How to fix Unable to Download Item popup on iPhone & iPad

You may encounter a popup message on your iPhone or iPad that says: “Unable to Download Item, please try again later.” The error message also contains “Done” and “Retry” button options. It appears that this message appears randomly and, many times, repeatedly.

The message indicates that an item could not be downloaded. This message may appear even when you have not tried to download or update anything on your device. In other words, this message may seem to appear even if there are no reasons for it to appear.

This message usually indicates that your iPhone or iPad were trying to automatically update an app, or there is an app on your device attempting to download something in the background.

This error message is annoying and strange. This article explains how you can fix this problem. Please try the following steps until this message no longer appears.

1. Airplane mode

When you see this popup message again, do the following:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, launch Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen. And enable Airplane Mode. If you cannot open Control Center for some reason, you can use Siri to turn on Airplane Mode.
2. Tap the Done button to dismiss the popup message.
3. Then wait a few seconds and turn off Airplane Mode.

2. Update

This could be related to an update. Ensure that all of your apps are up to date. Furthermore, make sure that your iPhone or iPad is up to date, as iOS or iPadOS updates will help with compatibility with apps installed on your device. Here is how:

You can manually or automatically update your apps. If you want to update manually, open App Store and then tap your profile at the top-right of the screen and tap Update All.

After updating your apps, go to Settings > General > Software Update and check if there’s an iOS or iPadOS update. If an update is available, simply follow the onscreen instructions to update your device.

3. Restart

Restart your iPhone or iPad to see if this fixes your problem. You can restart your iPhone or iPad by following the steps below:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Shut Down.
4. Move the power off slider.
5. Wait about 30 seconds for your device to turn off completely.
6. Press and hold the power button until the Apple logo appears.

Do you keep seeing the popup after restarting?

4. Turn off Background App Refresh

If you are seeing this download message, you may want to turn “Background App Refresh” off. By default, this feature is turned on. What this does is that, when this is enabled, your iPhone or iPad will check for new data in the background.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap “Background App Refresh.”
4. Tap “Background App Refresh.”
5. Select “Off”.

5. Clear the history and cookies from Safari

This step will ensure that there is no web app trying to download something. This involves deleting history, cache, and cookies in Settings. Here is how:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Scroll down and tap Apps.
3. Tap Safari.
4. Tap Clear History and Website Data.
5. Select All History.
6. Tap Clear History.

This will delete your history, cookies, and browsing data.

6. Reset network settings

Reset your network settings. When you reset the network settings, all of your Internet and networking data such as your Wi-Fi passwords will be erased.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select General.
3. Tap Transfer or Reset (Device).
4. Tap Reset.
5. Tap Reset Network Settings.
6. Follow the onscreen instructions.