[SOLVED] Android help: app updates and installation fail every time. Tried most solutions, nothings works.

[Kutusov]

I own an Honor Magic5 Pro that is running on Android 14. A few days back it received an OS update and I can't do anything with the play store ever since. Apps take forever to upadate, hanging at 99%, then go into pending, then just fail to install. Other Magic5 Pro owners don't report such a problem.

I've followed a lot of walk-throughs from Google and forums and ended up doing a factory reset. Nothing helped, plus now I don't even have most apps I use. Here's a few things about the device and steps I've taken so far

- Wifi and mobile data are working just fine
- Phone has 485.1GB of empty storage
- Google Play Store and Services are up to date and I've cleaned both cache and data
- Google play has full access to mobile data and wifi and all the permissions
- Date and time are correct and set to automatic.

Any help please? I don't want to buy a new phone

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Have you checked any Honor forums, or contacted Honor support? It sounds like it could be a bug in their update.

 

[Kutusov]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I did, people are not experiencing this issue. It seems there isn't a lot of people with this particular phone though... By doing a google search, this seems to be a problem that shows up on a lot of different phones and it's not something new, there's posts with 2 or 3 years. The update seems to be the trigger but it's a google play thing, everything else is working fine.

I can add another thing I've noticed an hour back. Some apps do update and instal, but only a few. I can't see a pattern here though. For example I got Waze to install but Maps wont update. Youtube updates but not Google Drive. Instagram is fine but Facebook is not. So even with apps from Google some are fine, some won't update, some I'm able to reinstall others not.

 

[B. Diddy]

It's definitely not a common occurrence among common brands like Pixel and Samsung. I've never experienced that on any of my phones, and haven't seen that described in this forum on any regular basis.

Try uninstalling all updates for the Play Store app itself (in Settings>Apps), and then see if the apps update properly.

 

[Kutusov]

Thanks @B. Diddy. How do I do that? I have the option to Force Stop or Disable...

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm, I guess there's no longer an option to uninstall updates to the Play Store. I'm pretty sure it was possible before, but now that I check my Pixel 7 Pro, I see the same as you. So scratch that idea.

I'm not sure if this is possible on your phone, but see if you can wipe the cache partition. Follow the steps here, and instead of selecting Factory Reset, look for Wipe Cache Partition instead: https://www.hardreset.info/devices/honor/honor-magic5-pro/

Wiping the cache partition won't affect your account or data.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Are these just app updates? I noticed something similar on my Pixel 5a. I found that doing a handful at a time usually helps. I do the smaller ones first then slowly go toward the bigger ones. I then check for updates again (usually I get a few more. It much be a search behind every time).

As for your situation, I would try a restart on the device, then do a few updates.

 

[Kutusov]

Follow the steps here, and instead of selecting Factory Reset, look for Wipe Cache Partition instead: https://www.hardreset.info/devices/honor/honor-magic5-pro/

Wiping the cache partition won't affect your account or data.

Managed to do that but there isn't any change, same behaviour. I've also done a factory reset again but it's the same result, and I mean the same. For some reason, uptades and fresh app installations that fail always fail at the same point like same download percentage.

I don't like installing apks but I had to do it because I do need a couple of apps. Using Apkpure, some things were able to update and cleared out of google paly queue. It also tries to update the Play Store from 43.4.23-31 to 43.5.26-23 but throws an error message "Version conflit - The new version does not match the signature of your installed version".

Finally, there's another thing that isn't updating outside the Play Store. Under Security, there's a "Google Play system update". It starts doenloading and hangs at 83% before it gives up. And takes an awful lot of time to get to 83%, maybe 5 minutes and I'm using 5g mobile data with all the coverage.

As for your situation, I would try a restart on the device, then do a few updates.

I did that. I'm not even trying to restore what I have on backup . Some smaller ones do update but some are bigger than others that don't.

 

[B. Diddy]

I would still try to contact Honor support if you haven't already: https://www.honor.com/global/support/contact-us/. It sounds like a buggy update.

 

[Kutusov]

I would still try to contact Honor support if you haven't already: https://www.honor.com/global/support/contact-us/. It sounds like a buggy update.

I'll try that, yes. Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[Kutusov]

Just a quick update as the problem got fixed 15 minutes ago. It's one of those cases where you need an exorcist and not an IT guy. It prompted me with a security review of apps installed and then asked if I wanted to update the "Google Play system". Nothing new here as it failed to fully download it for the last 30 times. This time it went through, restarted and everything is just fine like it was before. So it sorted itself out and I don't know why or how. Maybe stars' alignment or phase of the Moon.

Anyway, thanks for all the help!

 

[B. Diddy]

Glad to hear it resolved!