The Play Store is one of the most important apps on an Android device and its malfunction or sudden blockage can make the smartphone or tablet almost unusable, since we will no longer be able to install new apps. If we find in our hands an Android device on which the Play Store does not start, does not allow you to download apps, it freezes when downloading applications or worse it only shows a white screen or if it has disappeared, in this guide we will show you how to restore the Play Store following simple and affordable methods, so that even a novice or first-time user on an Android smartphone can restore the correct functioning of the Google store. Some of the reported methods are quite obvious and many will certainly have already applied them, while others are less known to the general public so they could prove very useful to restore the Play Store.
READ ALSO: Solutions for Google Play Store errors
How to solve if the Play Store does not open, has disappeared or gives errors
If the Play Store does not work, we follow one by one all the advice in the following chapters, so that we can restore its functioning even on the apparently "unrecoverable" terminals.Clear the cache, clear the data and remove the updates
The simplest method to restore the Play Store is to clear the cache, the data assigned to the app and any updates already installed. To do this, open the Settings app, go to the App / Applications / Manage applications menu and press the Google Play Store app .
In the screen that opens, press on Delete data and select Delete all data . To also uninstall the updates, press the Uninstall updates button and confirm on the warning window.
After erasing all the data and updates, we open the Play Store app again, log in with our Google account then check if the store is working properly. The store update should proceed automatically after a few minutes; if we notice that it does not start or is not done after a few days, we can force the update by opening the Play Store, scrolling on the left side menu or pressing the three lines button at the top left, pressing on the Settings menu and pressing once on the Play Store Version item, so as to start the automatic update of the app and the processes assigned to it.
Install a new version of the Play Store via APK
If the Play Store has disappeared or does not work we can try to install or reinstall it by downloading a new version of the app via APK and thus try the manual update. To start, download the APK of the Play Store from a reliable source such as APKMirror, in which we will only have to choose the latest version and download the file from the Android device itself by clicking on See Available APKs and then on Download APK .
Once downloaded the APK we open from the file manager, go to the download folder of the chosen browser and press on the file to start the installation; at the end we try to start the Play Store to verify its operation. If we don't know how to manage APKs or we encounter some obstacles, we invite you to read our guide on How to install Android apps from APK files .
Clear the cache of other Google service apps
The Google Play Store app depends on other Google-branded system apps: Google Play Services and Google Services Framework .
Resuming the chapter on how to clear the cache and data seen a little while ago, we open both apps and press the button Delete data and forced closure to reset the functioning of these important processes. After erasing all the data, we restart the phone to make the changes effective; as soon as the device is ready, we immediately try to open the Play Store to check if it is working properly.
To learn more about the Google system apps, please read our Google Play Services article to update Android and protect your mobile phone .
Other operations
If none of the methods seen above managed to restore the Play Store on our device, we can try some of the operations listed below, so as to remove any possible system or app problems:- Set time and date : in order for the Play Store to work properly it must have the exact time and date of the place where the phone is located, so let's check in the phone settings if the clock and time zone are set correctly.
- Restart the connections : we set the airplane mode on our device then remove it, so as to restore both the Wi-Fi connection and the data connection on the fly.
- Restart the device : sometimes a simple power off and on of the phone is able to erase any temporary problem of the device, including those concerning the Play Store.
- Reset the device : if no method has worked, the last possibility is the complete reset of the phone or tablet, as seen in our Reset and restore Android guide even if the mobile phone or tablet does not start .
Conclusions
Given the importance of the Play Store in the Android system, we must be ready in case it stops working or presents some problem that prevents the installation of our favorite apps.If the Play Store does not want to know it works, we can always try one of the alternative app stores, as seen in our guide to Alternatives to Play Store to download Android Apps without Google account .
If we want to update every component of our Android device regardless of the updates provided by the manufacturer, we recommend that you follow the suggestions proposed in the article How to update Android (even without installing new versions) .
READ ALSO: Guide to the Google Play Store, tricks and options to know
