“Unfortunately, Google Play Services has stopped” keeps popping up on Samsung Galaxy A3 [Troubleshooting Guide]

One thing to know if an app is very important is when its name starts with “Google.” The Google Play Services however, is a service which is used by other apps. For instance, YouTube–which is one of Google’s apps–is also using the Play Services for a lot of reasons but one of them is for identity verification. The fact is you will encounter errors while using YouTube if you haven’t setup your Google account in your phone.

Some of our readers who own the Samsung Galaxy A3 contacted us about the error “Unfortunately, Google Play Services” that keeps on popping up without apparent reason. One of them even said that he already installed the latest version to no avail. We have encountered similar issues like this in the past so it’s not really the first time we tackled this problem. However, will tackle this error in this post again for the benefit of our readers who reached out to us. If you’re one of the owners who have this issue, continue reading as this post may be able to help you.

Before we move on to our troubleshooting, if you’re looking for a solution to a different problem then visit our A3 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common issues with this phone. Find articles that address similar issues with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If you still need our help after that, then feel free to contact us by completely filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

“Google Play Services has stopped” error on Galaxy A3

The focus of this troubleshooting guide is to get rid of the error message to make your phone work perfectly again. As long as this error keeps on popping up, there should be other apps that may not work properly and we will try to fix that in this post. Let’s consider every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine what the problem is and formulate a solution for it. That said, here’s what you need to do about this…

YouTube video

Force restart your Galaxy A3

Regardless on how this problem started, you must begin your troubleshooting by doing the forced restart procedure which will refresh the phone’s memory. There are instances wherein Play Services crashes in the background and while this can be fixed by rebooting your phone normally, I would suggest doing the forced reboot because it offers more benefits but safe and easy to do.

Press and hold the Volume Down and the Power keys together for 10 seconds to force restart your phone. It will boot up normally and assuming that the error started due to some minor firmware or system crash, the error should no longer show up after this. However, if it continues to pop up, then move on to the next step.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Clear the cache of Google Play Services

Android services also create data files but the caches often play a significant role for them to work well and the same is true with Google Play Services. In this step, I want you to clear the cache to make sure the problem isn’t caused by it. It will be replaced immediately by the system and if the error is triggered by a corrupt cache, you would know because the error won’t show up anymore after this…

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and touch Settings.
  3. Under Device section, tap Applications.
  4. Tap Applications manager.
  5. Swipe left until contents of ALL tap are revealed.
  6. Scroll to and tap Google Play Services.
  7. Tap Clear cache to delete its cache.
  8. Reboot your phone now.

Once the phone becomes active, try to trigger the error to know if it still shows up and if it does, try the next step.

Uninstall updates for Google Play Services

Core services often get updated automatically in the background but there are times when you get a prompt asking you if you want to update a specific app or service. But regardless whether you were prompted or not, this time try to uninstall updates for Google Play Services as it’s possible there is a file that got corrupted.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and touch Settings.
  3. Under Device section, tap Applications.
  4. Tap Applications manager.
  5. Swipe left until contents of ALL tap are revealed.
  6. Scroll to and tap Google Play Services.
  7. Tap Uninstall Updates, then tap OK.
  8. Reboot your phone and then observe.

If the error is still popping up after you’ve uninstalled updates for Play Services, move on to the next step.

Verify if your Google account is setup

One of the things handled by Google Play Services is your account. If you haven’t set up your account yet and you’re getting this error message, then that could be the cause. Follow these steps to check if your account is properly set up on your phone…

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and touch Settings.
  3. Under Personal section, tap Accounts.
  4. If you see Google, then there’s an account that’s set up on your phone, otherwise, you should only be seeing Add account.
  5. Tap Google to see what account is setup on your phone and make sure it’s yours.
  6. If you can only see Add account, then setup your Google account to continue using your phone.

After verifying that you have properly set up your Google account but the error is still showing up, move on to the next step.

Delete all system caches so that they’ll be replaced

After doing all procedures above and the error is still bugging you, then you have to go after the firmware. The first thing you should do about it is delete all system caches so that they will be replaced with new ones. To do so, boot your phone up in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition…

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key.
  4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
  6. Press the Power key to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
  8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Continue testing your phone for the same error and if it still popping up, try bringing the phone to its default configuration.

Reset all settings in your Galaxy A3

It is always possible that this problem is due to some incorrect settings in your phone that’s why it is necessary that you bring the phone back to its default or factory settings but this time let’s a method that will not delete one of your files and data. This is how you do that…

  1. From a Home screen, touch and swipe up or down to display all apps.
  2. From a Home screen, navigate: Settings > Backup and reset.
  3. Tap Reset settings.
  4. Tap Reset settings, to confirm.
  5. If applicable, enter the PIN, password or pattern.
  6. Tap Reset settings.

If the problem still persists after this, then you have no other choice but to do the next procedure.

Backup your files and do the Master reset

After everything else failed to get rid of the error, you still have one method to go to and that’s the Master Reset. It will surely fix the issue but then  you will have to take time backing up your important files and data as they will be deleted from your phone’s internal storage during the reset. Also, take note of your Google ID and its password as you will be them to setup your phone. Better yet, disable the Factory Reset Protection by removing your account from your phone prior to the reset so that you won’t be locked out. Once everything is ready, follow these steps to reset your device:

  1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
  2. Turn off the device.
  3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
  5. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  6. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  7. Press Power button to select.
  8. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  9. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  10. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  11. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the problem with your phone. If you still need our help after this, contact us.

Posts you may also like:

TheDroidGuy Mailbag

🛠️If you have questions, check our Help section for details on how to submit your questions.💡


Posts You Might Like

Leave a Comment