6 Ways to Fix Google Play Store Stuck at Waiting for Download Issue

Quick Tips

• Open Settings > System > Date and time > enable Automatic date and time.
• Ensure that you have chosen to download Play Store apps over any network type on your Android phone.
• Alternatively, you can manually install the Play Store app on your Android phone.

Basic Fixes

• Check internet connection: You can try switching to 5G or Wi-Fi to ensure that app downloads don’t stop on your Android phone.
• Force quit and relaunch Play Store: Just like other apps, force quit and relaunch the Play Store app to give it a fresh start.
• Disable VPN: A VPN connection can help you bypass country restrictions to download apps not available in your region. We suggest disabling it.

Fix 1: Check Date and Time of Your Phone

Due to incorrect date and time on your phone, Google Play Store may stop downloading apps when its server time and date don’t match with your device. To fix that, you need to correct the date and time on Android.

Step 1: Open the Settings app and then go to System.

Step 2: Tap on Date and time. Then, enable the toggle next to Automatic date & time option. If it’s already enabled, turn it off. Wait a few seconds and enable it again.

Restart the phone and then try to download the apps from Play Store.

Fix 2: Check App Download Preference

Google Play Store offers a native setting to let you select mobile data or Wi-Fi to download your apps. You can either choose of the three options – Wi-Fi only, any network, or ask every time. Choosing a different setting might hinder the process and throew download pending or waiting for download problem.

Step 1: Open the Play Store and then tap on the three horizontal lines icon in the top-right corner. Tap on Settings.

Step 2: Tap on App download preference. Select Over any network.

Fix 3: Check Parental Control Settings

Have you enabled Parental controls on the Google Play Store to prevent your kids from downloading random apps? The parental controls might be interfering with your downloads.

Open Play Store > Settings > Parental controls > disable or enable Parental controls.

Fix 4: Clear Play Store Cache and Data

Clear cache and data are two separate things. Clear the Play Store cache and restart your phone. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then clear data of the Play Store app. Clearing cache or data will not delete your installed apps or any other data from your phone. However, clearing data will log you out from the Play Store.

Here’s how to clear cache and data for the Google Play Store app:

Open Play Store App Info > Storage and cache > Clear cache.

Fix 5: Grant Necessary Permissions

Google Play Store and Play Services require storage permissions to downloads apps and updates automatically. Make sure both the apps have all the necessary permissions to access the storage.

Open Play Store App Info > Permissions > check and enable permissions.

Fix 6: Reset App Preferences

Android phones allow you to employ a lot of tweaks and some can affect the downloads on Play Store. Changes to settings such as background data, data usage limits, and more, can impact the downloads. Instead of fixing them individually, you can reset app preferences to restore all the settings to their default values.

If you are apprehensive about taking the step, find out in detail what happens by resetting app preferences.

Alternative: Install Play Store Manually

Sometimes, the issue persists even after reinstalling the Play Store. The reason could be that the current version of the Play Store is buggy. You’ll need to revert to the previous or latest version of Google Play Store temporarily. Check our guide on how to update the Play Store. Also, refer to our guide on how to update Play Services so that other apps work fine.