It is the Google Play Store that makes an Android handheld a complete smartphone. Play Store is an essential tool to access any other Android apps and games. Although it isn’t prone to problems, it may bring you issues. It is a rare case scenario, and however, you can get rid of it with the right fixes. If you see Play Store Waiting for WiFi on your Android screen, then you aren’t probably the one to get it. A lot of Android users come across this issue while opening or downloading apps. It is a temporary issue, and you can overcome using any of the following ways.

How to Fix Play Store Waiting for WiFi

If your Play Store app gets struck and shows Play Store Waiting for WiFi, you can resolve it in the following ways.

Inspect Network Issues

Checking the internet connection is the foremost thing you should look as soon as you get Google Play Store Waiting for WiFi. You may try loading your browser to check if the internet is loading. Otherwise, do the following one-by-one.

  • Turn off the mobile data and again turn it on.
  • Enable Airplane mode and turn it off.
  • Turn off and on the WiFi connectivity.

Note: When the problem persists with WiFi, then reset your WiFi router. You shall now check if the issue has been resolved.

Try Restarting Phone

If the internet is working fine, then give your Android handset a restart.

  • Press and hold the Power button available at the side of the Android phone. Select the Restart or Power Off option.
Restart Android - Fix Play Store Waiting for WiFi

Let it turn off, refresh itself, and turn on back. Although this seems to be a simple thing, restarting will fix most issues, including Google Play Store waiting for WiFi.

Check for Device Storage

Play Store will stuck and show waiting for WiFi at times when your device is running out off space. To check for the availability of storage,

  • Go to Android Settings and choose Storage. You will find the device space and SD Card space details.
Check Storage

You shall remove unused and unwanted apps or data to free up some space on your Android phone.

Clear Temporary Memory

If any of the above fixes don’t resolve Play Store waiting for WiFi, you shall clear cache of Play Services and Play Store. Sometimes, the service’s cache memory might have too much data and might bring in different issues. To remove the data,

Open Settings to select Apps and click Play Store. Then, choose Storage and hit Clear Cache at the bottom. Now, click on Clear Data and tap on OK.

Clear Cache and Data - Fix Play Store Waiting for WiFi

Note: Go to Settings and click Apps to select Google Play Services. Selecting Storage will let you clear its cache and storage.

Clear Cache and Storage

Look if this has fixed Play Store waiting for WiFi error.

Change App Download Preference

When the internet isn’t the issue, then you should check for Play Store download settings. Sometimes, you would have enabled download apps over WiFi only or any other customized settings. It could be the reason for the waiting error. To change app download preference,

  • Open Google Play Store and click on the Menu icon. Select Settings and tap on App download preference, Choose Over any network.
App Download Preference

You shall now try downloading apps to check if Google Play Store isn’t struck on waiting for WiFi.

Turn off Auto Update Apps

Enabling auto-update apps at times will bring in problems while downloading new apps. It may be the reason for Play Store to struck in-between. To turn it off,

  • Open the Play Store to select Settings in Menu. Choose Auto-update apps and select Don’t auto-update apps.
Turn off Auto Update Apps to fix Play Store Waiting for WiFi

Change Parental Controls

If you have enabled parental controls, then it would be interfering with the download process. This might be the cause of the Play Store waiting for WiFi. To resolve it, you shall change the parental controls.

  • Open the Play Store and tap on Menu to choose Settings. Tap on Parental Controls and turn it off.
Turn off Parental Controls

Note: You can preferably go with customized parental controls for specific content. Check if you don’t see Play Store struck on WiFi.

Reset App Preferences

If you aren’t able to resolve Google Play Store waiting for WiFi issue, then try resetting the app preferences. This will give a factory restore and might sometime fix the issue.

  • Open the Settings app to select Apps. Tap on Menu icon to select Reset App preferences, and confirm when prompted.

You might open Play Store to check if that has worked in fixing the issue.

Uninstall Play Store Updates

You shall try uninstalling the recent Play Store update to fix this issue on Android.

  • Go to Settings to select Apps and click on Google Play Store. Tap on the Menu icon and select Uninstall updates.
Select Uninstall updates

This will not remove Play Store. Instead, it will uninstall the recent updates. Wait for five minutes and check if the problem has been resolved.

Uninstall Play Store Manually

When nothing works, then we recommend you to uninstall and reinstall Play Store manually. To uninstall,

  • Press and hold the Play Store icon. Click on X icon to uninstall it.

To reinstall Play Store, you shall check out the Play Store Apk for Android article.

Winding Up

It might be challenging to find out the exact cause of the Play Store waiting for WiFi. Hence to fix up, you should necessarily carry out all the fixes. Although we cannot guarantee which fix will work for you, you can still try each of them until your Play Store works fine. You may share with us if you know other tricks that resolve the same issue as comments.