Current version of Play Store is broken. What do I do?

[halfbeing]

For some reason the current version of Play Store is broken on my phone. When I try to update apps I get Error 963 and I have to stop and restart Play Store in the application manager. If I go into the application manager and uninstall updates, the factory version of Play Store works fine and will start to update my apps up to the point at which it updates itself, when it stops working. How can I prevent the factory version of Play Store from upgrading itself so that I can upgrade my other apps or install new apps? My phone isn't rooted and rooting doesn't look like a good option (it's an S4).

 

[aajrco07]

do not tamper with the Googleplaystore apps. if possible don't touch it. It won't work if you restore it to its factory settings. All your apps in one place. If you try to download app from other sources it shall be blocked. Get all your apps at Googleplaystore.

 

[halfbeing]

Thanks for your answer, but that doesn't answer my question. The current version of the Play Store app doesn't work on my phone, so I need either to get it working or to work with an earlier version that does work. Last night I did manage to install all my apps after rolling back to the factory version, but I had to authorise them one by one so as not to get the current version of Play Store reinstalled. I'm looking for some way of proceeding that is less problematic. As I said, the current Play Store is broken on my phone.

 

[Fidelandche5]

Have you had a look at this?

Google Play Store Error 963 - 3 Ways to Fix | Fix Errors

 

[halfbeing]

Yes, I've tried solution 1, but it didn't work. Solution 2 is only if there is one specific app that is a problem, whereas I can't install any app. Solution 3 is what I want to do, but it doesn't work because Play always updates itself back to the latest version.

I actually wasn't very precise in my OP, under certain conditions I do get error 963, but otherwise I find that the installation just hangs silently until I kill and restart Play Store.

 

[Fidelandche5]

Have you tried a different version of the play store? You could try an older version first to see if that solves your issue.

 

[Fidelandche5]

Have you tried to clear the cache?

 

[halfbeing]

Yes, the stock version of the Play Store that ships with the phone works fine, but unfortunately it automatically updates itself to the current version and I am back where I started.

 

[halfbeing]

Yes, I've tried clearing the cache and data for Play Store and Play Services.

 

[SnowyRa1n]

I have the same issue since the OTA update, nothing has fixed it as yet.

 

[Fidelandche5]

Not sure on this, but have you uninstalled play services and installed to the latest version? If you google it, there should be a APK on APK Mirror

 

[SnowyRa1n]

I haven't tried adjusting Play services. Uninstalling Play Store updates and reverting it back to its factory version, then disabling apps update automatically (to prevent Play Store from updating itself) was the only thing that allowed me to mass update the 6-7 apps in the queue without any issues.

 

[rokemsokem]

I have this error as well (error 963). This was only the second app I've tried to install on the device since I purchased it and it showed that error code.The app just hung there installing forever. Even though it wan't really installing anything. It was just hung. I couldn't even stop it. After about 20 minutes of watchig it hung upo it returned the error code 963.

Doesn't seem like it makes sense to have to unmount your sd card every time you want to install an app. Or uninstall Google Play updates.

Think maybe the Play Store error isn't really an error at all but a look at things to come and maybe has something to do with the way Marshmallow integrates internal strage with sd cards now?

 

[halfbeing]

I'm not on Marshmallow. I'm getting this problem in Lollipop, but that does make it easier in the sense that I can roll back to a version of Play Store that works and then, as suggested above, disabling automatic updates. It's still very annoying that I now have to start each update individually (I have a lot of apps).

 

[rokemsokem]

I'm not on Marshmallow. I'm getting this problem in Lollipop, but that does make it easier in the sense that I can roll back to a version of Play Store that works and then, as suggested above, disabling automatic updates. It's still very annoying that I now have to start each update individually (I have a lot of apps).

Right. I'm running lillipop also. And I, too, have the problem. I was just kind of flirting with the question of whether the problem would dissapear on its own if we were running Marshmallow is all. With Marshmallow they have instituted the option to use your sd card as portable or internal memory. Certainly installation of apps from the play store would be integrated into that model in some way.

It was just a thought, though. I don't really download a bunch of apps anyway. All I use my device for is to check email, call and text. Maybe blow some time on the browser once in a while. I'm not tinkering with all of that silliness of having to go through all of that just to install an app. But it is certainly annoying that one must do all of that if they do want to install apps, though, I agree.

 

[Kelli Emerson]

I have the same issue with my Galaxy S5 (Sprint) on Lollipop. I contacted Google Support, and they referred me to Samsung device support. I haven't contacted them yet.

 

[rokemsokem]

I have the same issue with my Galaxy S5 (Sprint) on Lollipop. I contacted Google Support, and they referred me to Samsung device support. I haven't contacted them yet.

Heh. That's interesting, isn't it? Blame the device itself?

Maybe it could be a bug and they'll release a patch for the S5. Who knows. I still don't have a patch for CVE-2015-6602 so I'm not holding my breath for another patch if it indeed is something in the S5 causing the errors. I'll likely get those patches when the cows come home. I know that I won't be buying a new Samsung just to be able to download junk from Google's Play Store without errors popping up all over the place, though.

I just bought my S5 a week ago so I'm only learning these shortcomings as I run into them.

Besides the error 963 message, I also keep getting an error popup telling me that play store has stopped working, too. Like if I'm looking at an app that I'm considering downloading and decide I don't want it anyway, then, tap the back button on my phone to go back to the previous page on the play store app, it'll pop up that Google Play has stopped working message. Even with uninstalling updates from the play store app and reverting to the factory installed version, the play store app updates itself and returns the same error messages that it has stopped working or the error 963 message. I'm beginning to wonder whether it is worth all of the drama to keep using android if this is how it is. I'm kind of new to smartphones so I don't know if this stuff happens regularly or what. One would think that the remedial/basic stuff like this would just work without having to go through silly hoops and workarounds in order to temporarily rig it to work. I mean, what kind of model is that? It's dumb.

 

[SnowyRa1n]

I never had this issue until I installed the OTA update they released last week.

 

[Kelli Emerson]

I'm with SnowyRa1n - I did not have this issue until a couple weeks ago. There are a couple other threads on this forum about it, so I don't think it's device-specific.

 

[zspira]

I am getting the same problem almost EXACTLY as you posted. I too unloaded Google Play store, downloaded a fresh copy, and had the same problems afterwards. There must be something in the actual updated version of this app that's causing the issue on all phones. I was in touch with Google and the gentleman, although although being very helpful and friendly, really could not help me He too blamed it on the device. It seems, and I could be wrong, that Google apps are updating, however I'm not entirely sure.

In the meantime, I, like you, have to uninstall all updates in order to get back to the factory version, in order to update apps as necessary.

This is a major pain!

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