You may receive an iOS alert message stating “unable to download application” when attempting to buy or download free or paid Apps from the App Store. This error can be caused by various reasons. Some of the more common reasons for this include, but not limited to, (a) your device (iPhone, iPad or iPod) does not have enough storage space for this update/download (b) you are experiencing network, internet connection issues or (c) your device does not meet the minimum iOS version requirement, e.g. the app requires iOS 5 or later but your device is running iOS 4.
Please try the following steps to fix your problem. After each step, check whether you are still having this problem.
1. Simply double tap the icon of the app that you are unable to download and wait for a few seconds. Your download should resume.
2. Tap Settings > General > Date and Time > Set Automatically > and slide to turn off “Set Automatically”. Manually set the date one year ahead. Now try to re-download the apps. If you get an error message, go back to turn on “Set Automatically” then try to download the apps again.
3. Restart your iOS device. Simply press and hold the on/off (sleep/wake) button until you see the red slider and slide the slider to turn your device off. To turn back on, press and hold the on/off button until the Apple logo appears.
4. Settings > iTunes & App Store > Your Apple ID > Sign Out. Restart your device, then Settings>iTunes & App Store>Sign in and then try again.
5. Tap Settings > Wi-Fi and turn Wi-Fi off and then on again.
6. Reset Network Settings by tapping Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings, and then your iDevice will restart. Note that will reset all network settings including your Wi-Fi passwords.
7. Reset your device by pressing and holding the sleep/wake button and the Home button together until you see the Apple logo.
Related:
- App Store show “too many HTTP redirects” error; fix
- Cannot connect to iTunes store / App Store
- How to find / re-download your deleted App Store purchases