Sunday, August 30, 2026

Android disaster with Google Play

New Samsung phone, I'm helping someone install everything. Everything is going well, apps are updating. WhatsApp is transferring data. I uninstall several unwanted apps, including Outlook and LinkedIn. I restart. The Play Store stops launching.

This is quite serious; it can't be that the Play Store isn't working. I'm trying the standard method, clearing the memory and data for the Play Store and Google Services, and restarting.

Nothing. Gemini suggests I should install APK manually. It must be kidding.

Two or three restarts later, I notice that I get a monit that asks if I want to restore Outlook and LinkedIn. I discarded this prompt twice but this time I decide to give it a try.

Play store appears as notification and shows it's installing the two.

A minute later, the notification disappears and I try Play Store once again.

It works.

It's utterly shameful that uninstalling two third-party apps can break such fundamental system service as Google Play. I don't care whose fault this is, Google, Samsung and its Knox.

It should never, ever happen. Shame on you.

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