybody got an update on this without having to use any jailbreak software and whatever?

@Elijah Tabet: iExplorer is NOT jailbreak software. It's free software that runs on Mac and Windows that lets you browse the files and folders on your iPhone or iPad.

I realize that this thread has grown to over 20 pages, but reading the entire thread is pretty important. It lets you see just how the folks here worked out what was going on with this problem and how they came up with a fix that works and so far works permanently.

I used iExplorer to delete the folders and SQLITEDB file from the ./Media/Downloads folder over a month ago and have not seen any of the symptoms of this problem ever since. I occasionally check that folder to see if any folders are being left behind and the Downloads folder is still as clean as the day I deleted all the junk that was in there.

No one is forcing you to use iExplorer to fix this problem. However, any fix other than deleting those folders and the SQLITEDB file will only be temporary if a fix at all.

I'm just trying to avoid using anything that is technically outside of Apple.

I mean, does anyone knows what this software really does behind the scenes to your iphone?! what if it is saving some sensitive info?!

@Elijah Tabet, There is an Apple approved way to deal with this problem. Restore your device with iTunes after backing up your device.

This will delete all your apps and erase your device, then restore all your software and data. It will take a decent period of time, but that workflow will produce the same result.

We just choose to use the iExplorer option because we have hundreds of apps on our devices that will take all day if not more to restore the device.

I have used iexplorer and the problem has gone, as long as you stick to the downloads folder and dont mess about your never going to affect your particular ios device. Sometimes its worth listening to others because Apple wil never respond to you, they are busy making their next dollar.

Fair enough! which page of this thread has the exact instructions? and who submitted it so I don't use a different one?

thanks a lot

Hi Elijah,

The solution first pops up at page 9...but look for "just_jeepin" on page 10 for some straight-forward instructions: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3681763?start=135&tstart=0