You’re staring at that spinning circle. It’s been five minutes, maybe ten. You just wanted to patch YouTube or finally get rid of those annoying Shorts, but instead, you're stuck watching a progress bar that isn't progressing. It’s frustrating. Honestly, seeing the ReVanced Manager update loading forever is basically a rite of passage for anyone trying to escape the clutches of official app bloatware.
The ReVanced project is brilliant, don't get me wrong. It picked up the torch when Vanced was forced into retirement by Google’s legal team. But because it isn't a "polished" corporate product—it’s a community-driven patcher—it has quirks. When the Manager hangs on an update, it’s rarely a "broken" app. Usually, it’s a conflict between your Android version, your architecture, or just a messy cache that refuses to clear out.
We need to look at what’s actually happening under the hood when that loading screen refuses to budge. It isn't just "bad code." It’s often a handshake failure between the app and the GitHub API where the updates are hosted.
The GitHub API Bottleneck and Why It Stalls
Most people don't realize that ReVanced Manager is constantly "talking" to GitHub. Every time you open that update screen, the app sends a request to fetch the latest resources, patches, and integrations. If GitHub is having a slow day, or more likely, if your IP has been rate-limited because you’ve refreshed too many times, the app just sits there. It waits. And waits.
Android’s battery optimization is another silent killer here. If your phone decides that ReVanced Manager is consuming too much background energy while it tries to fetch those files, it throttles the connection. The app thinks it’s downloading; the OS thinks it’s saving you 1% of battery life. You get a stalemate.
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Fixing the ReVanced Manager Update Loading Forever Loop
First things first: stop waiting. If it hasn't loaded in 60 seconds, it’s probably not going to.
Start with the "Nuclear Option" for the cache. Don't just clear the app cache from your settings; that often leaves behind the temporary patch files that are causing the hang-up in the first place. You want to go into your App Info, force stop the Manager, and then clear both data and cache. Yes, you’ll have to point the Manager back to your preferred YouTube APK, but it resets the internal state of the downloader.
Sometimes the issue is the version of the Manager itself. If you're running an older build, the API endpoints might have changed. The developers (shoutout to oSumAtrIX and the team) frequently update the way the Manager fetches patches to stay ahead of Google’s changes. If you’re on an outdated Manager, it’s looking for a door that’s been boarded up.
Network Gremlins and DNS
Are you on a VPN? Turn it off. Seriously.
A lot of VPN nodes are flagged by GitHub’s DDoS protection. If you’re sharing an IP with a thousand other people, GitHub might be blocking the update request entirely. Conversely, if you aren't using a VPN and it's still stuck, try switching from Wi-Fi to mobile data. Some ISP-level "security" filters flag the ReVanced update servers as "suspicious" because they aren't coming from an official app store. It's annoying, but a quick toggle of your connection can often break the loop.
The "Sources" Glitch
Inside the ReVanced Manager settings, there’s a section for "Sources." These are the GitHub repositories the app pulls from. Occasionally, these get scrambled during an update.
- Check that the patches organization is set to
revanced. - Check that the integration organization is set to
revanced.
If these fields are blank or have typos, the manager is essentially trying to call a phone number that doesn't exist. It will stay on that loading screen until the end of time because it has no destination.
Why the Architecture of Your Phone Matters
Not all Androids are built the same. If you’re using an older device with an ARMv7 processor instead of the modern ARM64-v8a, the Manager might struggle to find a compatible update.
The ReVanced Manager is increasingly optimized for 64-bit systems. If you're on a budget device from five years ago, the "loading forever" might actually be the app struggling to initialize the patching engine in a 32-bit environment. It’s a bit technical, but the takeaway is that sometimes the hardware just can't keep up with the modern patching requirements.
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Misconceptions About the Update Process
A lot of users think that if the Manager is loading, it means their patched YouTube app is broken. That's not how this works. The Manager and the patched apps (YouTube, Reddit, Twitter) are separate entities. If your YouTube ReVanced is working fine, you don't technically need to update the Manager immediately.
Don't fix what isn't broken unless there's a specific new feature you need.
Another myth? Reinstalling the app over and over. If the problem is your network or your DNS settings (like using a strict AdGuard DNS), reinstalling the Manager won't do a thing. You'll just be reinstalling the same problem.
Clean Install: The Final Stand
If you’ve cleared the cache, toggled the VPN, and checked the sources, and it's still stuck, you need to go for a clean slate.
- Uninstall the ReVanced Manager entirely.
- Go to the official ReVanced GitHub and download the latest
.apk. - Do not restore it from a cloud backup like Google One or Samsung Cloud. Backups often carry over the corrupted settings files that caused the "loading forever" issue to begin with.
- Install it fresh.
- Give it all the permissions it asks for—especially "Install from unknown sources" and "Battery optimization" (set it to Unrestricted).
When you open it for the first time, wait. Give it a solid minute to initialize. The first run involves building an internal database of patches, and this is the one time where a "long load" is actually normal.
Nuance in the Patching Process
You've got to remember that ReVanced is essentially "hacking" an existing APK. It’s a delicate process. When the Manager updates, it’s not just updating its own UI; it’s updating the scripts it uses to decompile and modify Google’s code.
If you are using a non-root install, you absolutely must have GmsCore (formerly MicroG) installed and updated. Sometimes the Manager hangs because it’s looking for the GmsCore environment to verify the update path, and if it can't find it, it just sits in a "search" loop. Ensure your GmsCore is excluded from battery optimization as well.
Actionable Steps to Take Right Now
If your screen is currently stuck, follow this sequence:
Stop the app. Don't let it sit there for an hour. Go to your phone settings and Force Stop ReVanced Manager.
Switch your internet source. If you're on Wi-Fi, move to LTE/5G. This bypasses potential DNS or router-level blocks that prevent the Manager from hitting GitHub's servers.
Check the ReVanced Discord or Subreddit. Seriously. If there is a global outage or a bug in a specific release, the community will be talking about it. If everyone is complaining about the ReVanced Manager update loading forever, then the problem isn't your phone—it's the build itself, and you just have to wait for a hotfix.
Manually download the latest Manager APK from GitHub. If the in-app updater is failing, the browser download usually works perfectly. Install the new version right over the old one. This usually forces the file system to overwrite the "stuck" update temporary files.
Ensure you have at least 2GB of free internal storage. Patching requires decompressing files that can be quite large. If your storage is nearly full, the Manager might hang while trying to find space to store the update data.
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The ReVanced ecosystem is the best way to enjoy a clean mobile experience, but it requires a little bit of manual maintenance. Once you understand that the "loading forever" bug is usually just a communication breakdown between the app and GitHub, it becomes much easier to fix.