How to Fix ‘Google Play Services Has Stopped’ Error on Your Android Smartphone

SOyou were attempting to dabble with a couple of settings on your Android smartphone to make certain changes or you were simply exploring the settings of your phone/tablet and all of a sudden you come across a scary message that does not give you a chance to continue. If you get the message 'Unfortunately, Google Play Services Has Stopped' then there is no reason to panic. Everything is not lost yet. You simply need to try our fixes to get it back on. We are simply dealing with technology here and at times things can get a bit messed up and you may end up at this position, but it isn't your phone or you. It is just that somewhere some data got lost or couldn't be tracked and Google Play Services ended up losing connection with the server, so it stopped.

How to Fix 'Unfortunately, Google Play Services Has Stopped' Error [5 Methods]

There are several reasons for Google play services error, and we are going to explain the different methods of solving this mishap. The reason of this error is not very clear but it normally comes up when you are making some changes to the settings of the Android smartphone. Try these steps sequentially and depending on what is wrong, you may be able to fix the problem with one of the following five fixes.

1. Empty cache

One of the workarounds for this error is clearing the cache of the system app Google Play Services. To do so, you must go to the Settings of your Android phone and then tap on Applications. Now look for Application Manager and tap on the 'All' tab. Now look for Google Play Services and tap it once so that you can get the detailed information for this app. You will find the option to 'Clear Cache' for the app. Once you have successfully cleaned the cache from this application, you must restart your smartphone to avoid the Google Play Services has stopped error in the future.

2. Reset the app preferences

To reset the app preferences, you must go to Application Manager the same way as before, and then tap on the tab 'All'. Now look for 'More' on the upper right corner of the screen and tap on it. Next, the menu that comes up will have an option called, 'Reset app preferences', tap on it and you should be done. To guarantee that the changes you have made take effect, just restart your smartphone and the "unfortunately, google play services has stopped" should be gone for good.

3. Add your Google Account Once Again

If you are still suffering the same problem then go to the settings and look for 'Accounts'. Tap on it and you will get a list of accounts that you have created on your smartphone. Your Google Account will be on the list too. Tap on Google and then tap on your email address on the following page. Once you tap on your email address you will be on another menu which has a lot of information about how your Google account works on the smartphone. You are looking for the 3 dots symbol on the upper right corner of your device. Tap the symbol and you will get a drop-down menu that gives you the option to 'Remove account'. Tap on it so that your Google account is deleted.

Image: Technorms

When this is done, you need to add your account once again to your device. For this, you should go to Settings and then tap on Accounts. Here you tap on Add Account and select Google Account. You will now be on a screen with a wizard that requests you to enter your Gmail– email address and password, so follow the prompts to finish adding your Gmail account to your device once again. It has been seen that this step helps in solving the problem of 'Google Play Services Has Stopped'.

4. Reinstall Google Play Services

Google Play Services is a key part of your Android device. So you can't uninstall it completely. However, you have the choice to deactivate the Android Device Manager and then reinstall all updates to make sure that you are back on the latest version of the Play Services. This is how you go about doing it:

1. To deactivate Google Play Services, you should go to settings and then tap on device administrators and tap on Deactivate Android Device Manager.
2. Now uninstall Google Play Services by going into Settings and looking for Application Manager. Inside the Application Manager, you must tap on all and look for Google Play Services. You will now get the option to uninstall updates.
3. Now open any application (eg: Play Store)that will require Google Play Services. The app will automatically identify the absence of Play Services and prompt you to reinstall it.
4. When it is reinstalled to the latest version (google play services apk), you can activate Android Device Manager by going to Settings > Security > Device Administrators.Once it has been activated, you must restart your device so that all changes are in effect. The "unfortunately, google play services has stopped" error should not return after the reboot. 

   

   Image: android.wonderhowto.com

5. Once it has been activated, you must restart your device so that all changes are in effect. The "unfortunately, google play services has stopped" error should not return after the reboot.

5. Clear the Google Service Framework cache

Your Google Play Services depends on the Google Service Framework to run properly. Google Services Framework is a framework application which stores data and ensures that your phone is synchronised with the Google servers for regular exchange of data. If something goes wrong here, your Google Play Services may not function as expected. To put things right you should do the following:

Go to Settings and then tap on Application Manager. Now go to the section where all the applications are displayed and search for Google Framework Services. Tap on it and select Force Stop. Then tap on Clear Cache button to flush the cache stored for this system app. Now restart your smartphone to ensure that the changes are registered to your device. This should help you stop the google play services has stopped error from repeating later on.

With the assistance of these solutions, you should be able to fix the 'Unfortunately, Google Play Services Has Stopped' error so that it does not come back again. However, if none of this works, you may want to reach a professional who can check what is wrong and solve it.