A lot of mobile connections don’t have enough bandwidth to download very large update files like this, or they may have temporary limits on file size to keep network congestion down. These are part of why mobile connections don’t meet the system requirements for Overwatch.
But the update is downloaded,it just wont apply it
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Same thing has been happening to me. It caused me to lose Sr and be temp banned from comp, because i wasn’t being able to play my match. Please fix this issue. I haven’t been able to play since the update launched. I deleted my %localappdata% overwatch folder, i tried to scan and repair and, ive tried some other things to to no avail.
So is anyone going to do anything or we missed the anniversary?
idk someone said the devs where looking into it so hopefuly they find a solution before it ends
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I reset my.modem and updated my network drivers, seemed to fix the issue
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Hey all,
We had the Overwatch team look into this and it appears that the majority of players are having issues due to a corrupt local cache where the hotfix data is being applied. To fix a corrupt local cache:
- Press Win+R
- Type %localappdata%
- Open Blizzard Entertainment folder
- Find Overwatch folder and delete it.
- Repair Overwatch in the Blizzard Desktop App.
- Start Overwatch and try joining the Practice Range or a any match again.
If deleting the folder does not work you can also try creating a new administrator account and then log into that account before joining a match again.
There’s another portion of players that are getting these errors due to not being able to reach our CDN (Content Delivery Network) for Overwatch. These tend to be players on less common internet connections such as mobile 4G / LTE data, business or school networks, or connections using a proxy.
To work around this type of issue you could try using a VPN as mentioned earlier in this thread, or work with your network administrator to allow the CDNs mentioned in this thread under the “Can’t download the update due to security” section.
ive tried everything on the list and nothing has seemed to work yet where do i go from here?
i finnaly got it to work i used a vpn and sat in main screen for like half an hour and it worked tysm everyone in this thread for trying to help good luck to everyone
What do i do on ps4!!!
So I sat at the menu for 30 minutes as I mentioned in one of my previous posts and recieved the HF-501 error after it downloaded 120mb. I gave up but the next day I went to my brothers house to borrow his hotspot. I brought it to my house and it gets about 1mbyte/s meaning the update should take at least 2 minutes to download, but instead it put me right in the match after saying applying update. I’m doubting it was the increased bandwidth that resolved the problem.
Waiting at the menu until HF-501 appears may be the solution… could somebody test this?
The problem is probably with moblie hotspot connections,ive spent more than enough figuring nat type to fix playing games,im not gonna spend more time fixing what you did wrong ive had enough ,id rather delete overwatch ,its just too hard to fix everything when u paid for the right one
Is his hotspot on a different company’s network? Or how is the plan he’s using different, other than speed? It does seem that one network/data plan was blocking large file downloads and the other wasn’t, judging by this info.
Any updates guys? 
2 weeks with this problem, but I also noticed that I can’t send tickets on blizzard page (it stays loading eternally). So my conclusion: My errors HF-2, HF-5, HF-501 are caused by my slow connection, maybe i am being kicked by the server or the server thinks I am doing a DDoS.
Try to use a vpn and wait in the lobby for a bit i think i also had the same problem with slow internet
If the suggestions from the post above does not resolve the issue on Windows, then the problem is likely a connection related issue.
We’ve confirmed this message is corruption or a connection related issue to the CDN service. Please try a VPN or alternative connection to work around the issue.
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Thanks for update its fixed now
Okay. here is what fixed mine. I tried all the other methods, including reinstalling.
I noticed that this began while queued for comp and clicking on a custom game to join in the meantime. While it was loading, the comp queue found a game and added me to it. But it was already in the applying update phase of the custom game. So I got stuck with this whether I tried training, quick play, or comp. After going through all of the trouble shooting steps I had an idea. I went Play > Game Browser> Create Game. When creating my own custom game it finished applying the update. After that, I could play any game without getting the applying update error/
soo the way i fix it is buy delting the overwacth file for the data file then restart my PC then use a vpn to let the update apply then it u close the game and the vpn and it should work fine