Getting a Google Play services error? You’re not the only one

By Patrick Hearn Published March 18, 2025

Rose Quartz Pixel 9 Pro on a peppermint background. — Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

If you’ve received an alert from Google Play Services to install an update but you can’t find, don’t worry: you aren’t alone. The error message warns that certain official Google apps won’t work unless you update through the Play Store, but no update is available. The problem seems to be affecting a wide number of people, many of whom took to social media to find an answer to the problem.

Tipster CID (@theonecid) reports this same error, and it has been confirmed from several other outlets. The source of the bug isn’t clear, but it seems to affect users on both the stable and beta releases of Play Services.

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Here’s the good news. Despite the error message, all of these services appear to be working normally. Some users have reported an update appearing several hours after receiving the message.

Started getting this since updating Google Messages today…

Theres no Play services update

Anyone else? pic.twitter.com/udOzSAPQye

— CID (@theonecid) March 17, 2025

There doesn’t seem to be a consistent device source, either. While the problem has been widely reported on the Google Pixel 9 Pro, other users have said it’s appeared on multiple other models and brands. It seems to be completely random regarding who is affected, but at least it doesn’t seem harmful. The biggest issue seems to be that notifications go silent for certain apps.

For now, keep your apps updated to the latest possible version. That seems to alleviate the problem, based on user reports.

Google hasn’t released a statement regarding the cause. Digital Trends has reached out to Google for comment and will update this story if we receive a response.

Former Technology Writer

Patrick has written about tech for more than 15 years and isn't slowing down anytime soon. With previous clients ranging from…

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