iPad Air since iOS 8: Apps not updating and downloading no longer possible. Fix?

So, if you search for my earlier posts you can see that I was able to cure this problem by deleting all of the apps in my update queue, rebooting and then reinstalling the apps I'd just deleted. The earlier post goes into the process in some detail.

Here it is about a week later, and the problem came back.

But.

Same cure fixed it again. Even better, I only had around 4 apps to delete this time.

Same thing with my wife's new iPhone 6+.

To be clear, it is entirely possible that there is more than one problem here that results in the same symptoms. It sounds like there are others here who have tried this solution and not had it work. Without being there, I cannot verify that they did exactly what I did, but I suspect at least a few of them did.

I posted an easier fix to this issue a few days ago. Go to the General Settings -> Usage and locate the data item with a missing icon and no description. Delete that data item from the list, reboot and you can then update/install apps. I had to do this to my wife's iPad 2 as she is an early adopter, I personally won't install an OS upgrade unless it is a .1 or higher version because of issues like this.

I agree with Mark's diagnosis and remedy. This procedure fixed my iPad Air and iPad mini Retna Display. I have only had the remedy in place for two days, so I don't know whether or not it will last very long.

Previous posts suggested the Wall Street Journal app causes problems and deleting it would fix the problem. I have the WSJ app and did not delete it on one iPad where its update was not stuck, but did delete it on the other where its update was stuck. Do you have the WSJ app, Mark?

By the way, I had the opportunity yesterday to ask at an Apple Genius Bar if they were aware of the problem or had a fix. My "genius" was unaware of the problem and uninterested in it, too. The genius suggested a better method would be to completely reset the iPads. Since several people have posted here that such a reset did nothing to solve the update problem, it seems that at this time there is little likelihood that visit to the Genius Bar will yield any better solutions to the update problem.

Same thing happened to me. I deleted the WSJ app (which updated on Oct 1 on my iPad and which is when I began having this issue) and apps and music began downloading again and the DirectTv app works.

I have this problem too and I have been working with Apple tech support. Several phone calls over the last 10 days or so and still no resolution. On the advice of tech support, I completely erased my iPad and restored it. That solved the problem for a few days, but then the issue reappeared. I can't update any apps and my Zinio subscriptions won't load.

The problem was escalated quickly, but the "manager" is clueless too. She just submits problems to "the engineers." I asked if I could talk directly to the "engineers," but she told me that even she doesn't talk directly to the "engineers." She just submits data and waits 48 hours for a response. Twice that response has been to request more data. What a joke. I asked to talk to the tech manager's supervisor to see if I could get a more direct process and she actually told me that she has no supervisor at Apple, so there was no one I could talk to beyond her. Incredulous, I asked her if there was actually no person at Apple that wrote performance evaluations on her, and she just kept repeating that she had no supervisor. I wonder if Tim Cook knows that he has an "employee" that is accountable to no one at Apple.

This fiasco has exposed two things about the current state of affairs at Apple. First, the company has no viable quality assurance process for its software development activities. Second, the technical support process is a joke. I will now start doing what I used to with Microsoft products--wait for a second maintenance release before upgrading software. Foolishly, I thought this wasn't necessary with Apple products. You can be sure it will be a long while before I upgrade to the upcoming Yosemite platform.

I do have the WSJ app. I like the new version much better, although you have to know that leafing through it will now miss some of the articles. In each section you have to bring up the full list to see them all.

I have read of users who did resets and that worked for them and those that did resets and it did nothing.

Similarly, for many deleting the apps in the update queue resolves the problem (at least for a while), but not for everybody.

To be fair, it is not clear that everyone that says they are doing these things are doing them correctly, so it is theoretically possible that one or the other of these works every time if done correctly.

But.

The tone of at least some of the posters makes me think they do know what they're doing, so we probably need to conclude that this is a complex problem.

There may be a bad app, there may be a problem on the server side, there may be a completely random bug that just happens now and then.

HI,

Since my last message on page 14, when i confirm the "remove app + reinstall" tricks, unfortunately don't work after 24H. & the bug come back home as well !

Well i just second the post by mikefromlithia about the "Fiasco"....

Don't no what to do now, i try all the tips & tricks, all the possible reset, reboot, restore...even the Podcast tricks writen uper.

Apple is definitedly out of Quality of services & support...we are just Beta tester who paid our devices Gold Price, for finaly stay alone without any help & suport.. front some hard bug APPLE know about , but leave anyway his customers without any help....it will not last long anyway and this company will pay the price, when ppl go away....

Regards,

Cyril

mikefromlithia wrote:

This fiasco has exposed two things about the current state of affairs at Apple. First, the company has no viable quality assurance process for its software development activities. Second, the technical support process is a joke. I will now start doing what I used to with Microsoft products--wait for a second maintenance release before upgrading software. Foolishly, I thought this wasn't necessary with Apple products. You can be sure it will be a long while before I upgrade to the upcoming Yosemite platform.

