Can’t download apps on your phone? Here’s what to do

Have you found yourself tired of playing an infinite loop of “Try again” and “Download failed” when trying to download an app on your phone? Let’s admit, it can take a toll on your patience. But worry not, as there are five relatively easy fixes for not being able to download apps on your phone.

Five potential solutions if you are unable to download apps

Try these steps below and get away with the app download roadblock. 

1. Check your internet speed 

2. Clear your app store cache and data 

3. Check storage space 

4. Update the app store 

5. Sign out and sign in again

1. Inspect your internet speed

First things first. Check whether your mobile has a stable internet connection. A minimum of 5 Mbps speed is necessary to initiate the downloading process. You might opt for an internet speed test to verify if you have a reliable Wi-Fi network or a strong mobile data signal. If it’s falling short, try restarting your router or the mobile data.

2. Clear your app store cache and data

Accumulated cache might prevent application downloads from the store. If you are using an Android phone, go to Settings, and scroll down to select Apps. Go to Apps Management and find out Play Store from the list of apps. You will find a “Storage usage” option inside the Play Store. Once you enter, you will find two options, “Clear cache” and “Clear data”. Click on them to clear your app store cache and data.

If you are using an iPhone, you just need to swipe up the App Store tab from the home screen, and the cache will be cleared automatically.

3. Check storage space

If your device is running on low storage, it will prevent you from downloading more apps. If your device is running low on storage, try to free up some space by deleting unused apps or large files.

To check your Android phone storage, go to the My Files app and check the device storage. If your phone supports an external SSD card, you may also opt for micro-SSD to expand your phone’s storage memory to initiate the downloads again.  

On the other hand, if you are using an iPhone, go to Settings and tap on General. Go to the iPhone Storage option to check the device space. You may consider offloading unused apps from the device if the storage is inadequate.

4. Update the app store

Like other apps, your app store needs regular updates to ensure seamless functionality. To update Google’s Play Store, open Play Store and tap on the three-horizontal dot in the top-left corner. Tap on Settings and see whether there’s an update available from the “Play Store version.”

If you are updating the App Store on your iPhone, tap on General from Settings and go to Software Updates. If there’s an update on the latest OS, it will be displayed here. Simply download the latest OS version, which will also update your iPhone’s App Store.

5. Sign out and sign in again

If there is a bug with the user account, the app store might find trouble downloading the apps. For those trying to use an Android device, remove your Google account from Settings and sign in again from the Add Account option.

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Similarly, for iPhone users, log in fresh with your Apple ID and password and restart your device.

Following these above methods, you can potentially clear the app store roadblocks from your Android or iOS device.