Top 8 Ways to Fix Google Drive Waiting to Upload Error

Quite often you would select a bunch of files for uploading them to Google Drive on your phone. After a while when you open Google Drive to check the status, you would be puzzled to see no new files there and greeted with the ‘waiting to upload’ message.

And nothing is worse than being greeted with a retry button. So what does one do? Just let it go and look for alternatives to Google Drive? Of course, not! You need to try the solutions mentioned below to fix the waiting for upload error in the Google Drive from your phone.

Let’s start with some of the easy ones to check if they help in solving the error.

1. Restart Phone

Unable to upload files on Drive can be upsetting. One of the easiest solutions that does wonders is restarting the device. Reboot the phone and then open Drive. The files should start uploading normally.

2. Force Stop App

When an app misbehaves, you should remove it from the recent apps. Hopefully that fixes the issue, but if it persists, we need to take a harsher step of killing the app. For that, we use the force stop feature on Android.

Forcefully stopping the app terminates all of its background activities and shuts it down instantly. In due process, you may lose some data or recent progress with the app.

To force stop Google Drive, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open device Settings and go to Apps & notifications/Application manager/Installed apps depending on the option available on your phone.

Step 2: Under All apps, tap on Drive followed by Force stop on the next screen. Then open Google Drive again and it should work fine.

3. Clear Cache

Google Drive houses a built-in cache manager which is different from the device cache on Android. You should clear both caches. Do note that clearing cache removes only temporary files without upsetting the Drive data. Here are the steps for both the methods.

From the App

Open the Drive app and tap on the three-bar menu at the top-left corner. Then go to Settings.

Under Settings, tap on Clear cache and restart the device.

From Device Settings

Launch the Settings app on your phone and go to Apps & notifications/Application manager. Under All apps, tap on Drive followed by Storage. Hit the Clear cache button and restart the phone.

4. Enable Uploads on Mobile Data

To save your precious mobile data, Google Drive provides a native setting that lets you choose to transfer files over Wi-Fi only. If it is enabled, no uploads will happen on mobile data. And if you try to upload files on mobile data, an error shows up. That’s why you need to disable this setting.

To do that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Tap on the three-bar menu at the top-left corner in the Google Drive app.

Step 2: Tap on Settings. Here turn the toggle off for Transfer files only over Wi-Fi. Then retry uploading the files.

5. Turn off Internet

Whether you are using mobile data or Wi-Fi to upload files, try turning it off and on. Since the connection resets, any network related glitch would be resolved.

6. Switch Internet Connection

Another similar way to get rid of the issue is to try uploading the files on a different internet connection. If you are on mobile data, switch to Wi-Fi and vice versa. At times poor connection quality might cause an issue and using an alternate option will let you upload files.

7. Enable Airplane Mode

All network related connections such as Wi-Fi, a cellular network, Bluetooth, etc. stop when airplane mode is enabled. As weird as it may sound, enabling airplane mode is known to fix app issues. Turning it on for a while might prove helpful for you too. Give it a shot.

8. Update Google Drive App

At times, the upload error might be due to a bug in the app. Many of us either disable the automatic update or ignore the new update notification of Google Play Store. While it is helpful for saving data, we miss out on regular updates that include the bug fixes and under the hood improvements.

We would suggest you update the app. After that, restart the device and then try uploading the files.

Bonus Trick

One of our readers confirmed that simple uninstall and reinstall also should fix the issue. As odd at it may sound, this is the most harmless trick to try. However, I would recommend rebooting your smartphone before reinstalling the Google Drive app.

Wait No More

The waiting to upload error can be frustrating. We hope the above fixes resume the upload process on your phone. In my case, I was trying to upload files on mobile data and discovered that uploads were disabled on it. I turned off the setting and boom! That doesn’t mean it’s the only fix; the other solutions should work too.

Did come across a different solution that worked for you? Let us know in the comments below, after all, sharing is caring. Right?

Next up: Is the quick access area taking up the screen space on Google Drive? Get rid of it across platforms with these steps.