iPhone apps stuck on loading after restore

Here is my saga and what I have tried so far. The methods are from the internet and some steps, like the "Free button, are not on my phone. I have tried on two networks, both 2.4 and 5 gHz.

iPhone upgrade notes

Started by restoring the iPhone from iTunes 12.7.x which showed all the apps greyed out. After 40 hours only half had downloaded.

Very few apps ready after 12 hours. In going to the App Store, tap on your circular profile icon, which will open up your Account page, then tap on "Purchased" from there, Next, if you have a family account, select “My Purchases” then selecting those not on my iPhone, 80 apps or so were showing a spinning circle, the one that has about 1/6 missing. as I went down the list and tapped the apps with the spinning circle, for many of them cloud would reappear.

However 54 of them would show the word open after I tapped the spinning circle. For some reason the iPhone does not know when the app is finished downloading to the phone.

Called apple care - They advised I restore again.

I downloaded iTunes 12.6.3 and restored, since all the apps were present. However, the apps were not transferred from the computer to the iPhone and it started to download them again.

After 12 hour 54 apps ready under not on this iphone

84 app after 16 hours under all

84 apps after 26 hours.

Renewed lease

(iPad updated 54 apps in 35 min on home network)

84 apps after 51 hours and 57 app still stuck or left to download

Download/Redownload from Apps app.

Open up the App Store, tap on your circular profile icon, which will open up your Account page, then tap on "Purchased" from there, Next, if you have a family account, select “My Purchases”. There's the "All" tab to see everything you've ever purchased (even free apps) and "Not on this iPhone" for things you might want to redownload. To redownload an app, just tap on the blue cloud icon next to it. If the icon is gray, that means you can't download it anymore either because it doesn't exist anymore in iTunes or because it's a 32-bit app that no longer works in iOS 11.

Tried dragging them from finder into the sidebar on iTunes when the iPhone was selected.

Method 1. Reboot iPhone to fix iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus app stuck on waiting error

This is the fastest fix to solve iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus stuck on waiting error by rebooting device directly. This means that if you don’t want wait anymore when iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus apps get stuck, you can just force iPhone to reboot:

• Press and hold down Power button for a few seconds till Power off appears;
• Power if off, wait for about 1 or two minute and then turn on iPhone 7/7 Plus.

Method 2. Resume app download or update on App Store to fix iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus app stuck issue

This method can directly fix iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus stuck in "iPhone app waiting" state while downloading or installing an app. Here is how to do it:

• Reboot iPhone and go to App Store;
• Locate the app you want to download > Tab Free button to download free app version or purchase for a paid version;
• Tab Install button to proceed.

Method 3. Sign out and sign in to App Store to fix iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus app stuck ‘waiting’ error

• Reboot iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus, go to Settings;
• Tab Store (App Store) > Apple ID > Sign Out;
• Open App Store on iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus > Navigate to the Featured;
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen < Tab Sign in;
• Select Use Existing Apple ID and log in to your account.

Now you can redownload wanted app and the stuck app issue on iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus will be solved.

Method 4. Remove and reinstall app later on stuck iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus in app waiting state

When apps stuck in downloading, installing or updating in iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus with waiting state, you can also remove and reinstall it later:

• Reboot stuck iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus;
• Go to Settings > General > Usage;
• Tab on stuck apps under Storage > Tab Delete App button to delete apps that cause iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus stuck;
• Re-download the app from App Store again later.

Extra effective methods to fix iPhone X/8/7/7 Plus app stuck on waiting issue

1. Switch wirelss network and verify/configure network settings to make sure that your iPhone is connected properly to network so that iOS device will not get stuck while downloading or installing apps;

2. Upgrade iOS system to new version: sometimes new apps may not be compatible with the old iOS system. Therefore, it’s highly necessary for you to upgrade iOS system timely to fix the app stuck issue on iPhone 7/7 Plus.

