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stedwick Author

Level 1

46 points

Downloading apps stuck on waiting...

For the past few days I've been unable to download any apps from the App Store on my iOS devices, including the iPad and iPhone. I click "install", it asks for my password, it goes back to the home screen and the icon pops up and it says "waiting…" underneath, and then nothing ever happens. It's just stuck on waiting forever. It's basically what you would expect would happen if the store was down or my internet was down, except neither is the case.

I called Apple support and the only thing they had to offer was to do a factory reset on both my iPad and iPhone. I'd rather not do that because it's a pain. Plus, how can it be a hardware problem when it's happening on BOTH of my devices? It sounds like a problem with my account on their end, but they had no idea.

Has this happened anybody else? Anybody have any ideas?

For the record, I can still download apps onto my computer in iTunes and then sync those apps to my devices, I just can't download apps directly from my devices. Very strange.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer! =)

Philip

iPad (3rd gen) Wi-Fi + Cellular, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Jul 2, 2012 12:59 PM

Best reply

stedwick Author

Level 1

46 points

Posted on Jul 2, 2012 1:07 PM

I fixed it from another post: go into iTunes -> more -> downloads and look for stuck downloads there. It's non-obvious, but it's also not difficult. Delete all the downloads in progress in iTunes and then try downloading apps again.

I guess if you have one download stuck anywhere, it screws up all downloads everywhere.

Anyway, worked for me. Whew.

View in context

141 replies

Sep 23, 2012 7:48 PM in response to Daphne chin

You can't delete purchased apps in the Store, swiping or not.

You uncheck them before a sync..

Unchecking removes them during a sync even

if you can't get them off directly from the phone.

This should clear your phone.

Recheck and sync again.

You have enough space, right?

Sep 24, 2012 2:21 AM in response to stedwick

My iPad problem is solved!!

I tried to download some books in "iBook" app, and password is required.

After I type my password, all the waiting apps start to install.:)

gresil

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2012 5:13 AM in response to stedwick

mine got the same problem after i upgrade to ios....

gresil

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2012 5:33 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

this works for my ipad... thanx

Sep 26, 2012 10:59 AM in response to stedwick

Same problem here.

After iOS6 upgrade some apps stuck on waiting.

I tried all suggestions on this post but nothing work for me

Any ideas?

Tks.

Sep 26, 2012 11:11 AM in response to George Monge

Yes. Start a new thread. This one

is done.

Sep 26, 2012 4:53 PM in response to britewhitelight

Actually, the quickest fix I found, because it seems to only affect apps that are over 50mb and too big to download through the ipad. I download them on my laptop, synch, and they seem fine. The next time I go online with the ipad though, they switch to "waiting". My quick fix is to plug the ipad into the laptop>itunes opens> click on the name of your ipad>select the central Apps button>uncheck (remove the tick) the boxes for the problem apps>synch your device>recheck (tick) the boxes>synch. Fixes problem apps permanently.

SDAPP

Level 1

0 points

Oct 1, 2012 11:06 PM in response to stedwick

It worked for me too. I had some podcast episodes waiting for downloading. They created an hidden dowloading queue where the apps are waiting in as well. I've stopped al the podcasts download and all worked fine. I have Ipad2 and IOS6.

Oct 6, 2012 7:31 PM in response to George Monge

Greetings George Monge! This worked for me: While I had my iPad3 connected via usb, I opened my computer's iTunes program. There I went to the Store menu on top of the screen. There I chose Sign Out from the pop up menu. Then I ejected my ipad, and disconnected the usb cable from the computer. Then I shut the ipad down (with the black top right button followed by the screen slider to turn it off) Then I turned it back on with that same button. Then I got a message on my ipad that the apps in question couldn't be downloaded at this time and they were gone from the screen. Then there was a password issue when I tried to sign back into the itunes store using my computer but that's a story for another evening...

Oct 10, 2012 6:28 AM in response to sevendrum

Hi sevendrum and friends!

Thanks a lot! I nearly were going to give up!!!!!!!!

But this worked for me ..........wow!!!!!

I learned my lesson today ........only take one apps each time......I had 5 big ones going!!!!!

Greetings

Jens

Oct 18, 2012 12:52 AM in response to stedwick

I had this problem with the youplayer app stuck on "waiting" I couldn't delete it and tried all the settings, itunes, network etc. Guess how I solved it! I tuned the Ipod off by holding the standby button til the "power off" slider apears then power off completely left it for a while and powered up again. I then got a message "youplayer could not be downloaded please try later" hooray the waiting icon was gone !🙂

Dec 2, 2012 9:51 PM in response to stedwick

I had this problem. Eventually had to bite the bullet and go for Erase All Content and Settings. When it restarted I chose to Restore using Backup from ICloud and chose the most recent back up which was that day's. Am pleased to report that all of the stuck apps downloaded correctly. Some apps got temporarily stuck but restarted with just a tap.

Downsides - all my photos apart from those I took with the ipad are missing.

Any music that I had on here that I had not purchased through iTunes is missing.

All my films and tv series need to be downloaded individually.

Bit of a pain... but I got my apps back.

Dec 2, 2012 10:01 PM in response to Mermaid7777

Oh... and some apps disappeared such as FilmOn which I can't find now in the App Store.

Dec 5, 2012 9:01 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thank you, Carol. Solved the issue on my new iPhone 5 and my old 3GS which I gave to my elder son. The first solution worked fine, just reseting the settings. Only we need not restart the phones because iOS 6.0.1 does this immediatly after the reset.

Dec 6, 2012 8:42 PM in response to stedwick

What i did was press home and lock button at the same time for 20-25 seconds to make it reset itself, then sign out of my account and then sign in from the app store. after i press the app that is not downloading, voila, it starts to download. I guess when you confirm your apple id from your itunes on computer to sync a book etc. you need to re-enter your password on your ipad too. this is what i found out anyway.

Downloading apps stuck on waiting...