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Apps Stuck “Installing”, “Waiting”, or “Loading” on iPhone or iPad

Mitch BartlettNovember 7, 2017 Comments (29)

Take a look at this screenshot. I tried installing apps on my Apple iPhone, and I received a trifecta problem where the apps were stuck “Installing”, “Waiting”, and “Loading”.

iOS apps stuck

Fortunately, I’m usually able to fix this problem where the apps won’t fully install with these fixes.

Fix 1 – Toggle Network Connection Off and On

Simply disconnecting from the network, then re-connecting usually takes care of this problem. The easiest way to accomplish this is to enable, then disable Airplane Mode.

  • Go to “Settings” and turn “Airplane Mode” to “On“. Wait 10 seconds, then turn it off.

Most of the time, the apps will complete the installation.

Fix 2 – Soft Reset

Restart your Apple device by performing a soft reset. Your data will not be lost with a soft reset.

  1. Quick press “Volume Up“.
  2. Quick press “Volume Down“.
  3. Hold Sleep“/”Wake” button until the Apple logo appears.
    • If the above steps do not work, press and hold the “Sleep“/”Wake” button and the “Volume Down“ button simultaneously for about 10 to 20 seconds. Hopefully, the Apple logo will appear and the iPhone will finally turn restart.

You will see the white Apple logo, and the apps should continue to install.

Categories: iPhone

Author Mitch Bartlett

Through my career that spans over 20 years I have become an expert in Microsoft Systems Administration, Android, and macOS. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful knowledgebase for everyone.

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Comments

  1. Emma says:
    September 26, 2022 at 4:08 am

    Some websites introduce some iOS system repair tool like Reiboot or Joyoshare UltFix can fix these kind of iPhone stuck issue, are they really works?

  2. Christina Constantin says:
    August 11, 2022 at 1:29 pm

    ugh!!! none of them worked for me.

  3. Ayman says:
    June 28, 2022 at 10:07 am

    Nothing of the above worked for me
    Problem solved with long press on each app and selecting PREORITIZE DOWNLOAD

  4. Ken W says:
    June 2, 2022 at 9:39 pm

    Bought new 9th generation iPad today. A few apps are stuck “loading,” all the rest are “waiting.” Tried various reboots, pausing, and other suggestions, nothing works.
    Ridiculous and maddening.

  5. Karen says:
    April 6, 2022 at 9:15 pm

    My non-apple apps were stuck in Waiting for over 2 hours (I’d gone shopping). Turned iPad off & back on and all of them loaded

  6. Jim Wagoner says:
    February 5, 2022 at 10:05 am

    We had a number of apps that wouldn’t download as we set up my wife’s new iPad. We ended up wiping/resetting the iPad and did a new manual setup from her iCloud backup rather than from her old iPad mini. All the apps loaded successfully.

  7. James Igoe says:
    November 20, 2021 at 2:42 pm

    Transfer seemed to finish, but apps were not loading. Tried many things, flipped airplane mode, restarting, installing apps directly, but not until I logged in to the payment, did they start updating. Seems required for even free apps.

  8. Jessica says:
    November 8, 2021 at 10:27 am

    I discovered it was because I am using an older iPad which won’t update to most current IOS so the apps need to download an older version. I went into the App Store under purchases and hit the download button for the ghost apps which then asked if I wanted to download an older version. I clicked yes and they finished downloading and work fine

  9. Giles says:
    August 22, 2021 at 1:02 pm

    Nothing is working for mine! Stuck in “loading” pattern. Have reset, on/off etc….nothing

  10. Jill Ayearst says:
    August 20, 2021 at 8:57 am

    #2 Fixed mine as well! Thanks!!

  11. Mk says:
    July 16, 2021 at 5:30 pm

    Soft reset did the trick. Thanks!

  12. Pam Wohlers says:
    July 15, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    I purchased a iphone12 yesterday and have tried all of the “fixes” to no avail. All of the apps successfully transferred from my other phone but will not finish loading.
    What to try next?

  13. Terrilynn Freedman says:
    July 8, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    I tried both fixes and neither worked. I logged in to Apple.id website, logged out, logged in, logged out then in again and BOOM. All apps loaded.

  14. Pam M says:
    June 29, 2021 at 9:03 pm

    The airplane mode fix did the trick!! Thank you very much!!

  15. Alan says:
    May 24, 2021 at 4:01 pm

    Thanks – the soft reset worked. You have saved me hours.

  16. Tom says:
    April 24, 2021 at 5:31 am

    I have no idea why but #2 worked like a charm! Thanks so much!

  17. Kim says:
    March 11, 2021 at 3:50 am

    THANK YOU! The second option also worked for me!

  18. Thunder says:
    October 26, 2020 at 9:59 am

    Zillion thanks, it worked great.

  19. syl says:
    October 11, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    I was struggling : / for a whole day to get my apps to be loaded and specially because some are purchased, my solution worked out with the press and hold sleep/ wake button waited about 20 sec. turned it back on and, bingo! problem solved. :]

  20. Kelly says:
    March 21, 2020 at 4:26 pm

    Fix 1 didn’t repair the youtube upload waiting problem.

    The description for fix 2 doesn’t match what my ipad displays; the Apple logo never appeared.

  21. Dolores Gill says:
    November 21, 2019 at 10:22 am

    Hi, when I go to read my scripture for the day in JW.ORG for the last 2 days at the bottom of the screen in a small black box it says catalog loading can you tell me what this means? Thank You, Dolores Gill

  22. Ammu says:
    November 19, 2018 at 2:49 am

    hi am getting error as “unable to install calendar please try again later” . Not only calendar sometimes for apps like stock, watch etc. Please tell me why it is happening.

  23. Scott says:
    May 13, 2018 at 10:38 am

    HERE is the real solution The underlying problem is with all available download threads (10?) being blocked on apps which either (a) no longer exist in the app store or (b) are not compatible with the version of iOS installed on the device. After repeatedly pausing the downloads and going into the AppStore to “reset” the download state and rebooting, you can whittle yourself down to where there are only 10 apps waiting and they are all as I described. From here, if you start clicking on them, you’ll actually get the error message saying the app can’t be installed and it will give you an option to delete it. Then when there are NO apps in the download queue, reboot one more time and you’ll be able to go into the App Store once more and re-initiate downloads for your remaining apps that are still compatible and available. VERY painful, but it will work.

  24. Navdeep Singh says:
    April 16, 2018 at 12:44 am

    I restored my iPhone from backup via itunes and after that all apps stuck in waiting/loading and there is data in those it apps I can’t delete and reinstall it as i will loose data …please help me

  25. Andrew says:
    January 25, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    OH MY GOSH THX SOOO MUCH I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE THERE FOR EVER THE SECOND ONE YOU SAID DO WORKS THX

  26. Aryan Gupta says:
    January 23, 2018 at 6:57 am

    Thanks, It’s working like charm!

  27. Irene says:
    December 3, 2017 at 2:30 am

    On my home Page, keeps saying loading. Can someone help?

  28. Nadia says:
    November 30, 2017 at 12:51 pm

    It did work for me.
    Thanks for sharing!

  29. Mike comeau says:
    November 24, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    This did not work for my google hangouts app. It is waiting and will not let me delete it or open it.

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My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

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Last Updated on November 7, 2017 by Mitch Bartlett