As I've mentioned before I work in software and this is pretty much standard operating procedure. You never want the development team talking directly to the end users for lots of reasons. To begin with, it is spectacularly inefficient and a waste of their time since the majority of bugs are of the PEBKAC type (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair).

Next, the danger is that a developer will get wrapped up in some arbitrary persons problem when they need to be focussed on priority issues.

For both these reasons large development projects do just what Apple is doing. For those of us with genuine problems, it is not convenient at all, and it would certainly speed our solution if we could talk directly to the right developer. But that's just not going to happen.

Instead the lady has been logging our problem and developers are slowly looking into it. That's good! If a developer is asking questions, that means that someone may have been asked to fix this. Or we've only reached the person who's job it is to reliably reproduce the problem and get that entered into the queue.

I've seen a number of comments from people that are scandalized that Apple has a bug in their software and that this means the end of Apple as we know it.

Please.

I've been buying Apple stuff since the 128K Mac and there has NEVER been a bug free release EVER. Microsoft has never pulled it off, Google hasn't, Adobe,...nobody. Every sufficiently large software project is riddled with bugs. I'd bet the bug list for ANY of Apple's releases numbers in the thousands.

But most of them are fairly obscure and many of them you probably wouldn't even care about if you knew, and they largely affect relatively few people. As frustrating as it is, we don't even know if this is an Apple bug and we don't know how many of us there are. Are there even 100 of us? We have no idea. Certainly there has not been that great a fuss leading me to think we're fairly rare.

Some have suggested that this is the last straw and it's time to abandon Apple for another company. That is, of course, always your right, but if you think you can go to Google or Microsoft or Amazon and get bug free software...good luck with that!

Mark: this is simply to acknowledge that the ongoing discussion and more specifically your latest post are a very telling exercise in getting people better figure out how a company really works. One should realise the gulf between his own perceptions and the world as it is for real ! One remarkable point- don't really remember if it's yours or someone's else - is that we don't even have a clue on how many of us are affected ! Short recap of my experience - for that matter. iPad air, 64, 3G. Got stuck as everybody else, grazing, stalling and all that. No WSJ app, no phantom app stalled with white icon in the usage section (which is nonetheless a good point to look it up), some 130 apps downloaded. No way to upgrade to 8.0.2 on air, done it smoothly when wired, all magically went back as before after installing the quick fix ... for now. Keep (again) my finger crossed :-). Cheers everybody, Piero.

I am having this or a similar problem with a brand new 5s and freshly installed iTunes.

iPhone: 5s with iOS 8.0.2 with a few new apps installed directly from the App Store, not thru iTunes

System: Windows 7, 64-bit

iTunes: All versions from 11.2 thru 11.4

I've just installed iTunes so I should have nothing waiting to download to the phone. If I start iTunes without the phone being connected then it runs fine. The second I plug the iPhone into it's Lightning cable I get the message about the application has stopped working.

From reading this thread it seems that we still have no fix and I've not found a work-around that works for my situation.

8.0.2 not any better. Apps stop updating or downloading anywhere from 10% to 60% through process and revert to "waiting"

have deleted and downloaded apps, have reset machine using iTunes, have turned off and on, have reset Apple router. This is quite a major issue. I am getting more app crashes than ever on the few apps that I have remaining.

Same here. After iOS8 update, app updates and new app downloads hung in waiting status. Reset - no help. Eventually did a complete wipe (pain in the *** with all the password resets, etc.). Fixed problem for a week. Now it's back. Updated to 8.0.2 and problem persists. Unfortunately, I have some apps that demand an update upon opening - so they are now useless. I will buy an android based device before going thru another complete wipe.

I have the same issue with downloading/updating apps and I do have the WSJ app. Sent a support request to the WSJ and they replied with the following. So far, so good with my iPad Air with iOS 8.

We're sorry for any inconvenience that it has caused you. Please try to reset the content which can be located in the WSJ app by going to settings, and clicking on Reset Content in settings.

To refresh the application for iPad or iPhone, follow the steps below :

1. Go to Page One

2. Tap Editions at top left

3. Tap Settings at top right

4. Tap Reset Content

5. Upon seeing message: "Confirm: Are you sure you want to re-download content? This will update the app and clear all saved content," tap Yes.

6. Upon seeing message: "Content Reset: In order to download your updated content, the application must be exited completely," tap Close Application. Note that resetting your content will not result in the loss of saved articles.

I too had all downloads hang for several days and I was going crazy! I did hard resets, deleted all apps needing updates in the queue, signed in and out of itunes, more hard resets, cancelled all downloads, etc. etc., and nothing worked. After reading this thread I deleted the WSJ app, and all is back to normal. THANK YOU ALL for this help!

p.s. I also went to the WSJ app in the App Store and rated it 1 star with an explanation of the problem. I encourage others to do the same. Shame on WSJ, and shame on Apple for not responding to what seems to be a very common problem.

But I don't have the WSJ app - not everyone in the world does! On my iPad the problem is the podcasts app - which is an apple app. I've no idea which one is causing the problem on the phone but something is - I'm fed up with deleting apps and resetting things.

Stop telling me its the WSJ app - I don't have that one!!!!!