Why Play Market Apps Are Not Updated on Xiaomi: 10 Ways to Eliminate Download Expectation

Hanging apps in the “wait-for-draw” phase of the Google Play Market is one of the most common problems on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO smartphones. Users are faced with updates or new apps not loading, and the download list is marked “Waiting...”, “In line” or endless animations spinning, the reasons can be hidden in the settings of the device itself, the failure of Google servers or features of the MIUI firmware.

In this article, we will look at all possible causes, from simple memory shortages to battery optimization conflicts, and give step-by-step instructions to fix the problem. Particular attention will be paid to specific “chips” Xiaomi, which often block the background activity of the Play Market in order to save charge. If you have already tried to restart your phone or clean the cache, do not rush to reset: in 90% of cases, less radical methods help.

1. Check your Internet connection and network settings

The first thing to rule out is Internet problems, and even if the browser is working, the Play Market may not be accessing Google's servers because of:

• 🌐 Unstable Wi-Fi (especially on restricted public networks).
• 📡 Mobile Internet with traffic blocking (some operators restrict access to Google services).
• 🔒 VPN Proxies that conflict with Play Market servers.
• 🛡️ Firewall or antivirus (e.g. Mi Security or third-party applications like Avast).

To check the connection:

1. Open your browser and try to download play.google.com. If the site doesn't open, there's a problem on the network.
2. Switch from Wi-Fi to mobile internet (or vice versa).
3. Turn off VPN in settings: Settings → Connections → VPN.
4. Run a speed test (e.g., through Speedtest) if pinging is above 200ms, the network is overloaded.

💡

If you are connected to a corporate or educational network, try using mobile internet – often such networks block access to Google servers.

If the internet is working, but the Play Market is still not updating apps, move on to the next step.

2. Free up space on the device and check the memory

Lack of memory is one of the main reasons why apps hang around in the “wait-for-drive” phase. Xiaomi often reserves space for system needs, and the Play Market requires 1-2 GB of free space to install or update applications. Even if the settings show 500 MB of free space, this may not be enough.

How to check and release memory:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → Memory.
2. Click Clear (if available) or manually delete unnecessary files.
3. Move photos and videos to the cloud (Google Photos, Mi Cloud) or to a memory card.
4. Delete the app cache: Settings → Apps → App management → [Select the app] → Clear the cache.

Important: If you have a memory card installed but the applications are pre-installed stored in internal memory, transfer them manually through Settings → Applications → [Select] → Storage → Change.

3. Reset the Play Market and Google Services settings

If the problem is not in memory or network, the fault may be the Play Market or Google Play Services.These applications are responsible for downloading and updating programs, and their cache or data may conflict with the system.

Resetting instructions:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management.
2. Find the Google Play Market (or Play Store) and click on it.
3. Select “Clear Cache” and “Clear Data” (if there is a button “Remove Updates” – click it).
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for Google Play Services and Google Services Framework.
5. Reboot the phone.

Clear Play Market cache | Clear Play Market |Reset Google Play Services |Reset Google Services Framework |Reboot phone-->

Once you reboot, open the Play Market, wait for the reauthorization, and try to update the apps. If the problem persists, move on.

4.Check the battery optimization and autostart settings

MIUI aggressively optimizes the background activity of applications to save battery life, which may mean that the Play Market may not be authorized to upload files in the background.

Step 1: Turn off the optimization for the Play Market:

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Consumption Management.
2. Select “Apps” and find the Play Market.
3. Set the "No Limits" mode.

Step 2. Allow auto-start:

1. Open Settings → Applications → Application Management → Play Market.
2. Click "Stop" and turn on the option.
3. Repeat for Google Play Services.

Step 3: Add Play Market to the optimization exceptions:

1. Go to Settings → Battery and Performance → Battery Optimization.
2. Select “All Apps” → search for Play Market and Google Play Services.
3. Click on "Do not optimize."

Yeah, it's annoying.|Sometimes, but tolerably.|No, it's working fine.|I don't know how to check.-->

After this, restart your phone and check for updates. If the problem persists, it may be the firmware or Google account that is to blame.

5 Delete and add a Google account again

Sometimes, Google account sync failures result in Play Market not being able to confirm the rights to download apps, in which case re-registration of the account will help.

How to delete and add an account:

1. Open Settings → Accounts and Sync → Google.
2. Select your account and click Delete Account (don’t worry – data won’t be deleted from Google servers).
3. Reboot the phone.
4. Go back to Settings → Accounts and add a Google account again.
5. After logging in, open the Play Market and check for updates.

⚠️ Note: After deleting your Google account, some apps (such as Gmail or Google Photos) may reset.

If the apps don’t update after that, the problem may be in Google’s servers or in MIUI’s firmware itself.

6. Check Google servers and update firmware

Sometimes the problem isn't with your phone, but with Google's side crashing, to check the status of the servers:

1. Open Downdetector for Play Market.
2. If the graph shows the peak of complaints, wait until Google troubleshoots the problem (usually takes 1-2 hours).

If the servers are okay, update the MIUI firmware:

1. Go to Settings → About the phone → System update.
2. Click on “Check Updates” and install available updates.
3. After the update, restart the phone.

If even after updating the firmware problem remained, the last radical method remains – resetting settings.

7. Resetting settings to factory (if nothing helped)

If all previous methods did not work, the cause may be a deep software failure in MIUI, in which case the reset to factory settings will help, but you should use it only as a last resort.

How to reset:

1. Save all important data (photos, contacts, messages) to a memory card or cloud.
2. Go to Settings → About the phone → Reset settings.
3. Select “Erase all data” and confirm the action.
4. After resetting, reset your phone, log in to your Google account and check the Play Market.

⚠️ Warning: Reset will delete all data from the phone, including installed apps, settings and files in internal memory!

If even after the reset, the applications are not updated, the problem may be a hardware failure (for example, a malfunction of the memory module).

FAQ: Frequent questions about the Play Market issue on Xiaomi