Why do apps take so long to download? "Waiting to download" in Google Play Store

Where do Android OS users download various software from? That’s right, from the application store, but sometimes the Play Market error “Waiting for downloading” appears, what should I do in this case? How to solve the problem? There may be several reasons for such a failure; below we will discuss each in detail.

Why does the Play Store say waiting for download? Trying a reboot

If you have such a problem, you can solve it in different ways. Among which there are the simplest ones, and there are also those that require a lot of time. Let's look at simple options first.

The very first thing is to reboot the device. Many errors appear after a system failure, which is often corrected by simply restarting the smartphone. You should click restart and try to download the program again.

Poor internet connection

If you have been waiting for a long time for downloading, updating, and nothing happens, the cause of the failure may be an unstable Internet connection. This happens when the traffic on the SIM card ends or has already ended, or the Wi-Fi connection has been interrupted. You need to check the network in a web browser, if everything is functioning correctly, use the next option.

Removable media

Sometimes the functioning of the Play Market is affected by the flash drive in the gadget. It is important to ensure the stability of its operation and high-quality performance. A card reader or other device will help with this, you can also try just pulling it out and trying to download the necessary software.

Waiting for downloading in the Play Store, what should I do? Automatic update

When downloading a new program, a pending notification often occurs if already downloaded ones are currently being updated. This happens when automatic updating has been set to “Always”/“Only via WI-FI” in the Play Market settings.

You can check it like this:

  • Go to Google Play, click on the 3 bars (Menu). You can also swipe from the left edge of the display to the right to display menu sections.

  • Go to “My applications and games”;
  • If the same thing appears as in the picture below, then you need to wait for it to complete and then continue downloading. You can stop this; to do this, simply press “X” next to the installed programs;

  • If there is an “Update” button next to each product, then the reasons for “Waiting for download” should be looked for further.

We remove all data from the Play Market

You need to follow this path:

Settings/Applications/Play Market

Users of devices with Android 6.0 and later can go to “Memory”, press the “Clear cache” and then “Reset” keys, confirming the actions. In older versions, these buttons are located in the first window.


Next, go to the “Menu” and tap “Uninstall updates”, click “OK”. All updates will be removed and the original version of Google Play will be restored. After some time, with a good network connection, the application will update itself to the latest version, and the error will disappear.


Removing and adding a Google account

  • In order to remove Google profile information from your smartphone, you need to select “Accounts” in “Settings”.

  • Go to Google.
  • Click on the button in the form of a basket “Delete account”, and confirm the action by clicking the corresponding button again.

  • Next, to resume your account, go to “Accounts” and “Add account” again.
  • Select “Google” from the list.
  • Next, a window for adding a profile will appear, where you can enter an existing one or open a new one. Now you have an account, so enter your phone number or email in the appropriate line, that is, the data you previously registered with. Tap "Next".
  • Enter your password and click Next.

  • Click “Accept” to confirm all agreements and terms of use of Google services.

Resetting the settings

If you have done all of the above and the error still appears on your Samsung, Xiaomi or other Android device, you will have to reset the settings to factory settings. This is quite easy to do. You need to find the corresponding item in the settings. Don't forget to make backups so as not to lose important information, photos and videos.

If you don't know what to do when the Play Market "Waiting to download" error appears, use the instructions provided in this article. Good luck!

Quite often, users of Android devices encounter a problem when applications from the Play Market are not downloaded or updated. If you are one of those users who have encountered this, do not worry, because now we will tell you how to fix this problem.

Solving the problem

To solve the problem, you need to roll back the version of the installed Play Store and delete the data. To do this, do the following:
Go to Settings – Applications – Manage applications.
Find a program Google Play Market and click on it.
In the window that opens, select Uninstall updates.

In addition to all this, you can delete the existing cache and erase accumulated data.

Additional actions

It may look strange, but changing the date and time on your device to the correct ones can also help. The fact is that sometimes Google services refuse to work with devices that have the above parameters set incorrectly.

Flashing the phone

If neither changing the time nor clearing the cache and data helped, then the 100% correct solution that will help correct the error that has appeared is to flash the device. How to do this is described in detail on our website.

We hope that the described methods helped you fix the problem with downloading and updating applications from the Google Play Market.

If you are installing an application and see an error with some number, for example, error 919, you can use the following recommendations (the error may also appear without a code).


1. Restart (turn off and turn on) your phone or tablet. In most cases, this is what helps (at least that’s what I always do).

