There are certain apps that you can’t use unless you’re running the latest version of Google Play Services. That’s no biggie, just install the update and be on your way. Well, for some users, Google wants users to install a nonexistent Play Services update.
For the time being, this issue seems to be pretty sporadic, as we don’t know if Google knows about the issue. We’ll update this article if the company gives us a comment on the situation.
Google wants you to install a nonexistent Play Services update
It’s always annoying to run into the message telling you to update your apps to use them. It’s even more annoying to go to the Play Store page to see that your app is already up to date. This is something happening to several Android users. Numerous people reported to have experienced this issue. At the time it seems that it’s affecting apps like the Google app and Google Messages.
What makes this worse is that the phone is blocking them from even being able to use these apps. You can imagine the frustration with not being able to use your main messaging platform.
The folks at Android Police reported that their Pixel 9 Pro is experiencing this bug. One thing the publication discovered was that the issue didn’t happen on the Galaxy S23+, Pixel 7, or Nothing Phone 2a, and these phones were using the same version of Google Play Services as the Pixel 9 Pro.
So, there’s no telling what is going on. It doesn’t depend on the model of the phone or the versions of Google Play Services which are 25.10.33 (Android Police crew) and 25.09 (@theonecid on X.com). So, we will have to wait for Google to make some sort of statement about this issue.
Hopefully, Google will fix this Play Services issue quickly, as no one wants to be prompted to install nonexistent app updates. If you lost access to Google Messages, you can temporarily install a third-party messaging app. You’ll just need to assign it as your default SMS application. You’ll still be able to access all of your past messages using it.
A recommendation is Textra. This is a solid choice to replace Google Messages until the company gets this mess sorted out.