I was having the same issue. None of my apps were finished downloading and my phone would not lock. None of my apps would open nor would my control center come up. I spent the day speaking to different apple representatives and none of us could figure out what to do. After many different attempts, I knew from the start that all I had to do was to get it to turn off but it wouldn't force restart nor go into safe mode or anything. I even tried connecting it to my MacBook Air to restore it again or update it and it wouldn't work. Until, well I'm not sure if all iPhone's do this but if you click the lock button three times, AssistiveTouch comes up. If you click on it then click device>more>restart, it should turn off then turn back on and from there it took me to the start up screen and I just had to set up my iPhone again. So my assumption is that maybe the restore process just never finished, I really don't know but hey it works now!

I will be working with Apple to troubleshoot but in the mean time:

Open up the App Store, tap on your circular profile icon, which will open up your Account page, then tap on "Purchased" from there, Next, if you have a family account, select “My Purchases”. There's the "All" tab to see everything you've ever purchased (even free apps) and "Not on this iPhone" for things you might want to redownload.

Ok, once you are there, you will see two things: Those with blue cloud with arrow down and a spinning circle with a part missing.

Here is what I found. After waiting all night for the apps to download, I started going through and tapping on the ones with spinning circles. For SOME, as soon as I tapped it, it said OPEN in the grey oval. About 50 of my apps we all of a sudden visible, ready to go. But after another day and a half, no more have appeared and the method I used does not work .

Please give it a try and report back. I will get back here after talking with apple. I will reply to my own and share my saga, for those who are interested.

Okay after hours and hours messing around with this, I tried to do a restore from a local backup of my old phone. That in itself was a bit of an ordeal because of the inability to relocate where backups are stored.

Anyway, restoring from a local backup saved downloading 100GB photo library. But the app downloading issue persists -- why apps aren't simply restored from a backup I don't know.

As noted above, tapping on *some* of the "downloading circle" icons in the App Store app causes them to be marked as downloaded (the icon changes to "open"). Neither a hard reset of the iPhone or logging in/out of the App Store seem to do anything at all.

Frustrating.

Same thing here except some of my apps have downloaded. Some say waiting and other are stuck at the 7 pm position though the download.

I even tried downloading iTunes 12.6.3 to try to see if the apps would restore but have been unable to unlock the backup.

I am having the same issue with my daughters new iPhone X. She Upgraded from the 6s to the X and her profile and pictured transferred to the new device, but her apps are stuck and will not load. AppStore will not work for updates either. Seems to be a problem with AppStore?

Just got off the phone with AppleCare and now the apps are downloaded. Suggest you call AC at (800-275-2273) if you have the time.

After reviewing a number of things I had done, we did a hard reset. Sound up, sound down then hold the power switch until the white Apple shows. Still didn't change anything.

I deleted one app Then back to the app store>Profile Icon>Purchases and searched for it. When I clicked the cloud icon, it started downloading.

WARNING: even though I backed up my phone to the cloud and the computer, the data was missing from my app that I deleted.

After two deletes, I just tapped on the blue cloud and it started to download. It appears it will only do one app at at time this way. You can select 2, but they download one by one.

At this point, I went to the home screen touched a darkened app and it started downloading. You can touch more than one but the download one ofter the other. You still have to reenter passwords and ID.

For now it is working.

Here’s what I think is happening.

If you do a “Restore from iCloud” , the App Store actually gets a list of every app that you have ever downloaded from the beginning of time. I’ve always found it annoying that Apple won’t let you delete stupid one-off apps that you download. Sure you can “hide” them but why not just delete them?

Anyways, the Restore gets stuck trying to download apps that are dead and missing from the App Store or that or incompatible with iOS 11.

If you go into the App Store, you’ll see a bunch of apps with the pending spinning circle. You can tap on these and pause he download. You’ll see some with a greyed our iCloud. You should hide these by swiping left. Stop all the spinning circle apps. Hide all those with a greyed our iCloud. Hide any garbage you no longer want. Does this carefully as the list updates slowly and it’s easy to hide something you want.

