Google Play Services Won’t Update – An application requires an update for Google Play Services Notification Problem

Google Play Services Won’t Update

Is Google Play Services trying to update and just sitting there doing nothing? Or do you you keep getting a notification saying “requires an update for Google Play Services” that just won’t go away? Then this is what you need to do – read on.

Solution: Force an update of Google Play Services to the latest version.

  1. Make sure you are connected to the internet (WiFi or data).
  2. Open this page on your Android device – short URL to type: http://goo.gl/3gLQac
  3. On your device click this link and when prompted choose to open in the Google Play Store app:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms
    1. NOTE: If you don’t get the option to open in the Google Play Store app then see the second guide below “Reseting Your Default Apps”.
  4. You should now be in the Google Play store and it will be showing the  Google Play Services app page. The green install button will be showing “Installed”, click it anyway to force a re-install.
  5. Restart your phone as normal (hold down the power button for 2 seconds and select “Power off and restart”).
  6. When your device starts again you should see in notifications that Google Play Services re-installed along with any stuck apps that were meant to install before.
  7. Finished!

 

Resetting Your Default Apps

If you are following the guide above and in step 3 the link  doesn’t open in Google Play Store app, then you already have your browser set to open links in another app, we need to change this setting so you can open in Google Play Store app. Follow these steps:

  1. Go into settings.
  2. In your General tab locate and open Apps (see image).

    Settings->General->Apps
    Settings->General->Apps
  3. Now open the menu in the top right corner and select “reset app preferences”.
  4. Menu->Reset App Prefernces
    OK, now go back to the main guide at the top of this page and open that link (step 2).

     

 

9 thoughts on “Google Play Services Won’t Update – An application requires an update for Google Play Services Notification Problem

  1. The only solution that actually works. The only thing I would like is that you may have to reboot a few times before the install completes. It will get stuck around 29% for while but then it will update. Thank you so much for such great article. Well done.

  2. Unfortunately, when I go to the site provided, I’m told this app is already installed and cannot select my device at all. I am only given the option to install it on my old device I don’t use. Are there any other tricks, besides doing a factory reset to get this fixed? No apps will update and this error message will not go away. Otherwise, phone functions properly. If I go through Google Play, the only options I have are “Deactivate,” which doesn’t work, and “Open,” which does nothing to fix this issue either.

    1. Also, nothing can download at all. I don’t really want to do a factory reset, but fear that’s the only solution here. :/

      1. Hey Mimi. Try this and let me know if it works:

        1. On your problem device, go into your settings, then General, then Apps.
        2. In Apps scroll down and find Google Play Services, open it.
        3. Click the disable button, you’ll get an administrator warning, click ok.
        4. Now you should be in an administrator apps screen that lists the administrator apps, the top one will be ticked. Un-tick it and hit OK.
        5. Back in the screen were were just in (Apps: Google Play Services page) you should now be able to disable Google Play Services, do that.
        6. Now go to Google Play Store and back to Google Play Services app page (link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms). Click uninstall.
        7. Go back into Google Play Store and you should now see Google Play Services has an “Update” prompt. Click this and it should install with the latest version (it’s a 40.69MegaByte download – best to do it on WiFi).

        Let me know if that works for you, if it does I will update this guide.

        1. Thanks for the info, Gav. However, I cannot download anything, after I did this update. 🙁 The Google Play Services app has a date of 1/17/1970 by it. Last I knew, there weren’t any smart phones, let alone Google in 1970! 😀

          Anyway, I was able to disable and uninstall the Google Play Services update, but I cannot download anything…at all. It just shows the downloading bar, which just keeps going and going and going, without ever downloading a bit of info.

          I’m not sure if an update/fix for this can be automatically pushed to my phone, if they ever DO fix this, or if my only option is to reset. I’d really like to NOT do that, as I’ll lose all my texts. I never updated the bloatware AT&T and Google put on here, so the AT&T messages app won’t work. It just asks to update it, which I can’t. I also haven’t rooted my phone, not sure I’d even want to since that’s a bit above my knowledge base, so I can’t even try to boot it up into recovery/safe mode. The only option I get is to reset the phone.

          Would removing the battery do anything? Saw that as a potential solution, but not sure how that’d work, since this seems to be a software issue. Just really kicking myself for updating before researching the issues, which I typically do. :/

          1. 1/17/1970 is the start date of nearly all clocks on computers (look up epoch time – it’s interesting!), sounds like your time and date needs setting. No having this set may cause downloading issues too.

            I doubt removing the battery and putting it back in will do a thing.

            Try this: Download the Google Play Services APK (install file) on a PC/Mac. Copy the file to your phone (via USB, or on an micro SD card if you have one). Use file manager, go to the APK and run it. For installation advice and a download link (you need to choose the correct version for your device) see the bottom of this article: http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/02/12/google-play-services-v6-7-is-rolling-out-apk-download/

            Was everything synced and backed up with your Google Account? If so resetting shouldn’t be too bad, most settings will restore when you re-link your phone to your Google Account.

        2. Hey Gav,

          Sorry for not responding sooner. Although I was able to put that file onto my phone and actually run it, it did not solve the issue of not being able to download. So, I bit the bullet and did a factory reset. I found a program to save my texts, but unfortunately does not restore them like they were, but at least I have them in a .txt format on my computer. Anyway, backed up my photos, too, but forgot about my calendar and memos. :/ Now that I’ve reset the phone, I’ve hopefully got it connected to my Google account to backup regularly, so i won’t have to worry about this again.

          Thank you so much for trying to help me with this. I do appreciate it! One quick question though. Since I still have the 1970 dates for all the Google and Android apps, would running the file you mentioned before fix this? Nothing is not working on my phone with the 1970 date on it, but wouldn’t mind having it be correct. Thanks!

  3. all i did was i uninstalled the updates from google play services. i went to settings -> apps -> application manager -> all -> google play services. make sure don’t uninstall it. i think i uninstalled the update twice and the pesky triangle exclamation point asked me again to update it from playstore and this time around there’s the word update on the menu. if you can’t hit the uninstall update make sure to untick the checkbox first to phone administrators menu.

  4. all i did was i uninstalled the updates from google play services. i went to settings -> apps -> application manager -> all -> google play services. make sure don’t uninstall it. i think i uninstalled the update twice and the pesky triangle exclamation point asked me again to update it from playstore and this time around there’s the word update on the menu. if you can’t hit the uninstall update make sure to untick the checkbox first to phone administrators menu. thanks!

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