How to Fix “Google Play Services won’t update”

We have had some of you stating that your phones are getting a “Google Play Services” update error and its making your phone unusable. As great as Android is with any electronic you will run into issues and bugs that seem impossible but we got you.

What is Google Play Services?

Google Play Services is a native app that is preinstalled and cannot be removed on Android devices. It is a system app that helps with the updating of apps as well as acting as the framework for Google and those apps. An issue or bug with Google Play Services will in most cases make your Android device useless and at the very least annoyingly busted.

How to Fix Google Play Services Update Problem

Generally the best way to fix any bug with Google Play Services is to update it although in many cases there is nothing to update or the update fails. If this is the case you will need to try a few fixes. We recommend you do them in order as we will try to give you the easiest solutions first.

1. Restart the Phone or Tablet

I get that most of you reading this may say “duh” but you’d be surprised how many times when frustrated the simplest solution is forgotten. Also for this reboot do not hit power and select reboot. Instead hold the power button until the device shuts down and keep holding it until it powers back up and you see the Google logo.

2. Check for Full Storage

Again seems like a simple solution but something that is often overlooked and can cause many issues with not only updating of apps but also running apps that may be larger. Google Play Services should update automatically in the background but if there is not enough available storage space it will fail. This is usually the case when you notice the need to update manually.

3. Set correct date and time

This is less likely to be the issue but has been known to cause issues with Google Play Services updates.

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to system.
2. Tap on Date & time
3. Enable automatic date & time (if enabled disable and re-enable)

4. Clear Data and Cache

This has been one of the more successful methods to fix any update issues with apps in general. One of the biggest concerns here is losing apps or data from your phone or tablet. That said you will only lose data associated with that app. For instance, if you wipe the data and cache for Facebook the app is still there but you will have to re-login to it. You will need to clear the cache and data for both Google Play Services and the Google Play Store.

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to Apps & notifications
2. Navigate to Google Play Services and tap on it
3. Tap on storage and then the clear cache button
4. Repeat for Google Play Store
5. Restart your device.

If the problem is still there then try again but on step “c” also clear the storage for both Play Services and Store.

5. Enable/Disable Google Play Services

Two things can happen here and in some cases when your tooling around on your device you can disable Play services by accident. First we will go into checking that it’s enabled then we will move on to the second option.

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to Apps & notifications
2. Navigate to Google Play Services and tap on it
3. If the button under Play Services shows Enable then tap it
4. Restart the device

If the button says disable then move on to the next solution. Normally if an app is having issues you would remove the app and re-install it although in this case being a system app you cannot do that. What you can do however is disable the app and let it revert back to factory settings.

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to Apps & notifications
2. Navigate to Google Play Services and tap on it
3. Tap the Disable button under Play Services (if greyed out see below)
4. Restart device and complete the process above for enabling Play services

Fix Enable/Disable button Greyed out

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to Security
2. Tap on Device Admin (sometimes under Advanced Options)
3. Disable Find my Device (re-enable after you have fixed the app)

6. Uninstall Google Play Service Updates

Sometimes the issue is with a previous update and this can be fixed by removing all updates and getting the device back to its original state so that it can update to the most recent version.

1. Open settings on your device and scroll down to Apps & notifications
2. Navigate to Google Play Services and tap on it
3. Top right tap the 3 dots to show “Uninstall Updates” and tap it
4. Restart your device and give it a few minutes to attempt to update

7. Update Google Play Services Manually

If all else fails then you will need to download and install Google Play Services via an APK file.

1. Download Google Play Service APK from your device (Via APK Mirror)
2. Find and Tap the file to run and install it
3. If it asks to allow 3rd party apps then allow it and install
4. Restart your phone or tablet

If you still have an issue after a manual install then it may be the version and I would try the previous stable APK instead of the most recent.

Conclusion
If you are still having problems with updating Google Play Service after those 7 steps then there is likely a larger issue but feel free to leave a comment (try to be as detailed as possible) and we will be happy to look into it.