Top 9 Ways to Fix Play Store Showing Error Checking for Updates
Google Play Store is our gateway to discover, install and update apps on an Android phone. If it doesn’t work properly, we will encounter issues installing or updating apps. And this is precisely what some Android users experience. When they open the Play Store to update apps, they are greeted with an “Error checking for updates” message. If you encounter the same error while trying to update apps, we have listed fixes to fix the problem.
Users do not see any updates available in the My apps & games window of the Play Store (Hamburger menu> My apps & games). All they get is “Error checking for updates”. Hitting the refresh button next to the message doesn’t help either.
Let’s check various solutions to resolve the “error checking for updates” problem.
1. Restart the phone
Begin the troubleshooting process by restarting your phone. Sometimes a simple solution like this works like magic.
2. Clear cache and data
One of the best solutions to fix all Google Play Store related issues is to clear the cache and data of Google Play Store and Google Play services.
Note: Clearing cache or data from Play Store or Play service will not delete any files or apps from your phones. Only Google Play Store settings and search history will be cleared by clearing Play Store data. Find out in detail what happens when erasing data on Android phones.
To clear cache and data, do the following:
Step 1: Open settings on your phone and go to apps.
2nd step: Under All apps or Manage apps, tap Google Play Store.
Step 3: Tap Storage. Press the Clear Cache button. Restart your phone. Check if the problem is resolved. If the problem persists, tap Clear data or Clear storage depending on the option available. Restart your device.
Step 4: Repeat the steps for Google Play services, i.e. clearing its cache and data.
3. Disable the Play Store
If the above solution didn’t help, disabling Play Store for a while might also come to your rescue. Once disabled, re-enable it, and that should fix the problem. Moreover, it will not delete any data or applications.
To deactivate the Play Store, follow the first two steps of the above method i.e. go to Settings> Apps> Google Play Store. Tap Disable. Once disabled, the Play Store icon will disappear from the phone. Repeat the steps and now tap Activate to re-activate the Play Store.
4. Uninstall Play Store
Play Store is an app preinstalled on Android phones. So you cannot uninstall it. But you can delete its updates, which also helps to fix the update checking error. To uninstall updates from the Play Store, follow these steps:
Step 1: Open settings and go to Apps> Google Play Store like we did above.
2nd step: Tap the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the Play Store screen. Select Uninstall Updates from the menu.
Step 3: Restart the phone and open the Play Store. You should be able to update the apps now. Typically, the Play Store will update automatically in the background. But in case that doesn’t happen, find out how to update the Play Store manually.
5. Remove the SD card
If your phone supports an SD card, try removing it before updating apps. For some users, removing the card fixed the issue. Put it back on after updating the apps, and that should fix the problem.
6. Check the date and time
Setting the correct date and time should also fix Play Store issues on your phone. So go to Settings> System> Date and time. Make sure the correct date and time are set. If possible, enable automatic date and time and automatic time zone for best results.
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7. Accept the terms and conditions
Another solution that seems to have worked is to agree to the Google Play Store terms and conditions, in case you haven’t. If you’ve signed in with multiple Google Accounts on your phone, you’ll need to access them in the Google Play Store and agree to the terms if prompted.
To change accounts in Play Store, open Play Store and tap the profile picture icon at the top. Select the account to access it. Accepts terms when requested. Repeat the same for the other accounts.
8. Delete the Google account
Like the previous solution, if you have multiple Google accounts registered on your phone, sometimes an old account messes up the Play Store. Either their password has been changed or there is an issue that creates an issue with your current Google Account. So, to fix this problem, you need to delete the old Google accounts. Find out what happens when you delete a Google account from your phone.
To delete a Google account, go to Settings> Accounts. Tap the Google account you want to delete. Then click on the Delete account option. Confirm on the next screen.
Pro tip: If only one Google Account is added, delete it to resolve the issue.
9. Reset app preferences
Finally, try your luck by resetting the app preferences as well. This is a very handy feature that restores all your phone settings to their default values. So if a setting is messing up a Play Store feature, that should fix it. Don’t worry about your data and files as none of them will be deleted after resetting app preferences. Find out in detail what happens by resetting the app preferences before following the steps below.
To reset app preferences on your Android phone, go to Settings> Apps. Tap the three-dot icon and choose Reset app preferences. Confirm when prompted. Restart the phone and open Play Store. Applications should update normally.
Then:
Did you know that you can create a family on the Play Store and share apps with them? Find out what a Google family group is and how to use it from the following link.
Last updated on Oct 2, 2020
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