2. Free up more memory space. Check whether your phone or tablet has enough memory to download applications from the Play Store. If programs do not take up very much, then games may require a lot of free space. Remove unnecessary movies, music and applications. If you don't know how to do this, this will help you.

3. Often the cause of errors can be the Google Play application itself, when it gets stuck and starts to show off. It is recommended to select Applications in the settings, then select Google Play Market, clear the cache and erase data.

4. If the previous advice did not produce results, you need to roll back the Play Store update to the old version. To do this, select the Google Play application and click the “Uninstall updates” button. Next, go to the Play Market and try downloading the required application or game again.

5. Well, and finally, check if your Internet connection is stable. To do this, open your browser and try to access any website. If you download via 3G, disable “airplane mode” in the network access settings. If you are connecting via Wi-Fi, turn it off and on again.

In general, in any unclear situations with installing applications, try restarting the device, clearing the cache, erasing Play Store data, or clearing the memory.

Recently I encountered a problem that I urgently needed to update the application, but there was no available WI-FI network nearby. I decided to update using the mobile network, unchecked the box in the market, but the download still did not start, instead the play market wrote “Waiting for WI-FI network” and the process stopped. There is of course no option in the Play Store settings related to the cause of this problem.

Video. Applications cannot be downloaded from Play Market without WI-FI on Xiaomi with MIUI 7

Video. Applications cannot be downloaded from Play Market without WI-FI on Xiaomi with MIUI 8

Why Xiaomi refuses to download applications and games using the mobile network

In fact, everything turned out to be very simple and clear, and the play market turned out to be not to blame for the current problem. My Xiaomi operating system, MIUI, has a feature called a built-in bootloader. He is responsible for downloads, updates, their speed, size - well, in general, for everything related to downloading data to a smartphone. In this case, all applications automatically pick up its settings. For example, if the downloader only downloads via WI-FI, then no matter how much you want, you won’t be able to download anything without it. This is exactly what happened, the Play Market simply could not update the application, since the file size when downloading was larger than the maximum allowed in the bootloader settings.

To be able to download and update applications not only via WI-FI, but also via a mobile network, follow the instructions below.

Instructions for setting up the Xiaomi bootloader (MIUI)

First, go to “Tools” - Tools on the smartphone’s desktop. Here we select the “Downloads” icon - Downloads.


A window opens in front of us where we can view downloaded applications, games, pictures and everything like that. We are interested in settings, so we click on the button with three dots in the upper right corner.


Menu items pop up, one of which is called “Settings”. This is exactly what we need, so we click on it.


Now we are looking for the phrase “Download size limit” - a limitation of the mobile Internet. By default there is usually 1MB. We are not happy with this because we want to install apps with a large size. Let's tap on this point.


We select from the required options the one that suits us and click “Ok”.
That's all, now you can safely download and update applications using the mobile Internet.

Note: if you do not have unlimited Internet on your smartphone or you use up the allocated traffic very quickly, then it is best to choose small sizes for downloaded files, as this can hit your wallet.

The Play Market application store offers a huge range of programs. The storage contains applications so that the memory of a mobile friend is occupied to the limit, and the user can play toys, check the weather, use navigators or surf the Internet. The list of possibilities is endless, just like the applications in the play market are endless.

But sooner or later the moment comes when the application is found and selected, the user clicks “Install”, the market writes “Downloading” and that’s it. All in the sense that nothing further happens. The download slider has been running for a long time, the program won't download, download percentages and megabytes do not increase. They either froze or did not appear at all. Can't download.

There is a cure for the play market error. Let's look at treatment from simple cases to severe situations. And it is absolutely not necessary to connect the gadget to the computer to correct the error.

The very first thing in case of an error is often the only correct one

Reboot your tablet or smartphone and don’t bother your head with unnecessary details. After this, you will be able to download applications from the play market in 90% of cases. To do this, when the screen is on, hold the screen power button for a long time. A menu will appear with the words “Reboot”. There are many versions of Android devices and OS, but the phrase should mean “reboot”.

“Power Off”, “Turn off” will also work. After turning off, simply turn on the gadget. If you hold the screen power button for a very long time, the device will turn off without question. Another option is to turn off the device - remove the battery. Then return it to its place and turn on the device.

If after this the play market does not allow you to download and install, look further.

Second possible reason

Check the Internet. Is it on a smartphone or tablet? Open any program that uses the Internet for work. On your device they are almost all like this.

