Tips & How-to

Galaxy smartphones are real powerhouses: with world-beating cameras, outstanding performance, dazzling screens and batteries that keep going and going. But lots of the fun is in the apps you can use on them. And with incredible storage capacity, you can download a lot of apps. But what happens when Google Play Store won’t let you download the apps you want or update the apps you have?

If this is a problem you’ve come up against, you’re in luck: today we’re going to walk you through some steps you can take to solve this issue and start enjoying your apps again.

Google Play Store isn’t loading any updates

If you can’t see any app updates on the Play Store, you’ll need to force close the app to fix this issue.

1. Open Settings and tap “Apps”
2. Scroll down and tap “Google Play Store”
3. Tap “Storage” and then tap “Clear data” and “Clear cache”
4. Tap the back button, then tap “Force stop”
5. Open the Play Store again and search for updates

Check your internet connection

You’ll need a strong, stable connection to download apps and load the Play Store. If you’re connected to Wi-Fi and you’re seeing an exclamation mark next to the Wi-Fi symbol, you may not be able to access the internet. Double check your router and make sure there are no issues.

If you’re using mobile data, check the connection:

1. Open Settings and tap “Connections”
2. Tap “Data usage”
3. Make sure the switch is activated

Restart your device

As with so many technology issues, when in doubt, restart your device:

1. Press and hold the power button and the volume down button
2. Tap “Restart”
3. Wait for the device to power off and on again

Reset the download manager

1. Go to Settings and tap “Apps”
2. Tap the filter icon
3. Toggle the switch next to “Show system apps” then tap “OK”
4. Scroll down and tap “Download manager”
5. Check that it is enabled – the icon should read “Disable”
6. Tap Force stop” to shut down this app then tap “OK”

Check the date and time settings

1. Open Settings then tap “General management”
2. Tap “Date and time”
3. Make sure the switch next to “Automatic date and time” is toggled to on

Check how much storage space you have

1. Open Settings and tap Device care
2. Tap “Storage”. If you’ve got less than 1GB of storage, you’ll need to free up some space

Remove and re-add your Google Account

1. Go to Settings and tap “Accounts and backup”
2. Tap Manage accounts” then select your Google Account
3. Tap “Remove account” then tap “Remove account” to confirm
4. Now, tap “Add account” and tap “Google”
5. Follow the instructions on the screen

Now you’re ready to get back to enjoying your Galaxy smartphone to its full potential and downloading all the apps you want.

Have you got any hot tips for keeping your Galaxy in tip-top condition? Let us know in the comments!

The Community Team 🤝