I want AC moderators to file this somewhere where users can find it. I don't think it's phone specific (FYI mine is a Samsung S4 i545 Verizon CDMA).
Symptoms: Updates download from Play Store but no "installing" ribbon appears & nothing happens until finally notification arrives "cannot update [app name]". This is new behaviour that seemed to have started after I recovered space on internal storage by moving as many apps as possible to sdcard.
Since I'm rooted I entered TouchWiz Recovery & wiped cache & delvic cache. Also cleared Play Store cache & data. All had NO EFFECT.
SOLUTION THAT WORKED:
1. open Application Manager from inside phone settings. (swipe down from top edge of home screen & tap gear icon to open settings)
2. Locate Google Play Store. Press button "Remove all updates" and press "ok" when prompted to restore factory version.
3. Press "Force Close" button in Google Play Store inside Application Manager & tap "ok" after warning pop-up appears.
Done! No restart required. Play Store simply worked again!
All this suggests the problem lies with a buggy update by Google of its app. Thank goodness it now allows reversion to earlier factory version. Google almost immediately updated Play Store back to the latest version (currently Build 6.7.13 E-all [0] 2920566), and the installation bug did not reoccur. So either the process of reinstalling the old unrevised update did not break my fix, OR Google already had discovered and fixed the bug itself. Impossible for me to say.
Added protection for rooted phone: Install Titanium Backup if you don't already have it, go offline (no wifi or mobile data), revert Play Store to factory version, back up the old Play Store & preserve the backup. Then you can manually reinstall it.
Symptoms: Updates download from Play Store but no "installing" ribbon appears & nothing happens until finally notification arrives "cannot update [app name]". This is new behaviour that seemed to have started after I recovered space on internal storage by moving as many apps as possible to sdcard.
Since I'm rooted I entered TouchWiz Recovery & wiped cache & delvic cache. Also cleared Play Store cache & data. All had NO EFFECT.
SOLUTION THAT WORKED:
1. open Application Manager from inside phone settings. (swipe down from top edge of home screen & tap gear icon to open settings)
2. Locate Google Play Store. Press button "Remove all updates" and press "ok" when prompted to restore factory version.
3. Press "Force Close" button in Google Play Store inside Application Manager & tap "ok" after warning pop-up appears.
Done! No restart required. Play Store simply worked again!
All this suggests the problem lies with a buggy update by Google of its app. Thank goodness it now allows reversion to earlier factory version. Google almost immediately updated Play Store back to the latest version (currently Build 6.7.13 E-all [0] 2920566), and the installation bug did not reoccur. So either the process of reinstalling the old unrevised update did not break my fix, OR Google already had discovered and fixed the bug itself. Impossible for me to say.
Added protection for rooted phone: Install Titanium Backup if you don't already have it, go offline (no wifi or mobile data), revert Play Store to factory version, back up the old Play Store & preserve the backup. Then you can manually reinstall it.
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