Delete any apps that are in the loading phase. These are probably the blockers that have gummed up the whole system.

Once you do this you can selectively get back on track.

Do note: this completely obliterated the advantage of restoring from iCloud. You will lose data, settings, and app layout. Extremely annoying.

After much searching I found a quick fix to this problem.

On my particular set up it turned out that I had a full iCloud account which meant the apps wouldn't load. So simply, adding more iCloud storage fixed the problem.

Here's how to do thats:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/ht201318

As soon as I added the extra storage (which you have to pay for) the apps that were 'stuck' downloaded in no time.

NB:

Check this solution first - rather than all of the reset, delete or restore fixes that are suggested.

I have a lot of apps - around 200 or more.

Another solution would be to get rid of a load of apps!

Hope this helps.

Sorry for the poor grammar and typos in my original post. Getting used to the X. Not that that is an excuse for grammar. Haha. I was unable to edit my original post. Here is a cleaner version.

—

Here’s what I think is happening.

If you do a “Restore from iCloud” , the App Store actually gets a list of every app that you have ever downloaded from the beginning of time. I’ve always found it annoying that Apple won’t let you delete stupid one-off apps that you download. Sure you can “hide” them but why not just delete them from your account altogether?

Anyways, the Restore gets stuck trying to download apps that are dead and missing from the App Store or that are incompatible with iOS 11.

If you go into the App Store, you’ll see a bunch of apps with the pending download spinning circle. You can tap on these and pause the download. You’ll see some with a greyed out iCloud icon. Hide these by swiping left. Stop all the spinning circle apps. Hide all those with a greyed out iCloud. While you are at it, hide any garbage you no longer want either. Do this carefully as the list updates slowly and it’s easy to hide something you want.

Back on your home screen, delete any apps that are in the loading phase. These are probably the blockers that have gummed up the whole system.

Once you do this you can selectively get back on track by picking and choosing the apps you want in the App Store.

As others have noted, this completely obliterated the advantage of restoring from iCloud. You may lose data and settings if the app didn’t store them in iCloud. You will absolutely lose app layout. Extremely annoying.

When I set up the new iphonex, The apps hung up for a while. Tapping them led to the download. The problem I have now is, I cannot download new apps from the App Store. The phone asks me to “double tap,” but nothing happens. Any thoughts?

Had the same issue. I followed James Mol post but nothing happened. After 2 days called Apple Support.

The problem for me was the restore was interrupted and stopped in the middle of the restore. This is what she told me to do and it worked.

Do a force restart. For the iphone x, do this right after the other in this order 1. press the volume up button 2. press the volume down button 3. press and HOLD the power button until the apple appears on the screen

The force restart 'kickstarted' the restart and all the apps started downloading again.

The only problem was I lost some apps. Option 1 is to reset and erase and do another restore from backup. Option 2 is to download the apps again. I chose option 2.

Hope this helps

After 48 hours of frustration, the answer to this problem for me was somewhat obvious. I was upgrading from a 6S to an X, but when I tried to restore my backup, most of the apps were "stuck" in a state of loading. What i needed to do was to go back to my 6S, upgrade that phone to the latest iOS version, and THEN update all of my apps. Many of the apps need to be updated to the latest iOS, which is the version that was by-default loaded on the new X, and created an issue when trying to sync. SO NET, before you save a backup, refresh all of your apps to work on the iOS version that will be on the new phone.

- Step 1: Upgrade iOS on old phone

- Step 2: Update all apps on old phone

- Step 3: Save backup of old phone

- Step 4: Begin setup of new phone

- Step 5: When appropriate, restore backup (which was made with latest version of iOS and apps)

hope this helps.

So basically what Apple has done is taken it the apps to transfer on iTunes on your computer and making you recover them from icloud. So if you will be working with them tell them to put the tab back so people can recover them off of their computer instead of the galactically slow iCloud! This has got to be the worst move ever!

Thanks