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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

Top-ranking 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.

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141 replies

CMKD

Level 1

4 points

Feb 28, 2017 1:58 PM in response to Daphne chin

I tried all the options as mentioned above, I still have the app grayed out and in waiting state though its deleted from manage storage still I see the app on my phone, this time when I tap for delete its doesn't show me X option on this.

Appreciate your help ..Thank you,Karthik

Mar 30, 2017 7:38 PM in response to stedwick

I downloaded an app quite awhile ago but it never finished the downloading. I touch it like you're suppose to and the the apps start wiggling, the dialogue box opens and asks "cancel" or "delete".

Well doesn't work on that particular app.

Don't know how to get rid of it

Reidbee

Level 1

4 points

Apr 14, 2017 10:41 PM in response to Reidbee

Ah, sweet success. Somehow, some combo of the various advice above, got rid of the unresponsive icons and successfully downloaded apps that this time actually did open. I think the key to it was shutting down the Appstore app (via double click on home button and sweep the Appstore page off the screen) after deleting the apps from the settings/general/usage management window. There were some restarts of the iPad along the way. But all this has taken most of the day.

Reidbee

Level 1

4 points

May 5, 2017 7:13 PM in response to Skylerraeann18

This may just repeat what someone else has already said, but I did find (on my iPhone) that by going to Appstore/Updates; then the button Purchased and then My purchases, you see the list of all the apps you have bought or accessed, and you can then delete or reload any of those apps. This worked to eliminate the last, most troublesome, of my "shaded-waiting" apps. I must say Apple is remiss in not addressing the problem, given that this thread of confusion and complaint has been around since 2012.

Jasanop

Level 1

11 points

Sep 2, 2017 11:42 AM in response to stedwick

I have the same problem: downloading apps are stuck on waiting. What the **** is wrong with apple lately? I cant surfbthe internet due to all the load hangs, and now i cant even download apps? Internet works perfectly on my crappy microsoft pc. What gives?

Sep 3, 2017 10:59 PM in response to Daphne chin

Connect your iphone to your pc. To delete - first go to your itunes store account purchased and see the application(s) pending.

Hide the application - then go to your iphone and push down on the waiting application. It will ask pause, cancel plus something else - sorry I forget what, but you just click cancel and its gone.