Why is all my apps in "waiting" mode

I started having this problem last evening with downloading 3 apps, all were WAITING.

I did a sync and deleted the apps and then reloaded them and they reloaded okay. Shortly after that I had one update and when I tried to update the app, it stuck on WAITING again.

I did a restore and tried downloading a new app and it did not load- WAITING.

I have no music on this iPad2, no Podcasts, no movies, so something is making my apps "hang" in WAITING mode. I did not have this problem prior to the new OS...

Any help would be appreciated.

jerry_EagleHead123 wrote:

i am having the same problem i need help too.

and which of the suggstions above did you try and what happened when you tried them?

If there are multiple apps trying to download at once, only one can download at a time and the rest say "Waiting" until it is then their turn. Tap on the one that says Waiting if the above is not the case and it should resume downloading.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

I am having this exact same problem and it came right after updating to the new IOS 5.1. My iphone 4 is fine and is update and downloading the apps but my ipad 2 isn't. All my updates and apps are stuck on "waiting" unless I tether to the computer and go through itunes and sync it. But with the magical cloud we weren't supposed to have to do this. Sigh.

Same problem here - just started recently. I do all of the reboot, delete, etc. suggestions on forums all over the web... and again (and again and again and again) I'm back to watching apps frozen in "waiting..." It's really sad to say, but my dear devices are starting to become unusable until this is fixed.

Since iOS 5, the thought was iDevices were supposed to be computer free!, just open the box and go!... but I can't get anything to work unless I sync with iTunes on my Mac... this needs a quick solution.

I'm posting my experience because 1) lots of people are having this problem, frustration is high (as was mine last night) 2) I haven't seen any solutions online that worked for me, and 3) I spent half an hour on the phone with Apple Tech Support so you dont have to. Spoiler alert: It solved my problem.

I had the same problem described above and on other threads, though different from many other threads. I had just gotten my brand-new iPad (spring 2012) and spent hours choosing, redownloading (I had an iPad 2) and organizing apps into folders. Then... it happened. No new apps would download, each icon would show up and say "Waiting…" for hours if I left it alone. It should be noted that I was redownloading iCloud backups of purchased apps, not a restore from my iPad 2 backup or individual app downloads from the App Store.

I tried all the suggestions out there that I found, to no avail. It seems those measures were aimed at iTunes downloads rather than the iCloud restores: delete the pending downloads, clear the iTunes download cue of partial downloads, log out of the iTunes store in Settings, hard reset, and log back in, etc.

So I called Apple Support and they suggested I "Erase all contents and settings" option in Settings -> General -> Reset. It was to make sure it wasn't a hardware issue, and it downloaded apps fine, so I repeated the Erase and restored my iCloud backup. And voílà, after 4-5 hours of app downloads (I have HUNDREDS of apps, your restore may not take as long), I'm back up and running, able to download apps and iTunes songs/podcasts.

Steps:

1. Backup to iCloud BEFORE you do this if you already have your apps and folders set up just how you like them

2. Go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Erase all contents and settings

3. On startup, choose "Restore from iCloud backup", or "Set up as new iPad" if you don't wish to use a backup

It really is MUCH less painfu than I ever thought a wipe and repeat setup would be, thanks to the magic of iCloud backups! Good luck.

David

David Ahn said:

...
Steps:

1. Backup to iCloud BEFORE you do this if you already have your apps and folders set up just how you like them

2. Go to Settings -> General -> Reset -> Erase all contents and settings

3. On startup, choose "Restore from iCloud backup", or "Set up as new iPad" if you don't wish to use a backup

David said it right! The easiest way to solve your waiting woes is to wipe and start fresh restoring your iPad. Make sure you have an active (reliable) Internet connection and that your iPad has a considerable amount of charge before attempting to do an iCloud restore to ensure your restore completes successfully and without interruption.

Best of luck!

Jonathan

Thanks for posting.... But does this assume I have spent $$ on tons of iCloud storage (which I have not and won't)? It's good that there is a temporary work around, but I hope apple is following this - seems a lot of people are having this issue. I shouldn't have to delete and restore everything, when I did nothing out of the ordinary to begin with. Soooo frustrating...

Try this.

• Log out of your iTunes store account. Go to Settings > Store > Sign Out Then press the Home button.

• Then press and hold the Home and Sleep buttons simultaneously and don't release them when it brings up the Turn Off screen; keep holding them until the Apple logo appears.

• After restart, the Waiting should be gone.

 Cheers, Tom 😉

Yep, just ran into myself and found an easy fix.

Shut off iPhone and restart. Everything should be just as you exited and quickly find the offending app which is normally the first one downloading in app order and DELETE it. Mine happened to be "Engadget" and all seems fine so far...the other apps have resumed downloading and I will simply reinstall Engadget at the end!

Wish me luck!

André

Restoring a buggy iPhone 3GS because I just can't bring myself to get the 4S when the 5 or "Next Gen" comes out in 3 - 6mths!!

I have this problem too..it is very frustrating. I could not download nor update it keeps on waiting. I tried all possible solution mentioned in blogs but it did not worked out.. Why iTunes store is not coming up with a better solution.

Thank you. This solved my problem with the "waiting" apps. Prior to this fix, I was having to connect my computer to itunes and do a sync everytime an app was purchased or needed an update. The only thing I did differently than your suggestion was I restored my backup from my computer instead of the clould but it worked in exactly the same way otherwise!

I just reset my iPad when this happens.

Press and hold both Power & Home until you see the Apple logo.

Ignore the red power off slider.

A quick fix I use is to tap the first app downloading (or updating) and pause it then after a few seconds I re-tap the app and after a few seconds it starts downloading. Once the first app begins downloading the rest seem to have no problem...

Best of luck

i am having the same problem i need help too. ios 6 *****.