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Flahorn

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2019
1
0
Moscow, Russia
Had similar problem, and neither reboot nor reset helped me, but I found a very simple solution. Just 3D Touch or long tap icon of the app which is stuck on waiting, and tap prioritize in the menu appeared. Not sure if this button is called “Prioritize” in English locale, too lazy to change iPhone’s language, but I hope you’ve got what I mean.
 

kurisub

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2005
51
64
La Mesa,CA
Had similar problem, and neither reboot nor reset helped me, but I found a very simple solution. Just 3D Touch or long tap icon of the app which is stuck on waiting, and tap prioritize in the menu appeared. Not sure if this button is called “Prioritize” in English locale, too lazy to change iPhone’s language, but I hope you’ve got what I mean.
That should work for apps that are “stuck” but unfortunately the problem some of us are experiencing isn’t apps that are “stuck”, but instead are app updates that refuse to even start. And worse yet it’s spread across all devices associated with our Apple IDs.


Anyway, thanks for the tip. I just wanted to emphasize that some of us our experiencing a different problem since the mods decided to merge all these threads.
 

mzanker

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 14, 2008
307
111
United Kingdom
Just to clarify my original post that started this thread - it only affects my iPhone and the app updates get stuck on "Waiting...", not going back to "Update" as some are reporting. My iPad on the same iCloud account is NOT affected, nor is my Apple TV.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
Yeah, in my case, restarting the Phone doesn't fix anything. I'm also affected across all my devices…my iPad started doing the same thing yesterday as well.

What particularly worrisome is that doing a system update (in my case installing the latest public Beta on my iPad) changed nothing.

I started having this problem today on my iPad and iPhone. App’s just won’t update. Something is obviously broken on Apple’s end since according to the update history some apps updated today.


I have 21 updates on my iPad and 11 on my iPhone and I can’t update any of them
 
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Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
As of today on my iPad and iPhone, tapping update all doesn’t update any of the apps. Tapping the update button next to an app, spins briefly and then turns back to update.

I have 21 apps with an update on my iPad and 11 on my iPad and none of them will update. The iPhone last installed an update today, the iPad last yesterday.

Restarting the devices doesn’t help.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
I found that if I offloaded an app that wouldn’t update, I could then redownload the app without losing data. The one app I tried that with though, continually crashed on launch after I tried this. I had to delete it and download it again. That downloaded the latest version, but I lost data.

Edit: I tried a different app and that one offloaded and reinstalled without problems, so this can be a work around, but may have problems.
 
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Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
Restarted your router?

No, but this is a problem over both Wifi and cellular. Also I can download apps from the store, just not updates. Finally I’ve seen some other reports of this issue, so it’s not just me.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
I pulled out my old iPhone 5s and reproduced the problem on it. Since it’s running iOS 12.4.x this problem isn’t iOS or device specific. It seems to be account specific.

I called into Apple who wasn’t aware of any problems. They opened an engineering ticket, but I’d suggest anyone having this problem do so as well. Having multiple tickets for the same problem might get more attention.
 

TravelerHD

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2019
14
6
I created an account to chime in and mention that I'm having the issue on my iPhone too. I've tried a host of things, like different wifi/cellular networks, restting network settings, signing out and back into the App Store, and more. No luck.

EDIT: My issue is apps refusing update, not a problem with them being stuck on "Waiting". A moderator took my comment from another thread and merged it here. I'm having a different problem than OP.

I also forgot to mention, I'm testing a few things on Test Flight.
 
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cdcdoc

macrumors regular
Jul 1, 2012
138
56
I had the same problem on my 11 pro with 13.3...I logged out and logged in from App Store (not icloud) and it worked.
 

Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
Can the mod who keeps merging the two separate App Store problems (update button doesn’t work vs stuck on waiting) into one thread stop doing that?

It makes it impossible to determine which issue people are posting about. Also the “update button not working” issue also affects iOS 12.

For me who has the update button problem, signing out of the App Store and back in doesn’t help. I wasn’t even signed in on my iPhone 5s to begin with and had the problem.
 

TravelerHD

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2019
14
6
Can the mod who keeps merging the two separate App Store problems (update button doesn’t work vs stick on waiting) into one thread stop doing that?

Agreed. I think these are two different issues. My updates aren't being stuck on "Waiting", they just aren't downloading at all.
 

kurisub

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2005
51
64
La Mesa,CA
Looks like wiping the device doesn't even fix it!
[automerge]1573755276[/automerge]
Agreed. I think these are two different issues. My updates aren't being stuck on "Waiting", they just aren't downloading at all.
At the very least the mods should update the thread title, as this is not about apps that are "stuck" or "waiting" to update. They flat out won't even initiate the app update.
 
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Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
I noticed something when trying to update all apps. When doing all at once I can see that the app is “cleaned” and then goes into the “waiting” state. Finally it’s get the newly updated blue dot, but the app isn’t actually updated. It’s still the old version and the update button is still there.

Also I’m not sure it’s account related after all. I logged out of the App Store and tried to update while not logged in and had the same problem.

I am curious though. Are people using the same Apple ID for both iCloud and iTunes? On my iPad and iPhone 7 I’m not. I am on my iPhone 5s though.
 

sammjordan

macrumors regular
Sep 23, 2009
144
44
I've been seeing this issue consistently since day 1 on my 11 Pro Max, and occasionally running iPadOS on my 10.5 Pro
 
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vinz.sordid

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2015
6
3
Same here... :(
There are some topics related to this on discussions.apple.com but no solution to this issue yet... :/
 
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Morac

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2009
2,172
611
Still having a problem on my iOS devices, but at least I can offload the apps as a work around.

Now I’m having the problem on my Apple TV as well. There’s a Disney+ app update which has the same problem where it spins and reverts back to update.
 

Gban1984

macrumors newbie
Nov 14, 2019
4
2
I’m have the same problem. No apps will update. I’ve done the same as others, rebooted, signed in and out of my Apple ID etc.. Nothing works. This post is to add to the count. It’s not just a small group. It’s a large enough group that it’s effecting how we can use our phone and iPads. Some of the apps have too much data to delete and the restore. It creates a bigger problem in trying to restore data. Some of which would be very difficult to recover. That’s not an answer.
 
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