For example, the weather. Click update weather. If the data arrives immediately and is new, then there is access to the Internet. Or, as an option, open a browser - Yandex, Chrome or any other. Go to your favorite page. If it works, it means there is Internet.

Many people use the SpeedTest program to check. Place it on your phone or tablet in advance. And in doubtful situations, it shows not only whether there is Internet, but also its speed. At low download speeds (less than 0.1 Mbs), the market will also work slowly and, as a result, will not download applications.

In case of slow Internet, look for a better reception location, or find out the reason in the mobile or wi-fi network. Downloading anything at low speed is problematic.

When there is no Internet, the weather does not come, pages don't open, speedtest says there is no connection:

  1. If the connection is via Wi-Fi, see if there is a network icon in the top system bar of the phone or tablet screen. There is no active connection icon, which means the connection needs to be found. Here or you need to turn it on in the gadget (it turned off accidentally) “Settings” - “Wi-Fi” - turn on Wi-Fi with the slider. Or find a distribution point - a router and see what's wrong with it. For example, it can be overloaded - unplugged and plugged back in. It won't get any worse for him, and in a couple of minutes the Internet may appear.
  2. When the Internet connection is made through a mobile operator, then, as a rule, in the system bar next to the network scale there are the letters 2G, 3G, 4 G, and up and down arrows. But the visual display is individual for each manufacturer and version of the Android OS. In any case, check if mobile data is turned on. “Settings” – “Data transfer” – “Mobile data” - enable transfer.

The mistakes are not yours - the mistakes are in the store

The play market has its own mistakes when the program cannot be downloaded. Not on the mobile device, but on the servers of the store itself. Maybe this is due to server overload - many users came for applications at the same time, maybe there is another reason, but as a result the applications are not downloaded. There is only one recommendation - wait, it will go away on its own. It usually goes away within an hour.

If possible, check where the error is. Take another Android device and try installing the problematic program on it.

Radical treatment - 100% guarantee

There are still limitations in this case. If the phone or tablet is from a store, it Factory firmware installed(home-grown craftsmen did not delve into it, did not install root, etc.), then this will definitely help. In cases of non-native firmware, nothing can be said - you need to know what was loaded into the phone.

So, if the gadget is a store-bought one and over time it just got such a glitch - downloading software from the market does not happen, then you need to do a factory reset. Get ready for all your data to be erased. Installed applications have been deleted, and passwords and beauty on the screen will have to be installed again. Saved games will also be deleted if they are not in online format.

Copy photos and in general, everything valuable that is on the computer is transferred to the cloud, to a flash drive (if you do a factory reset, the flash drive is not erased). And go to your phone settings. “Settings” - “Backup and reset” - “Reset settings”. Next, confirm that you really decided to return to the state of the new phone and wait for the procedure to complete.

An alternative to the Play Market - a lot of tasty things

Many Android device enthusiasts are not happy with the fact that Google monopolizes app distribution. They are also not satisfied with the fact that free and often paid applications contain intrusive advertising. Programmers will write free programs and will also insert advertising into them to make money. Others will write programs to remove these ads.

These people united into a community that created its own catalog of programs. It has the same thing as in the play store. Of course, here you won’t find online banks or Gett taxis, but ad-free decorations, games and much more are present.

First you need allow installation of programs from unknown sources. Yes, manufacturers say that this is dangerous, but you can find out how many viruses are spread through the Play Market from Internet news publications. Many. Just think about what you bet and everything will be fine. “Settings” - “Security” - “Unknown sources” - enable.

Now you need to download and install the w3bsit3-dns.com community program directory. You need to do the following:

  1. In your browser, look for the 4PDA site. In it, go to the forum.
  2. Register, otherwise the catalog will not do anything.
  3. In the forum search, enter “App&Game 4PDA”.
  4. The first search window will be about the program you are looking for.
  5. Go to the discussion (just click on the top line with the name of the topic).
  6. You read and look for how to download the program. There will be a link.
  7. Download and you won’t have to wait long.
  8. Go to downloads and click on the downloaded file.
  9. Confirm the installation.
  10. Now go to the new program. You now have a large catalog of free programs on your device, most of which do not require money or display advertising.
  11. Using the catalog is no more difficult than the play market, but it has its own quirks. It’s not difficult to figure it out, but it’s nice to make your smartphone or tablet convenient and without advertising.

Problems downloading apps from the Google play market have always existed. This is due both to problems with the phone or tablet, and to problems with the market itself. You can force the market to give away the program. You can also not use the play market, but download applications from other sources.