iPad and iPhone not installing app updates on ios5

Gavin Scott · Sat 01 Sep, 2012 20.06

Both my devices are having a fail moment (and have been for a few weeks) when it comes to updating apps. They begin to load, then say "waiting", then stop. After several attempts a dialogue box says

Unable to download Application
{app name} could not be downloaded at this time
[Done] [Retry]

There's a million threads out there on the web about this - obviously a common problem, but not yet found a fix - and I stupidly attempted to delete Spotify and reinstall and now it won't run.

Any clues?

Critique · Sat 01 Sep, 2012 20.13

Are you running iOS 5.1? If not, I'd suggest updating to that for a start. Personally, I can still download new and update pre-existing apps on my iPad, so could it be something to do with your Apple ID? Could you sign in on another one and try to download, say, Spotify on a different account?

Gavin Scott · Sat 01 Sep, 2012 20.26

I'm running 5.1.1.

I only have one apply ID. How would I try on another? I have signed out of my ID and back in, but nothing.

Critique · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 00.06

Gavin Scott wrote:I'm running 5.1.1.

I only have one apply ID. How would I try on another? I have signed out of my ID and back in, but nothing.

Ooh, it sounds very bizarre... You could always sign out, tap and download a new app, and make a new Apple ID, which is relatively painless.

When iTunes is open, do App updates download to iTunes?

Sput · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 08.53

Are you running with very little space free? I find mine's a bit tempramental when it doesn't have enough room to download the updates, but it's not very good at telling me.

Gavin Scott · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 13.42

No, I have plenty space. Its across two devices too.

There are apparently thousands of users (I can't attest to the veracity of that claim) who are experiencing something similar. Some say its a server overload issue at Apple, others say its definitely a back-end problem but Apple have gone very quiet about it.

I managed to get Spotify to update when I went out last night via 3G; so it could be an issue with updating via WiFi/my WiFi/my network settings. Someone suggested that setting their DNS to 8.8.8.8 helped, but not for me.

There's a chap who's compiled a list of fix suggestions - a lot of users end up doing a complete restore on their device and then a full backup - but I can't because Garage Band (a fairly large app) has failed to sync to my iTunes account - it says "a file is corrupted" when I attempt to update/find latest version on my PC, and although I know I'll be able to download the app again (probably), I don't want to lose the tunes I've been working on.

Its very odd. One smallish app on my phone updated via WiFi last night when I got home, but another (Skype) failed. I think there's around 7 on my iPad waiting to update.

If I start the updates and they don't succeed, they're left in a limbo state, where pressing their icon attempts to update, rather than launch. So one tends not to - rather than lose functionality when you'd like to run the program.

Plugging in to PC/iTunes doesn't help - nor does "find latest version of software" via iTunes.

Critique · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 14.29

So it's not even effecting all Apps? Yet it isn't only certain apps with the problem, because I just redownloaded Skype without a problem.

Sounds like a back-end problem with accounts. I reckon only some Apple ID's are effected, so everything would work if you were signed in to a different account.

Gavin Scott · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 15.06

Critique wrote:So it's not even effecting all Apps? Yet it isn't only certain apps with the problem, because I just redownloaded Skype without a problem.

Sounds like a back-end problem with accounts. I reckon only some Apple ID's are effected, so everything would work if you were signed in to a different account.

It is affecting all apps, its just that they may be unaffected individually, if you see what I mean.

Why would there be an issue with my ID do you think? Using another ID would confuse matters, surely, if I attempt to download apps and have them recognised by iTunes, no?

Critique · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 15.24

Gavin Scott wrote:
Critique wrote:So it's not even effecting all Apps? Yet it isn't only certain apps with the problem, because I just redownloaded Skype without a problem.

Sounds like a back-end problem with accounts. I reckon only some Apple ID's are effected, so everything would work if you were signed in to a different account.
It is affecting all apps, its just that they may be unaffected individually, if you see what I mean.

Why would there be an issue with my ID do you think? Using another ID would confuse matters, surely, if I attempt to download apps and have them recognised by iTunes, no?

If it's only effecting so many people, it would sound more like it's effecting the accounts. Of course, using a second ID will probably confuse things. I made the mistake of using one Amazon account on my Kindle, and switching accounts after a few purchases, which made it a pain when I needed to redownload books.

Surprising that Apple haven't done anything about it.

Gavin Scott · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 15.27

Very surprising, given the volume of topics which abound on their forums.

(Its "affecting", by the way - sorry to be a grammar Nazi).

Critique · Sun 02 Sep, 2012 15.36

Gavin Scott wrote:(Its "affecting", by the way - sorry to be a grammar Nazi).

Aaah, I also confuse those two. If something 'effects' something, then it is 'affected', no?