How to Fix App Updates on Google Play Stuck Pending

Downloading apps from the Google Play Store should be a simple process. However, sometimes users may come across an issue where the on-screen note says download is pending, but the download never progresses from the pending stage.

If you are stuck with the "pending download" issue on your Android device, you will have to deal with it manually. Since there are many possible causes for this problem, you should try a number of methods before finding the solution. This article will walk you through them.

Clear Google Play cache

An overloaded cache can cause an app to malfunction, which can sometimes happen with the Play Store. This is especially common when you have many apps that the Play Store needs to check for updates and perform other related actions.

To clear the Play Store cache, you must:

1. Go to Parameters.
   
2. Then press the applications menu.
   
3. Then select Google Play Store from the list.
   
4. Now select Storage room from the menu.
   
5. Finally, press the Clear Cache button.
   

Clearing the cache usually fixes minor issues like the "Download Pending" error. If not, try some of the other methods in the article.

Adjust Queue

The Play Store automatically downloads all the latest versions of your apps to your device. This means that your application may be at the end of the queue and you should push it to the top.

To do this, you must:

1. Open the Play Store on your device.
   
2. Press the Menu (three horizontal lines) to the left of the search bar or on your Profile icon to the right.
   
3. Now choose My apps and games, you will see all apps currently in the download queue. If you don't see any, that's not the cause of the "pending download" issue. If the queue exists, go to step 4.
   
4. Then press the X next to an app to cancel the download.
   
5. Alternatively, you can press the "Stop" button to stop them all at once.

You can then download the app of your choice before returning to update the rest of your apps.

Delete your account and add it again

Some users manage to fix the problem by deleting their Google account from the Play Store and then adding it back. To do this, you must:

1. Again go to Parameters.
   
2. Now scroll down to User accounts section. On some versions of Android, the path is Accounts and backup > Users and accounts.
   
3. Find your Google account and tap on it.
   
4. Then press the Remove button.
   

Now enter the Play Store, enter your account information again and try to download the app.

Check Storage

If your device is running out of storage space, it will prevent you from downloading new apps. To check how much space you have left, you need to:

1. As usual, go to Parameters.
   
2. Scroll to Battery and storage ou Device maintenance on some versions and press the Storage room button.
   

3. Check if you have enough memory to download new apps. As a rule of thumb, most apps shouldn't take up more than 20-30MB of space. That said, some heavy apps like Messenger can use up to 500MB or more.

The presence of “bloatware” apps can negatively affect your phone's storage. These are apps that serve no purpose on your phone and use a lot of storage. As such, be sure to get rid of them to make way for new ones.

Also, a faulty SD card can sometimes cause problems when downloading new apps. To check if this is the case, remove the card and try downloading the app. If it downloads as usual to your internal storage, consider changing the map.

Disable your device's VPN

Some users install a virtual private network (VPN) to secure their online privacy, but they don't know that it can affect their downloads as well. If you have a VPN, you should disable it before trying to download the app again.

Usually, a VPN shouldn't prevent apps from downloading, but there are cases where it can affect the process. For example, this can happen if a new VPN update has issues. Try it and if the error goes away, try installing the VPN again.

Note that some VPNs have an ad/script blocking feature which could be causing the problem. If you trust the site or app, disable the feature, if available, and try again.

Time and date do not match

It may sound strange, but if the time and date on your smartphone does not match the official time and date, the Google Play Store may prevent you from downloading apps. Also, sometimes changing the time and date for a short time and then resetting them to their current state can solve your problem.

Try this:

1. As before, run the Parameters application.
   
2. Then go to General direction, on some versions of Android the path is System.
   
3. Now select Date and hour.
   
4. Si disabled, to fall over Automatic date and the time of Au.
5. Si Au, turn it off and change the time and date.
6. Wait a moment, then switch the Automatic date and time again it could be labeled as Set automatically.
   

Check Wi-Fi and data network

One of the most obvious solutions is to check if your wireless or data connection is working normally. If you have enough bandwidth on your data plan, try turning off Wi-Fi and turning on mobile data. If the app starts downloading, then the problem was in the network all along.

1. The easiest way to switch connections is to swipe your screen up and down to open the quick access bar, turn Wi-Fi turn off and turn off Mobile data ouch

More downloads pending

Hope some of the above steps helped you fix this problem. Most of the time, this common error is the result of a small application glitch that easily goes away. However, if the problem persists, then you might be experiencing some other system or hardware problem and thus you need to take your device to the local repair service.

Do you know of any other methods to fix the waiting for download problem? If so, share them in the comments below.