Why is Google Play have updates pending even though auto update is turned on?

[Android Central Question]

Pixel 2/Android 9.

I have also set it to download over any network - I have unlimited cell data and it's faster than any wifi I can find, so I use that for my home broadband connection.

So, I find it perplexing that Google Play is sitting there 'Updates pending (4)' and 'Auto-update is turned on', and an 'UPDATE ALL' button.

Why isn't it just doing it automatically?

 

[Rukbat]

Play can only download one file at a time (Google's rules - probably so the server doesn't melt). Any time you have 2 or 3 (or more) apps updating, one will be updating and the rest will be pending - until the last one starts downloading. Nothing to get worried about. Remember, with more than 2 billion - yes, that's with a b - that's more than 1;4 of the world's population - Android phones in use, even with servers scattered all over the world, when a popular app or game update gets released, that's more than just a whole lot of downloads. Make it 5 or 6 getting updated at once and the building that the power plant that feeds the server farm is located in could melt down (figuratively, of course - but still, it's not good for a server to try to download a few million files at once. That's why Android updates are staged.)

 

[davidmaxwaterman]

I neglected to mention that nothing is downloading...and nothing starts to download until I tap the 'update all' button. That makes no sense at all....unless they are being scheduled by the server, but that is far from clear.

 

[davidmaxwaterman]

...also, I look at it now, and it is on wifi and the only non-pending update says it is waiting for wifi. Makes no sense to me.

 

[Rukbat]

I stopped trying to figure it out as long as the updates update. Google has enough unresolved little bugs that they'll never get to. (I doubt that there's a single version of Android that was retired without a few bugs left. I knowthat every Windows version since Windows 386 has been retired with bugs left. [I never checked earlier versions, but I doubt that any operating system - with the possible exception of Linux - has ever been retired without bugs still there.])

 

[Alan Stinchcombe]

My Updates pending apps comprise:

• Some that require extra permissions, so cannot auto-update.

• Some for which I chose to disable auto-update.

Your mileage may vary. HTH.